detailed position planning - united nations · the detailed position planning form allows the user...

Course Guide

Course Guide

Detailed Position Planning

BU-POS-01, Version 1.0

Copyright © United Nations, All rights reserved

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Detailed Position Planning Course Guide

Table of Contents

About this Course Guide .................................................................................................................... 3

About this Form ................................................................................................................................. 3

Roles and Responsibilities .................................................................................................................. 4

Standard Global Process .................................................................................................................... 4

Dependency ................................................................................................................................... 4

Logging in to the Application ......................................................................................................... 4

Navigating through the Forms ....................................................................................................... 4

Set Planning Parameters: process steps. ....................................................................................... 5

Plan Changes to the Approved Staffing Table: process steps. .................................................... 18

Actions Classification: process steps. .......................................................................................... 20

Position Planning Cost Calculation: process steps. ...................................................................... 24

Use of Content in Position Planning: process steps. ................................................................... 29

Warning Messages. ...................................................................................................................... 31

Establishment of Position and Abolishment of Generic Position: process steps. ....................... 33

Plans Changes for Newly Established Positions: process steps. .................................................. 43

Position Action Report: process steps. ........................................................................................ 43



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About this Course Guide The purpose of this Course Guide is to supplement the Budgeting for Positions – Detailed Position Planning course, and to detail the steps required to complete the following activities:

• Enter the appropriate filter criteria to upload the staffing table;

• Change the existing staffing table and review the default action classifications;

• Calculate the cost generated by the changes based on standard salary costs;

• Establish new position and abolish generic positions;

• Change plans for established or abolished positions, overriding the information previously entered on the table;

• Save and review the executed changes;

• Use the Position Action Report to display and review only the information that has been changed on the staffing table.

About this Form The detailed position planning form allows the user to establish positions and plan changes to the staffing table on a position level. The form is also used to provide basis for cost calculation and standard reports, such as description of staffing table changes. This is done in a standard way and any change to the staffing table will be classified as one of the following position actions:

• Establishment of new positions.

• Abolishment of expired positions.

• Reclassification of a position due to change in grade.

• Reassignment of a position to a different area of work or job family.

• Redeployment of positions to a different budget control org unit, functional area or duty station within the same job family.

• Conversion of position type (e.g. GTA to Post) or change in funding source (e.g. Voluntary Contributions to Regular Budget).

The form will also allow the user to propose any change to the data, including also: detailed changes that are not relevant for the budget (e.g. detailed org unit changes), and changes that would generally not be allowed.



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For these changes the system assigns the following position actions: Change: defines any change within the limits of the above criteria, e.g. change in cost center under same functional area, change in detailed org unit within same budget control. These changes will not be included in the budget document. For Review: highlight any change that does not fit within the above given criteria, e.g. changing grade and job family at the same time. As there may be exception to the rules, the planning form will flag these changes as “For Review” instead of stopping the user from planning them. The user will review these changes and manually assign a position action

Roles and Responsibilities Role and responsibilities in connection with this form are still to be confirmed.

Standard Global Process

Dependency

The Detailed Position Form needs to be completed in all cases as it is the only position form that contains all the necessary information for retraction and therefore, allows transferring of updated position information from Budget Formulation module to Umoja OM.

Logging in to the Application

Under the POSITION_UNPLAN data connection, in the EPM tab, open the following form(s) from the from the Server Input Form Folder: POS01_DETAILED_PLANNING

Navigating through the Forms

Information on how to navigate through the form is provided in BU-NAV-01 Budgeting - System Navigation course.



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Set Planning Parameters: process steps.

After selection of filter criteria and refreshing, the form will load the previously approved staffing table

through a list of positions with details such as org unit, cost center, job code etc.

The first time the form is loaded it will display the previously approved details. Once the form has been

used it will display changes that are currently planned.

The user will modify the existing staffing table by changing a property value (e.g. org unit, job code etc.)

and select a new value to replace it.

1. Upon selecting the Detail Position Planning form, the Position Planning tab will open

automatically;

2. If, for some reasons, the Position Planning tab does not automatically open, click on the tab, since

this page should always be your starting point when you first open the form. From this page you

set your planning parameters and it is the necessary first step required before navigating into the

planning form:



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3. The Fund cell is pre-populated with the value HR999. This is a dummy fund and should never be

used in your planning. You must change this to the fund for which you are planning positions;

4. Double-click on the Fund field:

Note: planning parameters are pre-filled with default information. This is due to the form

requiring values in all fields for the form to open.



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5. The list of Funds you are authorized to plan for, appears. In this scenario, we are authorized to

plan for fund 10 UNA only;

6. Select the appropriate Fund code, notice that when selected, it will be highlighted in blue and

there will be a green check-mark next to it;

7. Click OK to continue:



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8. Double-click on the Cost Object field:



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9. A list of Cost Object appears;

10. Click on the Search icon ;

11. Enter the Cost Object name in the “Find What” field;

12. Click on the Find button to complete the search action;

13. Now, click OK to continue:



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14. From the list of returns, select the appropriate Cost Object;


Note: it is recommended to select the Cost Object at the Entity level and load the whole staffing

table at once rather than executing the changes one Cost Center at a time. By doing so, we will

improve the system performance and we will have a better overview of the selected Entity.



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16. Double-click on the Period field to select our plan’s budget period:

17. Select the relevant Budget Period;

18. Click OK:

The Budget Period is affected by the Fund type selected: budget periods that start with a “P” is

used for Peacekeeping for all the other Funds the budget period starts with “Y”.



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19. Next, we select the Version:

The Version, is the step in the review process, from the fund center planner (L1) to the approved budget

(L8). The version you’re working on depends on your role in the budget formulation process.

In this scenario we are planners, so the version remains L1 Internal Proposal.



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20. Double-click on the Organizational Unit field;

21. The Org Unit field defaults to the option: Org Unit Total;

22. We will leave this default selection as is:

Note: it is recommended to leave the Org Unit field unchanged, for the funding source already

provides a filter that capture the Org Unit selection.

23. Now that we have completed entering the planning parameters, we will retrieve the staffing table

associated with the parameters;

24. Click on the Refresh button to continue:



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25. On the screen, you see displayed all the positions associated with the selected entity;

Position cells highlighted in pink (red outline) indicate that there has been a change made to the

original information. The cells highlighted in pink flag to the planners, reviewers and approvers

that a change has occurred in specific fields of the staffing table.

26. Scroll through the list to locate the position you want to modify:

We can change the position information shown in blue (blue outline). All other information shown

in black against a grayed background cannot be changed. You can also enter information in the

User Enter Position Action and Justification columns (green outline).



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27. The information contained in the columns on the left are the Cost Object related information. The

Functional Area is derived from the Cost Object as well as the Cost Object Description and

therefore, are grayed out and cannot be modified;

28. If you need to change the Functional Area, you will be required to change the Cost Object:



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29. The table displays ONLY the current information about the position, click the Show Information

button to expand the table and display the original information:

30. The form columns expand: dark blue columns contain the original position information, while light

blue columns contain the current information about the position:



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Only the original and the latest information are available. Any change that may have been

executed in between the original information and the last change cannot be neither viewed nor

retrieved.

31. After completing the review, we can click the Hide Information button to hide again the original

value columns:



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Plan Changes to the Approved Staffing Table: process steps.

Planners are responsible for changing information such as: Cost Object, Org Unit, Duty Station, Job Code,

etc.

There are 3 methods to change the information displayed on the screen which are:

• Select a different value from the Member Selector window,

• Copy the new value and Paste it into the target cell,

• Type a new value directly into the cell.

Method 1: Select a different value from the Member Selector window. In this scenario, we are planning to

change cost object to a specific position.

1. Click on the Cost Object field;

2. The Member Selector - Cost Object window appears;

3. Click on a different Cost Object to change the assignment;

4. Click on the OK button to return to the main screen:



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Method 2: copy the new value and Paste it into the target cell.

1. Right-click on the required value;

2. Press Ctrl + C on the keyboard to copy the cell content to the clipboard;

3. Right-click on the target cell;

4. Select Paste Value from the menu options:

Remember: if you use Copy + Paste, always select the Paste Value option from the menu, for the content of the cell is a formula and not a value.

Method 3: Click in the cell you wish to amend to type directly the new value. The 3 methods can be applied to change Org Units, the Duty Stations, the Job Codes and any other editable field shown in blue as required.



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Actions Classification: process steps.

The logic build in the system provides a default action classification, to every change executed by the user.

These default classification is based on the provision of the financial rules and regulations and they are:

• Establishment

• Abolishment

• Reclassification

• Reassignment

• Redeployment

• Conversion

• Change

• For Review

E.g.: we change the Cost Object, but the Functional Area remained the same. This modification has no

budgetary impact, it is internal, executed at managerial level and therefore, the system classifies the

action as a Change. However, if the change has caused a shift of the Functional Area therefore, according

to the financial rules, the system classifies this action as Redeployment.

Also note that: even when the Cost Object remains unchanged, if the change of Org Unit generates a

change of Budget Control Org Unit, the system classifies the action as Redeployment as in the previous

case of the change of Functional Area.

The Budget Control Org Units column appears grayed out because are set in, and derived from

Umoja OM module and therefore, cannot be edit from this table.



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The logic embedded in the system, that is based on the financial rules and regulations, generates the

association of a default classification to every change executed on the table. However, there may be cases

where the user does not agree with the default classification and wishes to propose a different one.

In the scenario below, we have replaced a P4 Economic Affairs Officer position with a P3 Economic Affairs

Officer position.

1. Based on the executed change the system classifies the action as Reclassification:



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2. However, if we do not wish to present the change as a reclassification, we click on the User Enter

Position Action field to display the drop down-menu;

3. And, select a different option from the list:

4. This is called “User’s Action Classification Override”. When we Save the form, the table displays, side by side, in the Position Action column the classification chosen by the user, and in the Position Action system, as a reference, the default classification:



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Important: it is a responsibility of the Budget Division to set the policies that will regulate

the use of the User’s Override and it will be accompanied by the publication of specific Job

Aids. Therefore, unless you receive specific instructions from the Budget Division, the

Action Override is NOT to be used.



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Position Planning Cost Calculation: process steps.

1. Scroll on the right side of the screen to look at the cost implication of the changes we have

executed;

2. Approved Costs column displays the original costs, using the current rates, calculated before the

implementation of the changes;

3. Proposed Cost column displays the new costs, using the current rate, calculated after the changes

have been implemented;

4. Cost Implication displays the delta between the original costs and the new costs calculated upon

implementation of changes:

Position cells highlighted in pink indicate that there has been a change made to the original

information. The cells highlighted in pink flag to the planners, reviewers and approvers that a change

has occurred in specific fields of the staffing table.



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5. The form assumes that the position change takes effect on the first day of the planning period;

6. If needed, the Effective Date can be changed;

To change the Effective Date, we can type either letters or numbers, the system will recognize it

as a date and adjust it accordingly.

7. Modifications to the Effective Date of a Position Action may impact the Cost Implication;

8. The Cost Implication has been automatically calculated and updated to reflect the change in the

Effective Date of redeployment:



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In most cases the recalculation of Cost Implication will happen automatically. There are few

cases though, where this calculation will not be automatically executed (e.g. change of Duty

Station). Therefore, it is ALWAYS recommended, to click on the Recalculate button after

having executed any change.

9. Click Recalculate to ensure that the system updates the costs calculation:



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10. By default, the system assumes that existing positions are encumbered and calculates them at the

10% continuous vacancy rate and new positions at the 50% vacancy rate;

11. The user though, has the possibility to override this calculation when changing existing positions,

and set the cost calculation for these positions using the 50% new position vacancy rate. This

choice is applicable ONLY in two cases: for position action Reassignment and Conversion;

In this scenario below we will change this Senior Programme Management Assistant position from

established to temporary;

12. The system classifies the action as Conversion of an existing position, and it will apply the 10 %

continues vacancy rate. Consequently, the cost calculation remains unchanged:



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1. Click User Enter Position Action cell;

2. Select the Conversion New or Reassignment New option from the drop-down menu;

3. This selection ensures to apply the new position vacancy rate calculation;

4. The Proposed Cost calculation changes to reflect the new position vacancy rate and consequent

Cost Implication:



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Use of Content in Position Planning: process steps.

Content is a way to slice certain initiatives that we want to tag changes to so that, when we report

variances and efficiency, we can report these savings against a specific initiative.

In this scenario below we have abolished a Programme Management Assistant position.

1. Type zero in the Count cell: the system will default the zero in a dash;

2. Click on the corresponding Content cell:



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3. The Member Selector - Content window appears, select the appropriate item from the list;


In preparing the budget for your office, please consult the budget instructions for specific

guidelines on the use of content.

5. In addition, we can use the Justification column to enter an explanation in connection with a

change we have entered;

The Justification field can be used to enter notes even independently from a change.



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Warning Messages.

The system displays a red warning message when the changes entered by the user cannot be saved.

In the scenario below, we have changed a G4 Economic Affair Assistant position into a P4 Sustainable

Development Officer position.

1. The modification implemented does not match any of the default actions therefore, the system

displays a red warning message that reads: For Review;

2. The user is required to select an Action from the Enter User Action drop down menu to save the

change:



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3. Once saved, the action selected by the user, displays in the Position Action field;

4. The warning message still shows in the Position Action System field, to flag the anomaly:

Any discrepancy in action classification will have to be solved before the budget goes in the

fascicle.

In this second example we have entered an invalid duty station;

5. The system displays a red warning message to alert us that the entry cannot be saved;



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Establishment of Position and Abolishment of Generic Position: process steps.

The “Establishment of Positions and Abolishment of Generic Positions” area is for planning generic

changes to the current staffing table.

In certain situations, in fact, you may not wish to show the abolishment of a specific position, maybe

due to its sensitivity, or if you have several similar positions and it may not have been decided yet

which one is due for abolishment. In such cases, it is possible to abolish generic positions.

In this area, enter the characteristics of the established or abolished positions, including:

• Org unit

• Duty station

• Job code

• Fund

• Cost Center



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In the scenario below, in Santiago, we need to abolish 2 of the multiple Library Assistant positions.

1. Scroll down the side bar and go to the area below the existing staffing table under the heading

“Establishment of Positions and Abolishment of Generic Positions”;

2. Enter the characteristics for the position that needs to be abolished including, org unit, duty station,

job code and cost object:



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3. Alternatively, click on the Position Title you want to abolish;

4. Press Ctrl + C on the keyboard to copy the text to the clipboard;

5. Right-click on the corresponding position title cell, under the Establishment of Position and

Abolishment of Generic Positions area;

6. When the menu appears, select to Paste Value:

If you Copy and Paste ALWAYS select the Paste Value from the menu, for the content of the cell is

a formula and not a value. It is also possible to copy multiple rows, but only one column at a time.

7. Use the same method to Copy + Paste the Org Unit, Cost Object the Post Title, etc;



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8. Enter “- 1” in the Quantity column;

9. The form will classify the entry and automatically display Abolishment in Position Action column:

The rules for the numeric entries in Quantity column are:

• Enter a negative value to abolish generic positions

• Enter a positive value to establish generic positions

• Enter zero in the staffing table to abolish specific positions



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10. Click on the Content field:



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11. The Content window opens;

12. Select the appropriate reason for the Abolishment, e.g. downsizing or reform;


Consult the budget instructions for specific guidelines on the use of content.

14. The form assumes that the positions will be established or abolished on the first day of the planning

period;

15. If needed, the Effective Date can be changed;

16. Use the Quantity column to abolish multiple positions at once, as long as they belong to the same

org unit and cost center;

17. Apply the same procedure to plan for new positions, selecting a next and entering characteristics

specific of the new position(s);

18. Then, click on the Content column to select the reason for the establishment of the new positions.



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19. The Position ID defaults to Generic Recurrent for all newly established positions. Next year, these

positions will be displayed as “Continuing” on the staffing table.

20. It is possible, as an exception, to establish a Non- Recurrent position.

21. To do so, we click on the Position ID cell:

22. Change the Position ID to Generic Non-Recurrent position;

23. Click OK to return to the main screen:

24.



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The general effect of using Non-Recurrent positions is that when you create the base for the next

planning period, these positions will be dropped from the base. Please consult the budget

instructions for specific guidelines on the use of Non-Recurrent positions.

25. After completing the update of the staffing table, scroll back to the top of the screen and Save your

changes:



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27. Click Yes to submit all saved data:

28. In the Save Results window, click OK:

29. When the main screen appears, enter the selection criteria again;

30. Click Refresh, to generate the form with changes:



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32. After refreshing, the form highlights in pink any changes made and automatically assigns a position

action to each change:

Position actions cannot be changed by client offices, but only by OPPBA.

33. Scrolling down, you can review in planning for the next budget period, the new established and

abolished.

The lines created in the Establishment of positions and Abolishment of generic positions section

are not highlighted in pink.



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Plans Changes for Newly Established Positions: process steps.

If your plans change for newly established positions, you need to create a new line in the Establishment of positions and Abolishment of generic positions section of the form which will override the previous one.

The example below shows a USG Executive Secretary position erroneously created in Santiago that should have been created in a different location. To modify this entry directly, it will have to be deleted and recreated again with the correct location.

1. Copy all information from the line you want to delete;

2. Paste the information into the lower section;

3. Type “delete” in the Justification column;

4. The system will delete any line that contains the same characteristics of line mark for deletion;

5. Create the correct entry:

6. Similarly, to change the Quantity of Established position (e.g. we have established 4 Librarian

positions while we need only 3 positions), copy the characteristics of the line you want to

override.

7. Paste the information in the lower section of the table and enter the required Quantity

8. The new line will override any line that contains the same characteristics.

9. Scroll back to top;

10. Save the changes.

If you need to make further changes, you can revert to the original values and use them as a

reference. To do so, click the Show information button to expand the table and display read only

previously approved values.

Position Action Report: process steps.



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1. When we have completed updating the staffing table, we Save our changes and we can review

any new input data in the Position Action Report;

2. Click on the Position Action Report tab to continue;

3. Click Refresh to generate the report:



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4. The Report presents the information in a simplified manner. It displays only the lines that have

been changed in the staffing table and the positions that have been established or abolished;

The changes to the approved staffing table appears in blue and highlighted in pink.

5. You can scroll at the bottom of the screen to review additional lines:

6. The establishment of new positions and abolishment of positions are located at the bottom of the

page, they appear in black on white background;

7. Review all information and if required, incorporate additional changes.

detailed position planning - united nations · the detailed position planning form allows the user...

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