IATI Implementation Schedule for UNOPS

Ver 1.0 September 2011

Overview: UNOPS IATI Implementation

Part 1: Public donor implementation plan

  1. When will data be published? Timetable and frequency of publication
  2. Exclusions and constraints: Overview of exceptions, thresholds & constraints
  3. How will data be published? How published data will be presented to users
  4. What data will be published? Overview coverage. For each area of the standard:
  5. Timetable for publication
  6. Terminology used within donor systems
  7. Exceptions, thresholds & constraints

Part 2: Implementation plan appendices for TAG secretariat only

  1. Donor contacts
  2. How will data be published? Overview of systems and processes for implementing IATI
  3. What data will be published? Detailed coverage. For each data item:
  1. An indication whether system changes are required
  2. Timetable for publication
  3. Terminology used within donor systems
  4. Exceptions, thresholds & constraints
  1. Implementation support needs

Overview: UNOPS IATI Implementation

The 2005 Paris Declaration committed the aid and development community to providing more accountability through increased access to information. Aid will always be a valuable but finite resource, making efficiency and accountability important for delivering results that matter.

At UNOPS we have introduced a comprehensive information disclosure policy to keep stakeholders informed about our activities.

In line with the Paris Declaration and as a steward of public funds, we have expanded our website and broadened coverage of our work by publishing a wide range of UNOPS documents, project descriptions and procurement actions.

Our Information Disclosure Policy commits UNOPS to making the following available on the public website:

  • Project data,
  • Awarded contracts,
  • Offices - information about each UNOPS regional office, operations and project centres,
  • Partners - including a list of all partners from the most recent Annual Report,
  • Executive Board - all documents for sessions, decisions and reports,
  • Policies and procedures - relevant Organizational Directives (ODs) and Administrative Instructions (AIs),
  • Workforce breakdown - information about the geographic diversity and gender of UNOPS staff, Management,
  • Host Country Agreements - for countries in which UNOPS works, where available,
  • United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks - for countries in which UNOPS works, where available.

We currently list project expenditures irrespective of amount along with detailed descriptions of all active projects around the world on a user-friendly data feed. This information is updated on a daily basis and is subject to legal, operational and practical considerations such as valid security concerns.

UNOPS has become a signatory to the International Aid Transparency Initiative, re-enforcing the organization’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

In line with the IATI standard, beginning in October 2011, we will publish the following information on a quaterly basis:

  • Details of project level (activities) data in line with the IATI standard.
  • Our data will be published in an open, accessible format, using IATI XML format, and under an open “attribution only” licence.
  • A small number of exclusions will apply to sensitive or security related information under UNOPS Information Disclosure Policy.

The following sections give more detailed and technical information on IATI implementation.

Part 1: Public donor Implementation schedule

1. When will data be published?

Timetable and frequency of publication
Which organisations/agencies will your IATI data cover? (What % of your total development flows does this cover? What is missing?)
Published data will represent 100% of UNOPS ongoing activities.
Overall timetable for publication(Provide a date for when these organisations will publish a) an initial set (incomplete) of IATI data b) full IATI implementation)
Phase 1 implementation for project level data can begin in October 2011. Publication of documents is under investigation.
Timeliness and frequency of publication (How soon after data is captured and available internally will data be published? Will data be published on a monthly or quarterly basis?)
UNOPS can publish new IATI datasets on a quarterly basis from Q3/Q4 2011.
How early in lifecycle will activity details be published? (Will activity details be published during the pipeline/identification stage or not until they are approved and in the implementation stage)
Project level details will be published when they are in the implementation stage [On going according to our ERP system]
Data quality status (Do you want to identify the status of the quality/audit/statistical verification of data that is published in registry? Please indicate whether you anticipate doing this, and the likely timing of moving from unverified data to verified data)
Data is quality assured as part of the data capture process, QA is carried out on operational data on a quarterly basis and additional data necessary for the datasets will be added at HQ level when XMLs are being prepared.
Resources available to implement IATI? (Please outline what staff and system resources are being made available to implement IATI, any relevant organisational structures e.g. working groups, and who is leading on IATI implementation)
IATI implementation is a joint effort of the UNOPS HQ Outreach and Partnerships Communications Unit and the HQ Corporate Support Group Enterprise Reporting Team.
Other notes

2. What are the exclusions from publication?

Exceptions and constraints: general rules that exclude activities from being published. Any specific data item exclusions should be listed in section 4
Thresholds(are there any thresholds on the value of activities or transactions to be published. Please specify what the general threshold limits are for publication)
Project data for activities of all values that are ongoing as of September 2011 will be published.
Exclusions (Please identify any rules for excluding data or information that will either be applied automatically or used as a basis to manually exclude publication. Note that exceptions for publication should be kept to a minimum and based on existing national or other regulations)
Our Information Disclosure Policy is known as Organizational Directive 30. It carries the following exclusions:
While UNOPS is committed to have an open and transparent disclosure system in place, there are legal, operational and practical considerations that are necessary to preserve the organization’s interests, as well as those of its staff and its various partners. The exceptions below in sub-paragraphs (a)-(h) are in line with those adopted by the UN Secretariat, many UN Member States and international organizations, and are limited to what is necessary to preserve essential and legitimate public or private (e.g. personal privacy) needs. Information under the following categories is deemed confidential and not available to the public:
(a)Information received from or sent to third parties, under an expectation of confidentiality. Because UNOPS provides services to partners, UNOPS shall not disclose information that would otherwise be non-disclosable according to its partner’s policies, and UNOPS may refer requests to its partners where appropriate;
(b)Information whose disclosure is likely to endanger the safety or security of any individual, violate his or her rights, or invade his or her privacy;
(c)Information whose disclosure is likely to endanger the security of Member States or prejudice the security or proper conduct of any operation or activity of UNOPS;
(d)Information, covered by legal privilege or disclosure of which might prejudice any internal, governmental, or legal investigation. Information provided in confidence to the Ethics Office;
(e)Information related to access to internal audit reports, except when requests for internal audit reports are made by authorized representatives of Member States in accordance with applicable UNOPS legislation;
(f)Internal information that, if disclosed, would or would be likely to compromise the integrity of UNOPS deliberative and decision-making process by inhibiting the candid exchange of ideas and communications, including internal documents, memoranda or e-mails, and other similar communications to or from UNOPS Managers, UNOPS personnel, and UNOPS contractors.
(g)Information exchanged, prepared for, or derived from the deliberative and decision-making process between UNOPS, its partners, and/or other entities with which UNOPS cooperates that, if disclosed, would or would be likely to compromise the integrity of the deliberative and decision-making process between and among UNOPS, its partners, and/or other entities with which UNOPS cooperates by inhibiting the candid exchange of ideas and communications.
(h) Drafts of all correspondence, reports, documents, agreements, contracts, emails, or any other forms of communication;
(i)Commercial information where disclosure would harm either the financial interests of UNOPS or those of other parties involved;
(j)Information which, if disclosed, in UNOPS view would seriously undermine the policy dialogue with Member States or implementing partners;
(k)Information requests: (i) which are not reasonable; (ii) which are excessive or overly burdensome; (iii) complying with which is not feasible; or (iv) are made with an abusive or vexatious purpose or by a vexatious or querulous individual.
Any general issues or other constraints

3. How will data be published?

Information for prospective users of information
Licensing (Under which license will data be published: public domain or attribution? If the license does not meet the IATI standard please specify why. Please state whether you intend to use the IATI authorised license or another)
UNOPS will publish under an ‘attribution’ licence.
Definition of an activity and multi-level activities (How is an activity defined e.g. projects and programmes, or some other structure? Do you have multi-tiered project structures e.g. projects and sub-projects or components? AT which level do you intend to publish details?)
UNOPS will publish on a project level basis.
Segmenting data for publication(The recommendation is to publish data segmented by country i.e. one data file for each country. Duplicate project data must not exist within different files, so projects targeting multiple countries or regional/worldwide by nature should be held within a non-country specific file(s). Is this a practical suggestion for your programme? How many projects are not specific to one country and what non-country files best suit your programme?)
Yes we can segment by country.
Do you intend to provide a user interface in addition to raw IATI data?(Will IATI data be accessible for end users through an existing or a new user interface on your website? [Note: this is not an IATI requirement])
We do have an existing user interface for data that we currently publish as part of our information disclosure policy although the data does not include the full IATI set. We do have plans to provide a user interface for the full IATI data set. This will be ready around Q1 2012.

4. What data will be published – data coverage for IATI implementation

Green / Able to publish
Orange / Able to publish but with either some caveats or some further work to do. Refer to publication notes.
Red / Unable to publish. Refer to publication notes.

Coverage: publish as much data as possible for all new and ongoing projects. For each data item:

Colour code according to the definitions above

When data can start being published(with reference to the overall timetable for publication described above in section 2, indicate when in the publication timetable this data item will be published)

Exclusions & thresholds(highlight any data specific thresholds or exclusions that you require for specific data items. Identify the reason the exclusion is sought:

a)Not applicable to organisation

b)A non-disclosure policy

c)Not currently captured and prohibitive cost

d)Other, specify)

Terminology used within donor systems(IATI aims to produce a glossary that maps the terminology used within the IATI standard to terminology used within donor agencies and international institutions. Please describe the term for each data item used within your organisation/systems)

Any issues or constraints relating to specific data items(add any notes relevant to public users about the publication of this data item and any reasons for orange or red coding)

Note: All items IATI Phase 1, unless indicated otherwise with hatched shading

a)Organisation

Note: definitions and code lists can be found at

Information Area
[to be colour coded as above] / Publication Date / Exclusions (a, b, or c) and Thresholds / Donor definition / Publication notes
Annual forward planning budget data for agency / Oct 2011
Annual forward planning budget data for funded institutions / a)
[PHASE 2] Annual forward planning budget data for countries / a)
Organisation documents (Phase 1 those already published; Phase 2 others) / Oct 2011

b)Activities

Note: definitions and code lists can be found at

Information Area
[to be colour coded as above] / Publication Date / Exclusions (a, b, or c) and Thresholds / Donor Definitions / Publication notes
Reporting Organisation / OCT 2011
Participating Organisation
(Funding) / OCT 2011
Participating Organisation
(Extending) / a)
Participating Organisation
(Implementing) / OCT 2011
Participating Organisation
(Accountable)
Recipient Country / OCT 2011
Recipient Region / OCT 2011
Collaboration Type / OCT 2011
Default Flow Type / OCT 2011
Default Aid Type / OCT 2011
Default Finance Type / OCT 2011
IATI activity identifier / OCT 2011
Other activity identifiers / a)
Activity Title(Agency language) / OCT 2011
Activity Title(Recipient language) / c)
Activity Description(Agency language) / OCT 2011
Activity Description(Recipient language) / c)
Sector(CRS) / OCT 2011
Sector (donor specific)
(UNDER DEVELOPMENT) Recipient Country Budget Identifier
Activity Dates(Start Date) / OCT 2011
Activity Dates(End Date) / OCT 2011
Default Tied Aid Status / OCT 2011
Policy/ Thematic Markers / a)
Activity Status / OCT 2011
Activity Contacts / OCT 2011
Activity Web Site / OCT 2011
Related Activity / a)
Financial transaction
(Commitment) / OCT 2011
Financial transaction
(Disbursement & Expenditure) / OCT 2011
Financial transaction
(Reimbursement)
Financial transaction
(Incoming Funds) / OCT 2011
Financial transaction
(Loan repayment / interest repayment) / a)
Activity Budget / OCT 2011
Planned Disbursements / a)
Activity Documents (Phase 1 those already published; Phase 2 others) / Additional cleanup is necessary, no estimate of when feasible.
Conditions attached Y/N
(OPTIONAL)
Text of Conditions
(OPTIONAL)
Results data* / Under investigation, will follow debate on the standard
(OPTIONAL) Sub-national Geographic Location / Costly but feasibility being investigated for future

*The suggested format for results data is a model to allow those that already publish resultsas data to do so in an internationally comparable format, should they so wish. Shouldfuture international agreementselsewhere on results data supersede the suggested data format, this will be updated accordingly.

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