ENGINEERING STANDARDIZATION AND DESIGN CENTRE

NEWSLETTER
Engineering Standardization and web-based application as soon as
Design Centre possible, to host the Engineering
October 2009 United Nations Logistics Base Database in the near future. However,
Volume 2 Brindisi, Italy initially the ESDC will run both Lotus
esdc@unlb.org Notes and Sharepoint in parallel until
© 2009 ESDC the new system is functioning well with
all users being familiar with SharePoint.
LOTUS NOTES Only then will the beloved Lotus Notes
system vanish forever!

Inside the ESDC

What is Sharepoint?
vs. SharePoint is a web-based collaboration
and document management platform

1
LOTUS NOTES vs.
SHAREPOINT
SHAREPOINT from Microsoft. It can be used to host
web sites, access shared workspaces,
Who will win??? documents and specialized applications,
Who will win??? from within a browser.
One year after GROOVE
2 Was it worth the trouble? Pamela Treveri and Christian Henze

WELCOME to the second edition of the

The new INTEGRATED ESDC Newsletter. We will circulate
3 MISSION, HQ and CAMP
PLANNING TEMPLATES
this letter from time to time in order to
keep all engineers and friends updated
What has changed? on developments in the Engineering
Standardization and Design Centre.
Who is building my camp
4 in the future?
The new SOR Templates
One year after the introduction of the
first ever Engineering Database, we
are shifting away from Lotus Notes and Engineering SharePoint (Test Version)
developing a new web-based system.
The ESDC and Mission Windows SharePoint offers proper

4 Support
Eye to eye with UNSOA
Currently, the Engineering Database
consists of more than 5 GB of relevant
data and is growing perpetually. For this
collaboration and document
management functionality by means of
web portals, as well as browser-based
and MINURCAT reason, we don’t feel that Lotus Notes
management and administration. It
can serve as our database in the
allows creation of document libraries,
What is up in the ESDC?
5 foreseeable future. Therefore, the ESDC
has been testing new Systems to replace
Lotus Notes.
which are collections of files that can be
shared for collaborative editing.

One of the applications we tested was

Xythos. However, unfortunately it
failed to meet our primary requirements.
The new candidate now is SharePoint.
After having conducted a first
successful internal test, the ESDC
involved UNIFIL in order to receive
information about the connectivity and
download speed in the mission
environment, and the test proved SharePoint provides access and revision
successful. Therefore, we are now control for documents in a library (as
moving ahead and will shift to this new e.g. our future Standards Library).

1 . . . . . . . . . 3 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter

October 2009
SharePoint includes web components
such as workspaces and dashboards,
navigation tools, lists, alerts (including
e-mail alerts), shared calendar, contact
lists and discussion boards.
SharePoint provides a single, integrated
location where users can efficiently
collaborate with team members, find
organizational resources, search for
experts and corporate information and
manage content and workflow. Its
platform of services provides the
following:
• Collaboration
Allows teams to work together
effectively, collaborate on and publish
documents, implement workflows, and
share information.
• Portals
Create a personal MySite portal to share
information with others and personalize
user experience and content of a Web
site based on the user’s profile.
• Search
Quickly and easily find people,
expertise, and content in applications.
• Content Management
Create and manage documents, records,
and Web content.
• Process and Forms
Create workflows and electronic forms
to automate and streamline our
processes.
• Intelligence
Allows the user to easily access critical
information and to analyze and view
data, and publish reports.
But, what makes SharePoint the best
choice for Engineering???
There are some interesting and useful
features in SharePoint that will mark a
big difference in comparison with Lotus
Notes, making everything much easier
and faster:
• Users can upload multiple
documents in one shot.
• It will be possible to send file links
in order to address users to specific
data (this will have a significant
impact in the improvement of the
“Mission, HQ and Camp Planning
Template(s)”).
2 . . . . . . . . . .
ESDC-Newsletter
In this regard, please note that the world, whatever the mission, online or
ESDC is very grateful to UNIFIL for offline, access to UN network or not. As
providing feedback for various new long you are traveling with your laptop
proposed software/systems and always you have unlimited access and receiving
being pro-active users of all our tools! all updates where- and whenever you
Special thanks also to UNLB CITS for are in reach of the internet.
developing new applications and
providing daily support to suit ESDC
requirements!
ONE YEAR AFTER
GROOVE!
Was it worth the trouble?
The ESDC checked this system in
Pamela Treveri and Christian Henze UNLB, UNHQ, MINURCAT (Djamena
and Abeche) and recently in UNSOA
(Nairobi, Mombasa and Mogadishu)
One year after the introduction of the
and it worked 100% of the time.
first ever Engineering Virtual
Workspaces using Groove software Therefore, we are now ready for the
and the implementation of the ESDC next step and to upgrade to GROOVE
COLLECTIVE we are taking stock. 2007 in order to link documents from
the Groove Workspace(s) directly to the
Firstly, we can say that the Groove
Engineering SharePoint.
Community has increased considerably.
Almost all the Engineering Section staff Please get in contact with us for
from NYHQ have access to our upgrading your current Groove Version
workspaces, likewise engineering staff to Version 2007. Once approved, some
from different field missions. Currently, things have to be done by yourself
the ESDC Workspace has more than 40 before you can benefit from this system:
staff members participating from more (1) set up your account and regularly
than 20 different missions. use it at least every 60 days, preferably
Also, during this first year more people you open Groove whenever you start
your computer; (2) download the ESDC
have become familiar with the use of
workspace and other relevant
Groove, realizing the benefits of such a
workspaces, if for the first time over
tool by addressing their needs and
night as the data transfer in missions is
receiving support from other missions
or the ESDC itself. In addition to the very low; (3) open the relevant
Engineering Database that serves workspace(s) for you from time to time
missions as first source to download (especially before you travel to remote
locations) in order to get the latest
data, the ESDC supported various
updates of all data.
missions by providing specific required
data through extra workspaces.
But, was it really such a good idea
and did we change something?
The answer straight away is YES. Not
only that we connected all mission
engineers at various locations around
the globe and easily exchanged tons of
important data and information. It
turned out that the most important
reason for being connected to the ESDC
COLLECTIVE is that you have access
ESDC workspace (GROOVE)
to all workspace data at any place in the
3 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter
October 2009
ESDC workspace (GROOVE)
However, even if users from 20 Field
Missions, UNLB and UNHQ are
connected, UN staff are not using this
excellent tool to the extent necessary
that every user would benefit in the
same way. Currently, the majority of
users from missions and UNHQ are
only using this tool in the moment they
are in need of something rather than
contributing and keeping themselves
regularly active in the workspace(s).
The big exceptions are users from
UNIFIL who are very active and
provide useful data and information and
support our colleagues in other
missions. But the ESDC is confident
that more missions will follow the
example of UNIFIL in the future
especially if more users are connected.
In this regard, the ESDC strongly
encourages all engineering staff to
actively participate in our Groove
workspaces and those who have not yet
gained access, to ask for it. Simply
forward the approval from your Chief
Engineer to the ESDC. Depending on
available licenses, we will request a
Groove Version 2007 account for you.
The new integrated
MISSION, HQ &
CAMP PLANNING
TEMPLATES
What has changed?
Christian Henze
The ESDC developed and released in
the past a merged Trial HQ and Camp
Planning Template (V1-06) that
3 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter
ESDC-Newsletter
provided all Engineering data required UNSOA. This is the reason that the
to plan a Mission HQ, Police HQ, Force Camp Planning Template has also been
HQ, Logbase, FPU- and Military camps made available as detached Trial Camp
including Level 1 and 2 Hospitals in Planning Template (V1-07) Version.
accordance with UN-DPKO guidelines.
On this basis, the new generation has
been updated and extended to the first
Integrated Mission Planning
Template (V1-07) providing all
required numbers in order to, e.g. better
plan our budget, standardize all design,
prepare layout plans, organize suitable
sites, order all required items from
existing systems contracts/SDS or to
prepare local systems contracts, etc.
ESDC Camp Planning Template V 1-070
In contrast, the HQ Planning Template
unfortunately did not achieve the same
success mainly for the reasons that there
are not so many HQs to plan as there are
Camps. However, the new generation of
the HQ Planning Template has
improved a lot and is now used even for
the planning of non green field options.
Each Template (Camp and HQ) works
independently within the Mission
Planning Template and can also be used
ESDC Integrated Mission Planning Template V 1-07
solely for its intended purpose
This new template consists of the disregarding any other template.
already known Camp Planning
In this context, the ESDC finally created
Template, the recently introduced HQ
the missing Engineering Part of the SDS
Planning Template and a newly
catalogue (Special Thanks to Lars
designed Budget Planning Template.
Hansen) and provided a link from the
Also, all feedback from missions has
been implemented into the new
template in order to provide access to
information on tools and materials.
generation templates, which are much
more advanced than their predecessors,
but still as easy to handle. The
philosophy that complete and reliable
numbers have to be provided on the
basis of either very limited (as e.g. from
the Security Council Resolution
Document) or detailed information
proved to be the most efficient concept.
Currently, the Camp Planning Template
is the most sophisticated tool for the
planning and design of Military- and
FPU camps and is being used by several
missions already, e.g. MINURCAT and SDS Catalogue Webpage [www.sds-catalogue.dpko.un.org]
. . . . . . . . . . . 3
October 2009
Consequently, together with the
implementation of the new web based
database, the ESDC will be able to
directly link every systems contract,
amendment, layout plan, SOR/SOW,
specification, manual and drawing to
the future Engineering Sharepoint
which was impossible with Lotus Notes.
All templates including respective Link
folder are available as download in the
ESDC Workspace. In addition the
templates are available in the current
Engineering Database (Lotus Notes)
and Mission Workspaces, e.g. UNSOA-
and MINURCAT Workspaces.
ESDC HQ Planning Template V 1-07
4 . . . . . . . . . .
In summary, all templates are important
tools to support Engineering Sections in
field missions to standardize and
improve their design, streamline assets
and equipment, provide easy access to
information and expertise, and increase
savings in costs and time.
Who is building my
camp in the future?
The new SOR Templates
Paola De Mauro and Pamela Treveri
The ESDC is developing a Standardized
Statement of Requirements (SOR) for
outsourcing the construction of
engineering installations in field
missions. This SOR will facilitate the
quick and efficient implementation of
urgently needed works where missions
need to be set up or expanded within
critical time constraints in the face of
changing priorities and in the absence of
required expertise on the ground.
The SOR for outsourcing construction
works at this stage will cover basic
camp installations such as:
• the erection of prefabricated
buildings (single, three and six
module);
• the erection of ablution units;
• the construction of septic tanks and
soakage pits;
• the construction of security fencing
and lighting;
• the construction of pathways/
walkways;
• the construction/erection of security
watchtowers;
• the erection of T-walls;
• the construction of generator retainer
basins.
The first design packages (prefabricated
buildings, ablution units, septic tanks
and soakage pits) have been released as
trial versions already and posted into the
Groove ESDC Workspace and the
Engineering Database awaiting
feedback from all missions and HQ.
3 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter
ESDC-Newsletter
The complete design packages for the
erection of T-walls and the construction
of generator retainer basins are currently
ongoing and will be distributed as trial
versions in November.
In this regard, the ESDC is requesting
all missions to provide feedback and to
use these design packages. All trial
versions will be periodically updated
and improved.
The ESDC and
Mission Support
Eye to eye with UNSOA
and MINURCAT
Paola De Mauro and Christian Henze
In May 2009, the ESDC supported
MINURCAT* on the ground for four
weeks.
[*The Security Council, by its resolution
1778, approved the United Nations Mission
in the Central African Republic and Chad
(MINURCAT), in concert with the European
Union, of a multidimensional presence
intended to help create the security
conditions conducive to a voluntary, secure
and sustainable return of refugees and
displaced persons.]
Sunari Silva and Christian Henze, were
tasked to design the Detachement
Integre de Securite (DIS) Police HQ,
Police Stations and Police Posts in East
Chad, near the with Sudan.
The ESDC conducted assessments of
several sites, e.g. Abeche, GozBeida
and Farchana in order to design the
Police HQ, six (6) Police Stations and
thirteen (13) Police Posts, including
dormitory accommodation.
Temporary Police HQ in Abeche, Chad
October 2009
The ESDC developed five (5) concept
designs for prefabricated structures and
five (5) concept designs for permanent
structures. Finally, as only the
permanent option has been approved
and signed off by the Chadian
authorities, the ESDC also provided
respective Specifications, Scope of
Work and Bill of Quantities for this
project.
DIS 70man Police Station
In addition, the ESDC was involved in
assessing the suitability of a site
within the Police Academy compound
to serve as the proposed dormitory
accommodation for 250 trainees.
Furthermore, the ESDC prepared the
preliminary design of the camp layouts
in Bahai, Guereda, Koukou and Birao
following UN Guidelines, Engineering
Manuals, the HQ & Camp Planning
Templates and basic requirements
provided by the Mission Engineers.
Koukou Camp Layout – Preliminary Design
Later in August, the ESDC adapted the
proposed preliminary layouts to the (at
that time identified by GIS satellite
images/maps) sites/locations and
participated in the preparation of the
tender documents.
The second mission supported on the
ground was UNSOA*.
[*The United Nations Support Office for
AMISOM (UNSOA) is a field support
operation led by the United Nations
Department of Field Support (DFS). The
3 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter
logistics package consists of equipment and
mission support services and aims to assist
AMISOM in its mandate to support the
transitional governmental structures,
implement a national security plan, train the
Somali security forces, and to assist in
creating a secure environment for the
delivery of humanitarian aid.]
Christian Henze (ESDC) together with
Christopher Herloff-Petersen (UNMIS)
and Andres Gomez-Jimenez (UNLB)
supported UNSOA for three months
(June until August) in order to design
the permanent option of the Mission HQ
and Force HQ in Mogadishu and the
Logistics Support Base in Mombasa.
MHQ and Force HQ in Mogadishu, Somalia
Mombasa Support Base, Kenya
In addition, further important projects
such as e.g. the HQ construction in
Nairobi, the design of military camps in
Mogadishu, the Engineering Budget for
2009/10, the implementation of design
packages for various military camps
including Specifications, SOW and
BOQ, have been supported by using
ESDC tools and templates.
UNSOA HQ in Nairobi, Kenya
. . . . . . . . . . .
ESDC-Newsletter
All this experience, working on the
ground in Chad, Kenya and Somalia and
contributing via the various workspaces
and the Engineering Database from our
office in UNLB gave us the chance to
test and improve all our tools and
templates on “real case” scenarios.
What is up in the
ESDC?
Pamela Treveri and Christian Henze
In the middle of our operation
supporting MINURCAT, we received
the sad news that the ‘father’ of the
ESDC will not continue as OIC
Engineering anymore. We would like to
use this Newsletter to thank Russ Doran
for bringing the ESDC into existence
and for his strong support and guidance.
Thank you Russ!
Also, our Deputy Chief, Sunari Silva,
left the ESDC at the end of August, to
join the Facilities Management Service
(FMS) at UNHQ in New York. We all
wish her good luck and all the best for
her future career development, and
would like to express special thanks for
her contribution to the great success of
the ESDC in its first 18 months.
Sunari, we are missing you!
The Three ladies of the ESDC: Sunari, Pamela and Paola
Christian Henze and Sunari Silva in Chad
5