Data Entry (for Focal Points)

Login and passwords

Once UN Agencies select a Focal Point (Hereafter ‘FP’), they will notify the RCO and be provided with a login (typically their email address), and a temporary password. To access the EPD, FPs should:

1. Login using the link in the top right of the EPD.
2. Immediately change their temporary password after the first login.

If a password is forgotten, the FP may contact the RCO to request a reset.

Data entry

Coverage
FPs should enter information on all ongoing activities. An “activity” refers to any project or programme. If it is not possible to report on projects/programmes, an agency may use outputs to report in the EPD.

Update frequency
Regular updates are required on a quarterly basis. Typically, this involves updating the financial disbursements for ongoing activities.

• Mark activities as “closed” when they conclude.
• Where quarterly information is not available, it can be estimated e.g. for quarterly disbursements, and correct it late when confirmed information is available.

Entering new and planned projects
Add new activities that start within the budget year. FPs may also enter activities that are planned but have not yet started. This is useful for fundraising, and for coordinating future support.

Data sources
FPs can populate activity data using one of two methods:

1. Import from IATI: FPs can select between importing data from IATI (as published by many Agency HQs). If IATI data is used, manual data entry will still be needed for Ethiopia specific fields (not available in IATI data), and can be used for any adjustments that focal points may wish to make. Where data is imported from IATI, the financial data will be kept up to date automatically, with input from the FP.
2. Manual Entry: Copy data from your agency’s internal systems, projects documents, or reports from implementing partners.

Adding new activities

• Log in to the EPD.
• Select the menu item [Activities].
• Click the green button labelled [Add new activity]. Alternatively, click the link here.

Manual data entry

1. Fill in all fields manually on the data entry tabs [Basic] and [Sectors]
2. At the bottom, click the button [Add activity; add detailed data »] to save the activity into the EPD
3. Once saved, the form becomes autosave-enabled: the data will automatically save as you type in any field
4. Addition data entry tabs will be available for you to select and fill in

IATI data entry

1. Click the [search] button in the top-right box labelled “Attempt to prefill from IATI”
2. Search for your IATI activity
   • Use your Agency’s code for the activity.
   • Alternatively, you can search for the activity using the D-portal site, to obtain the IATI ID of the activity. Select your Agency under the dropdown ‘Reporting Organisation’, and filtering the dates/sector should also make it easier.
3. Once you have located the relevant activity, select it to pre-fill the data entry form with data from IATI.
   • Alternatively, you can use the ‘Manage Agency’ page, to see which activities have currently been imported from IATI, and if there are any outstanding.
4. Review and complete the data
   • Check all pre-filled fields and update them if necessary
   • Manually fill in any Ethiopia-specific fields that are not available in the IATIS data
   • Fields that are imported from IATI data can also be reviewed on the ‘Manage Agency’ page, to quickly see where manual data entry is needed to complement the IATI data.
5. Several fields are automatically mapped (converted) upon IATI import e.g. from DAC CRS sectors or Humanitarian Clusters (which many HQs publish) to CF and SDG Sectors, therefore please check these conversions against your understanding and correct them where needed. The same applies to several Tags e.g. for HPD.

Excel data entry

1. FPs can use Excel for bulk updates. Navigate to the ‘Export data’ menu.
2. Click the ‘download template’ to obtain the file.
3. Update the data within the downloaded file. Do not modify column headers or add new rows.
4. Use the ‘import template’ feature to upload the updated Excel sheet and sync changes into the EPD.

Minimum fields
FPs are expected to fill out all fields for a project. However, please ensure that the following minimum fields are included during the initial entry, so that the project is visible to users of the site.

• Non-Cooperation Framework/UNINFO relevant activity: Name, Start/End date, Status, SDG Goal, Budget, Commitments, and Disbursements to date.
• Cooperation Framework/UNINFO relevant projects - additional to the above: the CF Priority Areas, CF Outputs, and CF Sub-outputs, all found on the ‘Sectors’ data entry tab.

Locations/Geocoding: Multiple locations can be entered for each activity (from region/city administration to zone and woreda). For activities which are implemented with the federal or regional government, please also select the appropriate options such as ‘Federal’, or ‘Regional’.

Regional/cross-border projects: When entering regional projects, ensure that only the financial amounts relevant to Ethiopia are included, and check that only the implementing organisations active in Ethiopia are included.

Data quality

Data quality is important to make the data usable. The following is a list of checks that FPs should perform regularly.
Core data checks

• Project titles: Ensure names are clear, concise, and free of Agency codes or obscure acronyms. They should be understandable and display well in the lists.
• Project end dates: Verify that end dates are current and reflect any extensions or early completions.

Using EPD data quality pages
Several EPD pages directly address data quality issues:

• Desk Officer page: Under the section ‘Data quality over time’ you can see where financial data has been entered, and at the top right of that table, if you change it to ‘values’ more specific financial data allows you to assess in more detail whether the data is likely to be accurate.
• Data quality issues: Under the section ‘Data Quality Issues’ a number of common issues are shown. Select the ‘by activity’ tab to see which activities are affected.

Key quality focus areas

Standardization of funder and implementer organisation names
To prevent data fragmentation, all organizations (funders and implementers) must use standardized names.

• To reduce this effect, the RCO will provide an approved list of standardised organisation names, and approaches to naming organisations.
• FPs must review their activities and update organization names to match this list.
• This also applies to organisation names coming from IATI data which can be manually overwritten.

Review disbursements

• Navigate to the ‘Project Disbursements’ page under the ‘Reports’ menu
• Use this report to identify activities where actual disbursements exceed planned disbursements or the activity budget, or where disbursements are far lower than expected. This may indicate a data quality issue.

Check recently ended/ending projects

• Navigate to the ‘Activities ending soon’ page under the ‘Reports’ menu
• Apply filters to view your agency’s projects
• Check for projects that have ended or are ending soon to confirm their end dates and or their final financial state are updated.

What is double counting: Double counting occurs when two FPs enter the same activity, typically when one UN Agency gives money to another UN Agency, or where two UN Agencies are working on the same activity, and both report the full value of the activity - in both cases, the same activity is reported multiple times.

Approach to reducing double counting: The EPD approach is that when one UN Agency gives money to another UN agency, only the receiving (typically also the implementing) agency should report the financial figures - clearly indicating the funding agency as a donor. Where there are more than one UN agencies implementing an activity (e.g. for joint programmes), each agency should only report on their allocated budget instead of the total programme budget.

To check for double counting: Aside from ensuring that they do not report activities where another UN Agency is the implementer, FPs should use the ‘Activities’ report to see if another UN Agency has reported an activity where they are an implementer. After accessing the Activities page, FPs can use the filters to see if there are any activities where they are included as an ‘Implementer’. The FPs can check the ‘Agency’ column on the found activities to see where the activity is reported by another Agency, and from there resolve which UN Agency should be reporting the activity.

Reporting to other systems

UNINFO: As of December 2025, the UNINFO API to enable automatic upload of data from the EPD to UNINFO has not been made available by UNINFO. Once available, UNINFO reporting will be made significantly easier as the EPD will already contain the relevant projects, and many of the required fields. UNINFO relevant activities/joint projects (perhaps assisted by a Tag for ‘UNINFO reporting’) should be exported to Excel, and then copied over to the UNINFO reporting sheet. This process will be coordinated by Results Groups with the support of the RCO.

GoE AIMS: Reporting to the GoE AIMS has been discussed, and the GoE are expected to utilise the IATI export feature, see the link at the bottom of the ‘Export data’ page. Discussion will be needed to avoid double counting, as it is expected that the majority of EPD activities may already be entered into the AIMS by the funding donors/partners.