FEWS NET Hub Quarterly Performance Report Q2 FY2021 (January-March 2021)_FINAL

The Hub's primary objective is to ensure the DMP is functioning optimally, providing accurate and timely data to support early warning and decision-making processes. During the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 (January to March 2021), the Hub made significant improvements to the DMP, including the automation of regional-level Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) shapefile production, development of a Commodity Balance Sheet Domain in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE), and enhancement of the FDE's Spatial Domain. These improvements aimed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the DMP, enabling users to extract demographic data corresponding to administrative-level shapefiles in FEWS NET countries. The Hub also conducted internal audits to ensure compliance with USAID regulations and standards. The FEWS NET Data Warehouse (FDW) uptime from January 1 to March 31 was 99.91 percent, exceeding the target annual threshold of 99.70 percent. The Hub released three major FDW/FDE updates, adding 139 new features, changes, and improvements to the system. In addition to DMP improvements, the Hub managed and maintained the fews.net website, responding to and resolving Helpdesk inquiries, and making six public-facing releases to maintain the secure and disruption-free functioning of the platform. The website achieved an uptime of 99.99 percent during the quarter, exceeding the TO contract requirement of 99.70 percent. The Hub's Knowledge and Learning (K&L) workstream focused on developing the FEWS NET-wide Outreach Strategy, an Implementation Year 2 (IY2) deliverable. The Hub integrated data documentation into the monthly Data Sprints, providing structure and resources for this work in future quarters. The Hub also expanded its support of three Early Warning (EW) team project offices with email communications. The Hub's Management workstream focused on improving communications and collaboration between the Hub and the rest of the FEWS NET implementing team, as well as working with USAID to build links to the greater food security community. The Hub worked with USAID to shift time allocation between staffing categories to increase productivity and provided an analysis of budgeted versus actual spending-to-date with projections through the end of the Base Period to support forward planning for TO 1's first Option Year. Overall, the FEWS NET Hub's efforts during the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 aimed to enhance the DMP's functionality, improve data management and dissemination, and strengthen collaboration and communication within the FEWS NET system.