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Get Stoked - End Poverty. One Line of Code at a Time.

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MentorsNayan Ambali(plus Michael Vorburger, as needed)
Overview & ObjectivesMFIs have requested the ability for both inbound and outbound SMS communication. This project will focus on Inbound SMS Integration, as part of client protection, client has right know about her/his account information at any time any where.
Description

In outbound SMS notification MFI decides when and what information need to be sent to client, but as part of client protection, client has complete rights to request for information about her/his account details(any time any where). Using inbound SMS client can query for her account details such loan amount, status of new loan application, outstanding loan amount.

Helpful Skills Java, SQL , JavaScript , Git
Impact

Transparency and client protection.

Other ResourcesSee SMS Integration and Outbound SMS

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Client Impact Portal

MentorsNayan AmbaliSander van der Heyden 
Overview & Objectives

Because of regulatory reasons or to do background check of a client (risk management), MFIs depend on credit bureaus. As part of it, MFI must submit client details to credit bureau and also need to pull client information from credit bureau before approving any new loans to a client.Mifos X can be integrated with a popular CBs in India and from other regions (based on the demand).

Description

This will be an optional module inside Mifos X, and this module can be turned on/off based on the institutes requirements. And will be flexible to configure with different CBs (may not be practical to integrate with all CBs).

The major functionality will be sending the data to CBs on regular intervals in the format CB expects. And option to pull the client’s information from CB whenever loan officer/branch manager/ user wants to view the information for a particular client.Microfinance institutions usually work with various external parties, such as funders or investors. Using the data that is available in MifosX we would like to offer those stakeholders a seperate portal showing accurate and high-level information about the institution that would otherwise be reported manually by the institution. This information helps them in their decision making processes, but also enables them to assess the broader impact they are having with their funding.

Description

To develop a portal that aggregates information from different Mifos X deployments and report on predefined social and operational metrics

Objectives:

  • Implement back-end logic in MifosX required to make information available to the client impact portal
  • Implement UI and back-end logic of the Client impact portal
Helpful Skills SQL, Java, Javascript, Git, Web Services, Big Data (Hadoop, Hive)
Impact

The credit report shows account information such as repayment record, defaults, type of loan, amount of loan, etc. of the customer. This information facilitates prudent decision-making when the credit underwriter processes the loan application. This help MFI to reduce the risk of bad loans and reduces the multiple lendings to same person from different MFIs.

Other Resources 

Clean Energy Integration

MentorsJames Dailey
Overview & Objectives

MFIs are interested in becoming a channel for clean energy products - such as solar home systems, water purifiers, or improved cookstoves. With international partners like barefoot power, dlight, or MicroEnergy Credits, or local partners like Grameen Greenway or HUL, MFIs need a way to take orders and hand off data to appropriate partners for order-fulfillment, warranty management, and after-sales service. Integrating a single customer view including their financing of specific clean energy products.

Description
  1. Build a module that extends loan product definition to include specific physical product ordering - e.g. a clean energy loan associated with a specific solar product. Create a daily batch process to send data in JSON or XML to appropriate third party system (e.g. MEC Tracker). Extend this to include "down payments" on the product purchase - i.e. only partially financed.
  2. Build a supplier ordering/invoice & financial reconciliation process and transfer funds directly to "Supplier Account" upon fulfillment of order.
  3. Create reports on aging of orders, fulfillment timing, and geographic spread.
Helpful Skills  SQLFunders and investors are vital for almost all MFI's, providing them with accurate information on the impact they are making with each of their MFI's is something they highly value and that enables them to assess whether they want to further support the MFI's moving forward to enable growth of the MFI.
Other Resources

Data Analytics & Client Insight - Are we making an impact? (Client Impact Portal demo)

Client Impact Portal POC - (mifos/password are login credentials)

Credit Bureau Integration

MentorsNayan Ambali
Overview & Objectives

Because of regulatory reasons or to do background check of a client (risk management), MFIs depend on credit bureaus. As part of it, MFI must submit client details to credit bureau and also need to pull client information from credit bureau before approving any new loans to a client.Mifos X can be integrated with a popular CBs in India and from other regions (based on the demand).

Description

This will be an optional module inside Mifos X, and this module can be turned on/off based on the institutes requirements. And will be flexible to configure with different CBs (may not be practical to integrate with all CBs).

The major functionality will be sending the data to CBs on regular intervals in the format CB expects. And option to pull the client’s information from CB whenever loan officer/branch manager/ user wants to view the information for a particular client.

Helpful Skills SQL, Java, Javascript, Git, Web ServicesImpactMFIs become more capable of integrating with third party systems for management of deliveries, after-sales service, and carbon tracking, Big Data (Hadoop, Hive)
Impact

The credit report shows account information such as repayment record, defaults, type of loan, amount of loan, etc. of the customer. This information facilitates prudent decision-making when the credit underwriter processes the loan application. This help MFI to reduce the risk of bad loans and reduces the multiple lendings to same person from different MFIs.

Other Resources 

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Clean Energy Integration

 SQL
MentorsJames Dailey
Overview & Objectives

Pay-as-you-go mobile phones have revolutionized access to telecom, the same can be done with solar energy access. Off-grid installations of PVC panels and batteries can be pared with a mobile payment mechanism to allow clients to purchase power "as they use it". This functionality will allow organizations to become involved with 3rd party providers of solar systems.

Description
  1. Create a pre-paid account mechanism as an account type or account option in Mifos (perhaps extending existing classes), zero fees.
  2. Create a new API for consuming pre-paid account balances.  
  3. Create a simple external model that mimics consumption by a household on a daily basis - imagined as a set of data received from solar panel (watts used, time of day, volts present).  
  4. Load up pre-paid account by account transfer in P2P interface (my phone to your account) or via trusted agent - i.e. trusted agent receives cash and loads account on Mifos.
Helpful Skills

MFIs are interested in becoming a channel for clean energy products - such as solar home systems, water purifiers, or improved cookstoves. With international partners like barefoot power, dlight, or MicroEnergy Credits, or local partners like Grameen Greenway or HUL, MFIs need a way to take orders and hand off data to appropriate partners for order-fulfillment, warranty management, and after-sales service. Integrating a single customer view including their financing of specific clean energy products.

Description
  1. Build a module that extends loan product definition to include specific physical product ordering - e.g. a clean energy loan associated with a specific solar product. Create a daily batch process to send data in JSON or XML to appropriate third party system (e.g. MEC Tracker). Extend this to include "down payments" on the product purchase - i.e. only partially financed.
  2. Build a supplier ordering/invoice & financial reconciliation process and transfer funds directly to "Supplier Account" upon fulfillment of order.
  3. Create reports on aging of orders, fulfillment timing, and geographic spread.
Helpful Skills  SQL, Java, Javascript, Git, Web Services
Impact

Providers of pay-as-you-go solar can use MIFOS for their operations. MFIs can become such providers.

Other ResourcesMobile project on MifosX

Business Rules Engine

MentorsNayan Ambali
Overview & Objectives

A business rule system enables these financial institutes policies and other operational decisions to be defined, tested, executed. Rule engines typically support rules, facts, priority (score), mutual exclusion, preconditions, and other functions.

This module will enable MFI admin to add, remove or modify the business rule against pre-defined work flows in the application.

Description

As financial institutes, the business process of the institute is governed by local regulatory, and internal rules and rules defined by other other stake holders. And MIS should have provision to define these rules in the application to achive the objectives of these rules defined by various stake holders.

Example: Insurance company does not provider insurance to any person above 65 age. In that case in the MIS if users tries to attach a insurance feed to a client's loan account whos age is more than 65 years then "business rule engine" should prevent that action with appropriate message.

Helpful Skills

MFIs become more capable of integrating with third party systems for management of deliveries, after-sales service, and carbon tracking.

Other Resources 

Pay as you Go Solar Module

MentorsJames Dailey
Overview & Objectives

Pay-as-you-go mobile phones have revolutionized access to telecom, the same can be done with solar energy access. Off-grid installations of PVC panels and batteries can be pared with a mobile payment mechanism to allow clients to purchase power "as they use it". This functionality will allow organizations to become involved with 3rd party providers of solar systems.

Description
  1. Create a pre-paid account mechanism as an account type or account option in Mifos (perhaps extending existing classes), zero fees.
  2. Create a new API for consuming pre-paid account balances.  
  3. Create a simple external model that mimics consumption by a household on a daily basis - imagined as a set of data received from solar panel (watts used, time of day, volts present).  
  4. Load up pre-paid account by account transfer in P2P interface (my phone to your account) or via trusted agent - i.e. trusted agent receives cash and loads account on Mifos.
Helpful Skills SQL, Java, Javascript, Git, Web Services
ImpactIt helps MFIs to follow the compliance set for regulatory and various stake holder. Also reduces the fraudulent cases

Providers of pay-as-you-go solar can use MIFOS for their operations. MFIs can become such providers.

Other Resources Mobile project on MifosX

Business Rules Engine

Automation of Conversion of AngularJS Community App into Chrome App 

Mentors Nayan Ambali
Overview & Objectives

At present MIfos X platform is shipped with Community-App (SPA) as default UI, but initial load time of the application high. And for users on narrow bandwidth internet it takes a considerable amount of time to load the app.

Instead of loading the app every time, we can convert the Community-App into a Chrome App and user can download them once and install it ion the machine, and it can used as thick client.

Description

Community-App is completely developed on top of JavaScript, CSS and HTML. And Chrome apps are also written in same stack. Using grunt we should be able to repackage Community-App(SPA) into Community-App(Chrome App)

Helpful SkillsJavascript, AngularJS, Grunt
Impact

Users with slow internet connectivity can use this app (Installed on the machine) instead of loading Community-App (SPA) on the browser. Users will also have a continually updated app. This will also allow MFIs to potentially use Chromebooks as field-based devices for their branches.

Other Resources  http://developer.chrome.com/apps/angular_framework.html

Basic CRM Functionality - Inquiries/Complaints Module

MentorsBinny Gopinath Sreevas (Unlicensed)
Overview & Objectives

Right now Mifos X contains core client management functionalities including tracking basic demographic information, know your customer information, document management, and survey collection through data tables. As financial institutions serving the poor begin to offer a more in-depth and diverse range of financial inclusion products, the need for more robust client management and in-depth client understanding has grows. Their core system needs to provide more and more CRM-type functionality that complement the portfolio management and financial/social reporting the Mifos X provides.

This project will work to deliver the initial set of customer relationship management functionalities including a module for tracking inquiries, complaints

Description

This module will have a request management functionality. A request can be of 2 types: Complaints and Service Requests. Each request must be against a customer and optionally against an account of the customer. Each request will go through a simple workflow.

Actions that can be performed on a request:

Assign -> will change status to "assigned"

Start Work --> will change status to "in progress"

Close --> will change status to "closed" (with a sub-reason code)

At each step user can enter comments.

The customer summary screen will have a link to view the requests of the customer - along with a summary and current status - with option to click-through to get the complete history of each request.

Helpful Skills 
Impact

Deepening the client relationship and ensuring fair, responsible, and transparent financial services to the poor is a core piece of the industry's roadmap for financial inclusion. Providing customers the ability to voice their concerns and feedback about the services they're receiving provides a simple yet powerful tool to protect the client. Empowering the financial institution with the ability to track these inquiries and overall maintain a more holistic relationship tracking entire lifecycle of their clients gives them a much better ability to understand their clients and respond to their needs with appropriately designed services and products.

Other Resources 

Security Penetration testing

MentorsKojoG
Overview & Objectives

We believe the Mifos X platform is super secure and impenetrable. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prove us wrong, and help close gaps you may find.

Description

Beyond a one time exercise, you should integrate (some of) the tools you've used into our build chain so that, even after you've gone, tools flag up future newly introduced potential vulnerabilities.

Helpful SkillsCandidates applying for this project would ideally have prior experience in penetration testing, and document this in their application.
ImpactRe-assuring the more Entreprise-y type Mifos clients that they can safely bet on Mifos X as an MFI platform.
Other Resources

https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Main_Page

https://code.google.com/p/zaproxy/

http://wapiti.sourceforge.net

Run FindBugs & related tools for some serious static code analysis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration_test

Scalability testing, reports, infrastructure for ongoing test, documentation

MentorsVishwas Babu A J
Overview & Objectives

During last year's GSoC 2013, star student (and GSoC 2014 mentor) Anuruddha has greatly contributed to the scalability of the Mifos X by adding server-side pagination and distributed caching to the platform. This project's goal is to measure just how well we really scale - with concrete scenarios and hard numbers, and produce documentation about this helping organization who are evaluating Mifos.

Beyond a one time exercise, you should set up infrastructure we can keep using, and integrate A business rule system enables these financial institutes policies and other operational decisions to be defined, tested, executed. Rule engines typically support rules, facts, priority (score), mutual exclusion, preconditions, and other functions.

This module will enable MFI admin to add, remove or modify the business rule against pre-defined work flows in the application.

Description

As financial institutes, the business process of the institute is governed by local regulatory, and internal rules and rules defined by other other stake holders. And MIS should have provision to define these rules in the application to achive the objectives of these rules defined by various stake holders.

Example: Insurance company does not provider insurance to any person above 65 age. In that case in the MIS if users tries to attach a insurance feed to a client's loan account whos age is more than 65 years then "business rule engine" should prevent that action with appropriate message.

Helpful SkillsSQL, Java, Javascript, Git
ImpactIt helps MFIs to follow the compliance set for regulatory and various stake holder. Also reduces the fraudulent cases
Other Resources Business Rules Engine

Automation of Conversion of AngularJS Community App into Chrome App 

Mentors Nayan Ambali
Overview & Objectives

At present MIfos X platform is shipped with Community-App (SPA) as default UI, but initial load time of the application high. And for users on narrow bandwidth internet it takes a considerable amount of time to load the app.

Instead of loading the app every time, we can convert the Community-App into a Chrome App and user can download them once and install it ion the machine, and it can used as thick client.

Description

Community-App is completely developed on top of JavaScript, CSS and HTML. And Chrome apps are also written in same stack. Using grunt we should be able to repackage Community-App(SPA) into Community-App(Chrome App)

Helpful SkillsJavascript, AngularJS, Grunt
Impact

Users with slow internet connectivity can use this app (Installed on the machine) instead of loading Community-App (SPA) on the browser. Users will also have a continually updated app. This will also allow MFIs to potentially use Chromebooks as field-based devices for their branches.

Other Resources  http://developer.chrome.com/apps/angular_framework.html

Basic CRM Functionality - Inquiries/Complaints Module

MentorsBinny Gopinath Sreevas (Unlicensed)
Overview & Objectives

Right now Mifos X contains core client management functionalities including tracking basic demographic information, know your customer information, document management, and survey collection through data tables. As financial institutions serving the poor begin to offer a more in-depth and diverse range of financial inclusion products, the need for more robust client management and in-depth client understanding has grows. Their core system needs to provide more and more CRM-type functionality that complement the portfolio management and financial/social reporting the Mifos X provides.

This project will work to deliver the initial set of customer relationship management functionalities including a module for tracking inquiries, complaints

Description

This module will have a request management functionality. A request can be of 2 types: Complaints and Service Requests. Each request must be against a customer and optionally against an account of the customer. Each request will go through a simple workflow.

Actions that can be performed on a request:

Assign -> will change status to "assigned"

Start Work --> will change status to "in progress"

Close --> will change status to "closed" (with a sub-reason code)

At each step user can enter comments.

The customer summary screen will have a link to view the requests of the customer - along with a summary and current status - with option to click-through to get the complete history of each request.

Helpful Skills 
Impact

Deepening the client relationship and ensuring fair, responsible, and transparent financial services to the poor is a core piece of the industry's roadmap for financial inclusion. Providing customers the ability to voice their concerns and feedback about the services they're receiving provides a simple yet powerful tool to protect the client. Empowering the financial institution with the ability to track these inquiries and overall maintain a more holistic relationship tracking entire lifecycle of their clients gives them a much better ability to understand their clients and respond to their needs with appropriately designed services and products.

Other Resources 

Security Penetration testing

Sander van der Heyden 
MentorsKojoG
Overview & Objectives

We believe the Mifos X platform is super secure and impenetrable. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prove us wrong, and help close gaps you may find.

Description

Beyond a one time exercise, you should integrate (some of) the tools you've used into our build chain so that, even after you've gone, help us to keep up good perf.

Description

 tools flag up future newly introduced potential vulnerabilities.

Helpful Skills Candidates applying for this project would ideally have prior experience in penetration testing, and document this in their application.
ImpactRe-assuring the more Entreprise-y type Mifos clients that they can safely bet on Mifos X as an MFI platform.
Other ResourcesMentors

httphttps://twitterwww.githubowasp.ioorg/iago/httpindex.php/Main_Page

https://wwwcode.loadui.org (by the good people behind SOAPui)

Selenium WebDriver

https://jmeter.apache.orggoogle.com/p/zaproxy/

http://grinderwapiti.sourceforge.net/

Run FindBugs & related tools for some serious static code analysis

http://openstaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Client Impact Portal

Scalability testing, reports, infrastructure for ongoing test, documentation

Data Analytics & Client Insight - Are we making an impact? (Client Impact Portal demo)
MentorsVishwas Babu A J
Overview & Objectives

Microfinance institutions usually work with various external parties, such as funders or investors. Using the data that is available in MifosX we would like to offer those stakeholders a seperate portal showing accurate and high-level information about the institution that would otherwise be reported manually by the institution. This information helps them in their decision making processes, but also enables them to assess the broader impact they are having with their funding.

Description

To develop a portal that aggregates information from different Mifos X deployments and report on predefined social and operational metrics

Objectives:

  • Implement back-end logic in MifosX required to make information available to the client impact portal
  • Implement UI and back-end logic of the Client impact portal
Helpful Skills SQL, Java, Javascript, Git, Web Services
ImpactFunders and investors are vital for almost all MFI's, providing them with accurate information on the impact they are making with each of their MFI's is something they highly value and that enables them to assess whether they want to further support the MFI's moving forward to enable growth of the MFI.
Other Resources

During last year's GSoC 2013, star student (and GSoC 2014 mentor) Anuruddha has greatly contributed to the scalability of the Mifos X by adding server-side pagination and distributed caching to the platform. This project's goal is to measure just how well we really scale - with concrete scenarios and hard numbers, and produce documentation about this helping organization who are evaluating Mifos.

Beyond a one time exercise, you should set up infrastructure we can keep using, and integrate the tools you've used into our build chain so that, even after you've gone, help us to keep up good perf.

Description

 

Helpful Skills 
ImpactRe-assuring the more Entreprise-y type Mifos clients that they can safely bet on Mifos X as an MFI platform.
Other Resources

http://twitter.github.io/iago/

http://www.loadui.org (by the good people behind SOAPui)

Selenium WebDriver

https://jmeter.apache.org/

http://grinder.sourceforge.net/

http://opensta.org/

UI meta modeling, making screen adaption a configuration instead of coding activity

MentorsMichael Vorburger  
Overview & Objectives

The AngularJS-based Mifos X UI, like most of today's AngularJS-based or really most web apps, is "coded out" with JavaScript & HTML partial views. This project aims to explore and deliver at least partially working solution, based on and applied to Mifos X UI as a "case study", how web UI of modern SPA web applications can be "modeled" (described), and "generated" (at build, or better, runtime right within the browser). Advantages of such a model driven (MDA / MDD) approach incl. that less technical users can change screen definitions themselves, and that changes to the underlying technical architecture (e.g. AngularJS version and other JS frameworks used) ideally only affect the generators, not the functional screen models.

Description

You could base this on ongoing explorations in https://github.com/vorburger/MUI.js, and using EFactory / ESON as model syntax (see https://github.com/vorburger/efactory; ESON a JSON-like EMF Xtext technology which is currently being incubated as a formal eclipse.org project). The goal and expected outcome of this project isn't some write up, but actually running code.

Helpful SkillsConceptual Modeling, JavaScript, advanced AngularJS, curious and creative mind, capability to actually deliver
ImpactEnable the Mifos X UI to be much more easily customized and adapted by end-users
Other Resourcessee links above 

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MentorsVishwas Babu A J
Overview & Objectives

MIfos X platform is shipped with a Community-App (SPA) as the default UI which is optimized for Web Browser display on large screens (Mobile, Laptops and Tablets). We need to extend the same to support mobile views (with minor changes to workflow) and provide offline functionality

Description

Community-App is completely developed on top of JavaScript, CSS and HTML. Also since there is a clear separation between the view and the Controllers in Angular JS, we should be able to spin up mobile views fairly easily reusing the same Controllers and Services. As it is quite common for Mobile users to have intermittent data connection, we should also support offline functionality,

Helpful SkillsJavascript, AngularJS, Apache cordova
Impact

Field officers can access MifosX from a Mobile optimized view, capture data offline that can be synced back to the server when an internet connection is available.

It also becomes easier for the community volunteers to maintain the mobile view ( as we reuse most of the code from the Community app) as opposed to maintaining a separate Android app.

Other Resources


Web-based Ad Hoc Query and Reporting Tool

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MentorsNayan Ambali
Overview & Objectives

To allow field-based staff to manage their daily schedules and to ensure that their supervisors are able to review these tasks and to plan field operations and bring in more efficiency and transparency for field operations. To meet the requirement, Android based app need to be developed to cover these uses cases. And this app will be an extension to MIfos X mobile client.

Description

Field officers typically have a predefined set of tasks to follow, for example: Do survey for a locality, Conduct Group Trainings, Conduct Group Tests, Do Center Meetings and Collections. Each could have a task code to make operations streamlined.

Field officers manage their calendars by selecting an activity and specifying a center, date and time for which this activity is planned. This becomes their planned activity for this slot.

A simple workflow to manage each slot – when field officer starts the activity, status of the slot is changed from “new” to “open” and when the activity is completed, it is set to “closed”. It would be ideal to manage this workflow using a mobile tool – preferably an inbound SMS message. For example: an SMS from the field officer’s phone with the text “OPEN 1430” will change the status to “OPEN” of the field officer’s activity that was planned for 2:30pm.

Field officer may change his plan up to a certain time prior to the start of the activity.

Auditors and branch managers will review the activities and track the field officers’ planning and efficiency.

Helpful SkillsJava, XML, SQL , Git, SMS integration, Android app development is plus
ImpactField efficiency and operational efficiency
Other ResourcesSee SMS Integration and Outbound SMS

Web UI quality cross browser non-regression testing

MentorsMichael Vorburger
Overview & Objectives

While the Mifos X Community App front-end UI based on AngularJS-based currently does already have some JS unit tests, we lack a full UI level web tests which continually non-regression test common scenarios. We believe having this could add value in terms of quality, including ensuring automated cross browser testing.

Description

Possibly building upon a extremely limited small scale existing POC (if you find it to be a useful starting point), your mission, should you chose to accept it, would be to build out comprehensive UI walk through scenario test coverage for the Mifos X UI. If you can build more such tests faster and more maintainable (= less code) by using any of the existing frameworks listed below or others you know of / will find, or build useful such infrastructure yourself as part of this code, we're eager to hear from you! Keep in mind that the main deliverable of this project is not (only) a foundation framework, but must actually include an extensive suite of running tests integrated into the Mifos build.

Helpful SkillsCandidates should demonstrate serious interest and basic know-how by accompanying their application for this project with pull requests to the existing mifosx-ui-selenium-webdriver-tests POC.
ImpactContinuously verified and cross browser checked quality of the Mifos X UI.
Other Resources

http://docs.seleniumhq.org/projects/webdriver/

https://github.com/vorburger/mifosx-ui-selenium-webdriver-tests

https://github.com/vorburger/webdriver-runner

https://saucelabs.com or https://browserling.com

https://github.com/FluentLenium/FluentLenium

http://www.gebish.org

http://www.thucydides.info

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