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Introduction
From July 2011 to September 2011, some ad-hoc work was done around re-implementing aspects of loan portfolio functionality that existed in mifos 2.2. The purpose of this was to see was it possible to develop substantial functionality on a volunteer time-basis.
As a result of this we (Keith Woodlock & John Woodlock) sought funding to take the existing code for the prototype and begin work on laying the foundation for the next evolution of the Mifos platform.
Other sources
- Ed Cable (community manager) interview with John and Keith woodlock at http://www.openmf.org/mifos-x-the-next-generation/
General approach and philosophy
We want Mifos to be faster, lighter and cheaper to change so that it is more responsive to the needs of MFI’s and Integrators. There are a number of things we can do that individually and when combined together will help us achieve this goal of faster, lighter and cheaper:
We will start by working through the individual lending microfinance model. From there we will incrementally work on and deliver other models (in no order as yet):
- Grameen-style joint-liability groups
- self-help groups and federations
- cooperatives and SACCOs
- village banking
Whilst working through each microfinance model, we seek to work in close collaboration with an MFI that practices the given model on the ground so we can understand their needs and pain points and deliver useful software to the MFI.
Some of the product advantages could be:
- Greater flexibility in support loan schedules (automated or manual) over time
- Globalisation support: support for translations, number and date formatting in any locale.
Some of the technical advantages could be:
- Ease of deployment/installation
- Ease of configuration
- Seperation into a 'services provider'(backend) and 'client application' (frontend user interface)
- An application developer oriented platform API
- Simplification of database structure
- Simplification of client application responsiblities (globalisation)
- As of yet, no overnight batch jobs
- More suitale to multi-tenant setup
Project Milestones
- July 2011 to September 2011: Prototype work on ad-hoc volunteer basis (1 developer)
see Loan lifecycle and date flexibility: see Mifos 2.2 versus MifosX - Loan lifecycle and date flexibility
see Loan schedule flexibility: see Mifos 2.2 versus MifosX - Loan repayment schedule flexibility
see bulk upload/data migration for clients, loans (and loan repayments): see Mifos 2.2 versus MifosX - Bulk upload - Jan 2012 to March 2012: Individual lending functionality (2 developers)
Worked in close collaboration with CreoCore to provide functionality related to individual lending as was required by them whilst maintaining the vision of an open API led platform for microfinance.
Demo Details
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Introduction
Mifos X is an open technology platform for financial inclusion that provides the core functionality needed to deliver financial services to the world’s 2.5 billion unbanked. It solves the challenge of core banking systems that are too expensive, too complicated or that have no local support.
Mifos X can be deployed in any environment: cloud or on-premise, on or offline, mobile or PC; it’s extensible enough to support any organizational type or delivery channel, and flexible enough to support any product, service, or methodology. For any organization, big or small, it will provide client data management, loan and savings portfolio management, integrated real time accounting and social and financial reporting needed to bring digital financial services in a modern connected world. The platform is completely open via the Mozilla Public License 2.0.
The Mifos Initiative
The Mifos Initiative is a 501(c)3 non-profit incorporated in Washington State. Its sole mission is to speed the elimination of poverty by enabling financial service providers to more effectively and efficiently deliver responsible financial services to the world’s 2.5 billion poor and unbanked. We guide the development of the Mifos X platform, an open platform for financial inclusion with a suite of simple configurable apps hosted in the cloud. We are a community of financial service providers, technology specialists, financial services experts and open source developers working together to grow this platform.
The Mifos X project spun out of the Grameen Foundation in 2011 and, thanks to generous support from Silicon Valley, The Mifos Initiative was revitalized as a U.S. based 503(c)3. Originally launched in 2006, the software was the industry’s first web-based and open source information system and was well-received winning the Duke’s Choice Award for Best Java Technology for The Open Source Community. Redesigned and built around an API-centric, cloud-based software architecture, the Mifos X Platform is a modern, connected core banking system for responsible financial services organizations bringing basic financial services to the poor globally.
System Core Features
Mifos X is a globally used platform for all types of financial institutions. See the current platform features here.
Mifos X Mailing Lists
You are highly encouraged to sign-up for Mifos mailing lists. This is the place for developers and users of MifosX to share their learnings, experiences, and ask questions to the community. MifosX core contributors are friendly (a few of them even have a sense of humor!) and always ready and willing to help contributors out in these mailing lists. There are two mailing lists. Technical contributors are recommended to join both the lists.
- Developer Mailing List
- MifosX Users Mailing List
Note: You must subscribe to the mailing list using the sourceforge link. When you join the mailing list, you will get an email. Click on "Reply" and send the email back to get subscribed to the mailing list.
For chatting with the community members on IRC channel, and to understand emailing etiquette for the mailing lists, please refer: http://mifos.org/community/communications
How can you help Mifos X
We currently use JIRA to create issues and track work items going on in the project so its transparent and visible to all. If you are a newbie developer, and want to pick up relatively simpler work items to get familiar with MifosX, then you can browse through Work Items labelled as "Introductory".
To get involved, review our Developer Zone.