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titlePage In Progress

The 2017 Google Summer of Code application period has opened. The Mifos Initiative will be applying as a mentoring organization and hopes to be selected once again in 2017. Applications are due by February 9 and accepted orgs will be announced by February 27. Subscribe to this page for the latest updates to project ideas and mentors assigned to projects.

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Mentors
Overview & Objectives

For this project, we require an intern who is qualified and willing to work core HTML5 offline functionality. If we able to add offline support in community-app then we can have same application working on all browsers with offline support and need of a desktop app will not be needed.

Description

The project will involve the following:

  • We can use IndexDB for storing data offline and once connected synchronize it, store actions that happened in same sequence and then fire against server.

  • We can store some data in JSONs as key-value pair and offer pre-sychronize which will fetch data as JSON for creating clients and other actions in offline mode.

  • Currently, HTML templates load from server everytime we refresh our application. As, discussed we should have some sort of template caching with expiry headers.

  • We can make some template made available offline using application cache.

  • With Template cache which is angular component. It looks for template in cache if not in the cache, it will load from server and then put in cache.

  • Mimic synchronization back and forth mimic how you store, how you date it out.
Helpful SkillsJavascript, CSS, HTML5. HTML5 Offline support knowledge i.e - Service workers, Sw-toolbox, IndexedDB wrappper - Dexie.js
ImpactOffline Functionality to Community App
Other ResourcesMore Information on Project

Android Field Operations App Version 4

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MentorsIshan Khanna
Overview & Objectives

We have released several versions of our Android app for field officers to go out in the field to process transactions, create clients, etc. Most recently in 2016, our Google Summer of Code intern refactored the entire application, implemented offline synchronization for clients and groups, and added improved functionalities for client onboarding, loan and savings collection, and GIS-based location tracking. All this work comprised Version 3.0 of the Android App

This project would continue that work and transform it into Version 4 - by extending offline synchronization and adding additional functionalities.


Extend our existing Android Field Operations App from Version 3 to Version 4 with

  • Implement collection sheet interface for bulk collection of savings, loan, and tracking of attendance
  • Extending offline support throughout additional areas of the application
  • Redesigning some of the navigation and workflows
  • Integrating the notifications framework
  • Integrating SMS communications
  • Enabling views for task list and reports
  • Improving the user interface for capture of surveys.
  • Improving data scoping and role-based permissioning

This would all be on top of the corresponding APIs on the Mifos platform.

Helpful SkillsAndroid development, SQL, Java, Javascript, Git
Impact

Allows staff to go directly into the field to connect to the client. Reduces cost of operations by enabling organizations to go paperless and be more efficient.

Other Resources

https://github.com/openMF/android-client

Architecture overview: 
Code style conventions guide:

 Self-Service - Android App Version 2.0 

Mentors
Swapnil AgarwalSatya Naryan
Overview & Objectives

We have recently released a full set of client-facing APIs to enable self-service channels for clients to interact with their own data and transact in a self-service manner. Previously all Mifos operations were performed by back office staff. Now clients can authenticate themselves, view and edit their account details. and make repayments or transactions between their own accounts.

It is now possible for them to have direct banking apps that they can utilize including smartphone-based mobile banking, USSD-based mobile banking, and online banking via a web app.

Description

The initial application was developed by 2016 GSOC intern and then taken beyond its initial stages by Rajan Maurya. Detailed user stories and wireframes outlining implementing the following functionalities have been documented.

  • Login
  • View Own Profile and Data Tabs
  • View Own Accounts (deposits and loans)
  • View Own Accounts' Transactions (deposits and loans)
  • Initiate Transfers from own account
  • Apply for new loans and repay existing loans.
  • Fill up Questionnaires

Integrate with the corresponding APIs on the Mifos platform.

Helpful SkillsAndroid development, SQL, Java, Javascript, Git
Impact

Allows a member/client in having a self-service channel allowing them more direct control and visibility into their financial livelihood.

Other Resources

User Stories - https://goo.gl/3xuUko

Wireframes - https://goo.gl/3xuUko

Customer Self Service APIs - https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Customer+Self-Service

Source Code: https://github.com/openMF/self-service-app


 Self-Service - Web

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App Development 

Mentors
Overview & Objectives

We have recently released a full set of client-facing APIs to enable self-service channels for clients to interact with their own data and transact in a self-service manner. Previously all Mifos operations were performed by back office staff. Now clients can authenticate themselves, view and edit their account details. and make repayments or transactions between their own accounts.

It is now possible for them to have direct banking apps that they can utilize including smartphone-based mobile banking, USSD-based mobile banking, and online banking via a web app.

The focus of this project would be designing and implementing building out a clean and simple Meteor.JS AngularJS application that can be used as a reference web & hybrid mobile app for financial institutions to directly deploy and offer to their customers or for our our support partners to customize and enhance to the local needs of their market.

There currently is a proof of concept architecture that can be used as a starting point along with detailed wireframes and user stories.



Description

Develop MeteorJS AngularJS Online Banking Interface:

  • Login
  • View Own Profile and Data Tabs
  • View Own Accounts (deposits and loans)
  • View Own Accounts' Transactions (deposits and loans)
  • Initiate Transfers from own account
  • Make Transfers to other accounts
  • Make Repayment to Loans
  • Fill up Questionnaires
Helpful SkillsAngularJS development, SQL, Java, Javascript, Git, MeteorJS
Impact

Allows a member/client in having a self-service channel allowing them more direct control and visibility into their financial livelihood.

Other Resources

Customer Self Service Customer Self Service - Phase 2APIs - https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Customer+Self-Service

Source Code - https://github.com/openMF/web-self-service-app


Collateral Management Module

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Mentors
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

This project is a continuation of the initial PayGoSol foundation that was led by 2014 GSOC intern, Antonio Carella.

  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.

Work in 2015 will include adding the following features to make it an out-of-the-box solution that any PAYG hardware provider could use:



  • Hardware Integration
    • Integration with SMS "kill signal" (sms outbound) 
    • Integration with unique "enabler code" for keycode entry and SMS outbound 
    • Per time period Charge and Pay per Kwh options (via control panel) 
  • Web App & Android Client
    • Better UIX and UI work 

  • Platform Work
    • Componentized PGS server (with Mifos X as dependent jar) 




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 Resources

Mifos Android Client on MifosX


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Mentors
Overview & ObjectivesMFIs have requested the ability for both inbound and outbound SMS communication. This project will focus on Inbound SMS Integration as well as advanced outbound SMS functionalities. As part of client protection, client has right know about her/his account information at any time any where. In 2014, through web hooks we built the initial outbound SMS module with a proof-of-concept Twilio integration as well as the Mifos X Messenger which was built by the community. This project will built out additional connections with SMS gateways for outbound SMS campaigns and event-based messages.
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.

This topic has traditionally been of interest to end-users, and one thing you could do is start an email thread on our Mifos end-user and developers mailing list, and perhaps on the chat room, to ask for input from others for Inbound SMS requirements, and add that to the Wiki, and then create a project proposal based on what you've learnt.

See https://goo.gl/1LrC9w for additional details on work in scope of Outbound SMS and Indbound SMS modules.

  • Outbound SMS
    • Event-based Messages
    • Reminders Campaigns
  • Inbound SMS
    • Send out information based on short code request from clients.
Helpful Skills Java, SQL , JavaScript , Git
Impact

Transparency and client protection.

Other Resources

See SMS Integration and Outbound SMS

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Mentors
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 

JPOS Integration - Point of Sale Cash Out

Mentors
Overview & Objectives

Integrate MifosX with an opensource Point of Sale (POS) called JPOS.

Description

Use case would be to get a debit transaction (cash withdraw from checking account) thru the POS device /local runtime with 2FA.  In India, the ability to get cash out through a point of sale network is provided for under RBI regulations. In production there will likely need to be an intermediate "Merchant Acquisition" or "Payment Processor" in between a single POS and MifosX Instance, but this could be abstracted out as a payment gateway only (primarily data mapping). The implementation target is the ability to do a 2 factor authentication on a POS device running JPOS (emulator ok), input account number (via some simple method), then be able to do a (cash-out) account withdrawal in real time to the MifosX account. Additional use cases would be to implement a transaction for payment for goods. i.e. enter specific goods, then do payment from MifosX account to Merchant Account (probably also in Mifos).

Helpful Skills

Familiarity with API work. Understanding of transactional flows.

Java.

Two-factor authentication - see other project idea .


Impact
Other Resources

https://github.com/jpos/jPOS/

Security Penetration testing

Mentors
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

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Mentors
Overview & Objectives

Create a POC of a scalable MifosX implementation on OpenShift. Also publish a whitepaper with details of this set up.

Description

Mifos X was built to be cloud ready from the ground up. One of the most popular deployment environments for MifosX has been on Amazon EC2, however due to country specific regulation, many implementors are forced to seek alternative models that can scale as effectively. The aim of this project is two-fold:

  • Propose a scalable deployment model for Mifos on the OpenShift PaaS. Your application should highlight a starting point with some details of your planned deployment architecture, as Mentors would be not giving you step-by-step instructions in this project, just "nudge" you along; you would be expected to learn about how to deploy Mifos yourself and by autonomously using the documentation available and help from the public mailing list and IRC channel, and figure out the details of the Cloud deployment.

  • Propose how the above proposed model could be contributed to Mifos in the form of e.g. ready-to-run "configurations" etc. allowing ANYONE to deploy THE LATEST VERSION of Mifos in the Cloud themselves, and then implement this approach in practice. (Contrast this with a "one-off exercise", e.g. taking the current Mifos X WAR file, and UI, and manually making some changes to it, and then manually deploying that to some Cloud PaaS - this would not be sufficient for this project's expectations.)

  • Implement a Continuous Deployment "Devops" EXAMPLE instance of this scalable blueprint using the latest nightly Mifos build artifacts.

  • Publish a high level whitepaper of the same, which can be used as a reference for local implementors, who would additionally take care of provisioning their own hardware. This documentation should be ideally high-level, and what it described much be automated; only providing lengthy step-by-step manual instructions would not be sufficient for this project's expectations.

To prepare for this project, applying students must demonstrate at least that they have already successfully locally built and ran a Mifos X REST back-end server and UI, populated the database etc. as well as provided a simple pull request proposing some minimal deployment related improvement.

Note that we now believe that a Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a more suitable foundation for this project than a raw Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform (such as Openstack, offered by public cloud provider such as e.g. Rackspace; or Azure, or raw Amazon EC2). This is because a PaaS, such OpenShift, already come with relevant features such as built-in, managed, supported and monitored HTTP load balancing (e.g. OpenShift comes with HAProxy).

We are aware that OpenShift out-of-the-box currently does not provide supported clustering for the MariaDB/mysql database used by Mifos (there is documentation for un-supported example based on an OpenShift template and suggested descriptions on blog posts, or also this one based on Severalnines.com; similarly one could deploy the commercial Percona XtraDB Cluster product ). However at this point we believe that this would not be required, and that proper configuration on OpenStack of the already existing cache facility (incl. distributed cache invalidation) available in Mifos X will add more value at signficantly less operational complexity.

You may need to develop some minor "adjustments" for Mifos X to work well in a PaaS. For example, writeable directories may be limited, and configuration changes may be needed to pick up allowed data directories from an environment variable configuration (but consider multi node distribution in this cluster setup!). Also a cloud PaaS like OpenShift may not support "always running" instances, and scheduled jobs may have to be configured to be kicked off via an explicit HTTP "wake up" request from a cron job.

While OpenShift should already take care of automatic distribution of Mifos code (WAR) updates among nodes in the cluster, you may also have to consider distributed configuration in a cluster. Normally all Mifos X configuration should reside 100% fully in the database only, and as such this may be a non-issue. If however there are any customized configuration files, then perhaps something like the Spring Cloud project could be of interest to ease distributed configuration management.

We are aware of other PaaS product similar to OpenShift, such as notably Cloud Foundry, or even Heroku (closed source..) but would suggest to use OpenShift.

Helpful SkillsContinous Integration, UNIX, OpenStack, experience with any public cloud (AWS etc) and Percona Server is a plus, plus some minor Java coding required to adapt Mifos code to be able to pick up the database configuration from the OpenStack provided environment variable (and possibly automated Cache configuration tuning on OpenStack).
ImpactImproves deployment options for Mifos. Would be very helpful for specialists in African countries who deal with strict regulatory controls in hosting data outside their region
Other Resources

OpenShift https://www.openshift.com

Old Mifos mailing list posts related to related things, search e.g. "mifos google app engine", and find as this one as well as this one.

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Mentors
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 on 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

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Mentors
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,

Offline functionality is critical such because users

Helpful SkillsJavascript, AngularJS, Apache cordova, SQL
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


Business Analytics (OLAP)

Mentors
Overview & Objectives

Develop ETL scripts to create OLAP cubes (fact and dimension tables in MySQL). This will allow managers to perform ad hoc slicing and dicing of their data 
to answer important questions about their operations.

  • Create ETL scripts and tests
  • Create a Mondrian schema to work with Saiku Analytics

This project would extend off of the work of a previous GSOC intern in building out integration with Saiku

Description


Helpful SkillsDatabase Management Systems, MDX, SQL,
ImpactData drives a microfinance institution - the more powerful and robust analytical tools management has, the better they can tailor their services and outreach to impact the poor most effectively.
Other Resources

Saiku Analytics Demo - demo.analytical-labs.com
Wikipedia OLAP Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olap
Introduction to OLAP - http://www.db-class.org/course/video/preview_list
Gentle Introduction to MDX - http://www.iccube.com/support/documentation/mdx_tutorial/gentle_introduction.html

Jira Legacy
serverJIRA (mifosforge.jira.com)
serverId6ed65b55-ae19-3f63-b72c-a969383d4221
keyMIFOSX-1448

Web UI quality cross browser non-regression testing

Mentors
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

Front Desk Service Module / Experience Module

Mentors
Overview & Objectives

Before booking a loan the customer needs to require and assess the details of the loan he is enquiring for and there is no way to personally judge it, based on the parameters, Sales staff right now is using different external loan calculator and loan product schemes are not documentated we need a frontend experience service with personal match

DescriptionThe staff or customer should be able to enter thier requirements before applying for the loan , like Loan amount what kind of loan product he is interested in, and based on a questionaire he should be presented a view where loan products are personally matched based on recomendation engine and after setting basic loan parameters customer should be able to get a qoute and then will be transfered to CRM given by Ankit Sharma
Helpful SkillsANDROID UI, Integrating Backend Service,MIFOS X
ImpactStreamlined sales, Staff and Customer Better Interaction
Other Resources

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18rS0gVWkjQvNdRnNj40uKNl32zuTh-uuzNv161n6YrY/edit?usp=sharing

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