Background

The Mifos User Manual is a core piece of documentation to assist users in properly configuring and using the Mifos software on a day to day basis. Functionality in Mifos 2.3 (Margaret H), shipping in March 2012 needs to be reflected in the user manual which is currently only up to date with our Mifos 2.2 release. Significant new functionality including user-based locales, automated penalties, mobile-optimized pages, month-end closing, clearing overpayments, and importing data via Excel have been added. We're seeking a volunteer with strong documentation/tech writing skills to update the User Manual to provide coverage of latest functionality. Our user manual is now easily maintained and updated in a convenient online tool, FLOSS Manuals.

Status - Seeking Volunteers

Contact

Please email documentation@openmf.org if you are interested in helping on this project.

Mentor

Ed Cable and Bharathi Ram

Current Volunteer(s)

We want this to be you!

Time Estimate

5-10 hours per specific functionality

Prerequisite experience

• Previous experience writing user or technical documentation
• Experience writing documentation for business applications/software.
• Knowledge of microfinance or financial services is helpful.

Details

The Mifos User Manual needs new sections written and current sections adjusted to properly document how to use and each of the new features. .

Documentation will be drafted based on the functional specifications which provide a detailed overview of various use cases of how the feature is used. Volunteer will write the following, based on the functional specifications:

• Short overview of each feature
• Update or expand current section in user manual with step by step instructions.

User documentation will be written according to our style guidelines in FLOSS Manuals and will include relevant product screenshots.

Steps

General

• Sign up for a free account on FLOSS manuals
• Visit the Mifos Demo Server (User ID: mifos | Password: testmifos) to understand how these features work and to take screenshots.
• Review functional specifications for these features:
  • Question Groups
  • Tracking PPI in Mifos
  • m-pesa integration
  • Batch Jobs
  • Tally Accounting Integration
  • Waive Interest on Prepayment
• Read up on the writing conventions for guidelines on formatting/style
• Draft documentation and edit the page in FLOSS Manuals editing interface on Booki (inserting screenshots):
  • Question Groups: Replaces Surveys Section
  • PPI: Create sub-section within new Question Groups Section
  • m-pesa: Add to Bulk transaction processing section, under how to import transactions
  • Batch Jobs: Add to Administration Tasks
  • Waive Interest: Add to Manage Products>>Define New and Change Existing Loan Products and Add to Loan Accounts>>Make Transactions
• See also:
  • Current functional specifications on rest of product

Below are the specific tasks/processes that must be documented for each new feature. 

Question Groups

Will replace current documentation on Surveys

• Brief overview of Question Groups
• How to add a new question group
• How to view or edit existing question groups
• How to add new questions
• How to view or edit existing questions
• How to assign question group to workflow
• How to activate question group (PPI)

Waiving interest on loan repayment

• Add to Admin Section on Creating a New Loan Product
  • Details on specifying whether or not interest is waived on early repayment of loan
• How to do an early repayment of loan (showing ability to waive or not waive interest)
  • Explain difference between "Repay Loans" versus "Apply Payment"

m-pesa support

See and follow this outline on GoogleDocs.  Use this sample file for demoing and screenshots. 

• Overview of what plugin does. 
• How to install and configure plugin
• How to define order to apply transactions
• How to import m-pesa transaction file
• How to cancel or correct errors during import
• How to verify data that has been imported

Tracking PPI in Mifos

See and follow this outline for additional details on what to document

• How to access available PPIs
• How to activate PPI for a specific country
• How to attach and collect PPI survey data
• How to insert PPI Question Group into different stage of workflow
• How to view PPI score and poverty likeliehoods
• How to correct PPI response

Batch Jobs Management

For reference see overview of batch jobs, how to configure and schedule and detailed functional spec on batch jobs. 

• How to Suspend Scheduled Batch Jobs
• How to Manually Execute Specific Batch Jobs to Run (and check status)