Priority Gaps

Owned by Ed Cable
Last updated: Oct 26, 2011Version comment
3 min read

Results of informal survey across Mifos implementers to capture the following:

  1. Top 5 priority 1 gaps with Mifos (these are gaps that would have to be met to close a sale or complete a deployment)
  2. Top 5 priority 2 gaps with Mifos (these are more nice to have gaps (i.e. possibly could be handled with workarounds)

East Africa

Uganda

From Vastech Uganda

  1. Extensive Reporting in Mifos itself 
  2. Shares Module (Transfer of shares to and from savings)
  3. Use of the Client Photo
  4. A Simple Data migration Tool for the Old MFI Data.
  5. Very Basic Accounting Module in Mifos itself 
  6. Ease in Installation i.e (Environment variables, appache tomcat, java, mysql)- if only this could be bundled up in 1
  7. An alert of expected Client Payments of a given day

Rwanda

From GoIT Solutions

  1. Add an upload client picture option and specimen
  2. Manage/correct the way reunion programs are configured(no need of program reunion to activate a client and it causes problem when disbourse a loan)
  3. Correct the reports errors (general ledger and the branch cash confirmation).

Kenya

From Nuru International

  1. Import of excel spreadsheets to mifos. If the import function of excel spreadsheets to mifos could be put in place, we could post a lot of data to mifos within a short period of time and our mifos data would be up to date always; also considering the fact that we are dealing with more than 2,000 clients whom we have to update their information, savings and loan repayments in the mifos database!

Ethiopia

From Kazeem

Must Haves
1. Accounting integration
2. Offline consolidation
3. Financial control module allowing MFBs to use as a regular banking system allowing expense disbursement from teller
4. Local marketing and implementation support
5. Scalability and

Nice to haves
1. Partner's support
2. Amharic version (for Ethiopian market)
3. Mobile payment integration for front end devices
4. Versioning control and code tracking (this is a result of the fact that every implementation has tinkered with the code and is unique to the site.
5. Cloud infrastructure

Southern Africa

Mozambique

  1. Integrated accounting 
  2. Integration with cash management open source tool/integrated cash management
  3. Automated generation of penalties
  4. Improved reporting (often doing home-grown reporting solution now)

West Africa

Ghana

From Lumana

  1. Dynamic, quick reporting
  2. Offline collection sheet
  3. lack of flexibility of loan products - loan re-finances, loan schedule
  4. Number of account creation screens
  5. Optimisation of Mifos for smartphones
  6. Bulk operations such as bulk client creation
  7. Loan officer scheduling

Nigeria

From Allover Microfinance Bank

greater accounting integration at HO level, current account, fixed deposit, customer account numbering.

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

Priority 1 Gaps

  1. Most MFI in Indonesia use Islamic (sharia) based financial model.
  2. More robust Accounting module, especially for banks regarding governance regulation. But for MFI (non bank), this requirement should be in priority 2 as It’s not restricted by regulation.
  3. Offline capability. Most of targeted areas are located in remote areas with minimum communication line availability.

Priority 2 Gaps

  1. Mobile interface. The budget capability will determine this need. But for now, we still use paper-based form in the fields (center meeting place).
  2. HR integration. This is also depend on the size of the MFI, as for the big one it will surely come to this issue.
  3. Data upload interface, ie: From excel file
  4. Easier modification of Client and loan details. For regulatory purpose, we often need these fields to be modified.
  5. Client prospect and analysis. A certain tool to score future client, such as Cashpor Index and the analysis tool for monitoring purpose.

Philippines

Priority 1 Gaps

  1. Accounting module
  2. Offline module
  3. Daily interest computation
  4. Flexible reporting module  (mostly answered already with the Jasper BI integration)
  5. API for 3rd party collection entry  application  (mobile devices)

Priority 2 Gaps

  1. Voucher printing integration
  2. Check printing integration
  3. Micro-insurance product integration
  4. Summary view of client list (dynamic search)

Cambodia

From Specialist, Anakut and other MFIs

  • Integration with accounting
  • Offline support
  • Multi-currency support

South Asia

India

From Adhikar

  1. Rescheduling of Loans
  2. More Management Reports
  3. Data Back Up System
  4. Functionality to clean up error data
  5. Offline Module of Mifos

Nepal

From Magnus Consulting

Priority 1 Gaps

  1. Accounting function that would also do annual account closure;
  2. Customized reporting that meets Nepal Rastra Bank’s (state’s supervisory bank) requirements;
  3. Customized reporting that meets each MFI’s internal needs (which may differ from NRB’s requirements, for example head quarter wishes to view reports of branches and centers differently than what NRB requires);
  4. Hosting service as MFIs themselves unlikely to invest in the resource/expertise; and
  5. Guarantee of Local support.

Priority 2 Gaps

  1. Localization;
  2. Local calendar;
  3. Real time transaction using laptops/smart phones through WiFi/3G respectively.