Mobile Field Operations App Requirements
- Ed Cable
- Janiline Ebai
Goals
- Create a native app experience, that allows mobile field officers to view and edit data in the field in both on and off-line setting.
Background and strategic fit
More and more MFIs are looking to reduce the amount of paper and manual processes in their operations - mobile field operations facilitate this transition to paperless by enabling more processes to be conducted directly out in the field. For most MFIs, this mobile app will be a secondary way to access Mifos allowing loan officers to be better informed and more efficient while serving customers in rural areas. For some in areas of limited or no connectivity at their branch offices, this could be the primary way to access Mifos, with mobile devices serving as thin clients. With Mifos installed in the cloud, they could perform their day to day operations in offline mode on their mobile and then sync with the cloud when they have connectivity.
Assumptions
- Users will primarily access this from an Android smartphone.
- Users will also be accessing this from other phones (feature phones, Windows phone, iOS) so cross-platform might also be a factor.
- This application is designed for usage by field staff of a financial institution (i.e. this isn't for a customer to conduct mobile payments or transactions).
Requirements
| # | Category | Title | User Story | Importance | Notes | Off-line? | Optimal Device | Native Functions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Authentication | Select instance/tenant of Mifos X and log in | P1 | |||||
| Inherit proper data scope and permissions | P1 | |||||||
| 2 | Data Retrieval | Search and retrieve list of clients | The loan officer should be able to look up a client by various parameters (name, account_number, government_id, branch, center, group) to retrieve details client record. | P1 | ||||
View client and basic client info | P1 | Smartphone | ||||||
| View full client details | P1 | |||||||
| View client loan summary | P1 | |||||||
| View active client loans, relevant details, and transaction histories | P1 | |||||||
| View closed and inactive loans | P3 | |||||||
| View chats, performance summaries, and other key client indicators. | P3 | |||||||
| 3 | Data and Transaction Entry | Edit basic client details |
| P1 | ||||
| Enter individual loan payments | P2 | |||||||
| Enter loan payments in bulk (thru collection sheet) | P2 | |||||||
| Disburse loan | P3 | |||||||
| Adjust, reverse, redo loan transactions | P3 | |||||||
| Enter savings deposits | P2 | |||||||
| Enter savings withdrawals | P2 | |||||||
| Apply transfers between accounts | P3 | |||||||
| Apply and collect fees | P2 | |||||||
| Generate physical transaction receipt | P3 | |||||||
| Generate an SMS transaction receipt | P3 | |||||||
| 4 | Record Creation | Create a new client record | P3 | |||||
| Approve a new client | P3 | |||||||
| Create a new group record | P4 | |||||||
| Create a new center record | P4 | |||||||
| Create a new loan account | P3 | |||||||
| Approve new loan account | Mobile loan application processing | P4 | ||||||
| Create new savings account | P3 | |||||||
| 5 | Client Management | Collect additional client details | P3 | |||||
| Collect survey/question group type data | This could include a PPI or other social impact measurement, household survey, business survey, satisfaction survey, etc. | P4 | ||||||
| Sync with credit bureaus | For analyzing approving clients in the field | P5 | ||||||
| Take and upload photos | Take photo of client, take photo of client collateral, capture signature of client, take photo of loan documents, take photo of identification, take photo of client loan disbursal, take photo of group | P4 | ||||||
| 6 | Security | Encrypt data | ||||||
| Secure connection | ||||||||
| Mobile login expires after certain period of time | ||||||||
| 6 | Task Management | View upcoming meetings and locations of meetings | P3 | |||||
| View total of expected collections for upcoming meetings | P3 | |||||||
| Generate notifications, alerts, reminders to staff | P5 | |||||||
| 7 | Reporting | View basic mobile reports | ||||||
| 8 | Geolocation | Pinpoint the actual location of a customer's residence using GPS | P3 | |||||
| Map the route from office to customer's actual GPS location | P3 | |||||||
| Track location of field officers | From head office via GPS coordinates of their mobile app - can see their movement in real-time or have them check in at meeting locations. | P4 | ||||||
| 9 | Biometrics | Authenticate clients via voice | P3 | |||||
| Authenticate clients via fingerprint/retina, etc. | P3 | |||||||
| 10 | Financial Capability | Deliver financial literacy and other training | P5 |
User interaction and design
See Mobile Mock ups under Usability and Design
Questions
Below is a list of questions to be addressed as a result of this requirements document:
| Question | Outcome |
|---|---|
| How much data gets stored locally and how can user select that? (want to limit how much gets synced locally as possibly) | |
| How do we protect and handle sensitive that is stored locally when a device is stolen? Can it be remotely wiped? Does the data only remain locally for a certain period of time? |
Not Doing
The following are functionalities which will not be available in the native mobile app and are only performed in the main Mifos X web app.
- Administration (in general all the administrative sections are out of scope for the mobile app)
- Loan and savings product creation
- Creation of new systems users
- Managing of roles and permissions
- Accounting