Client, Group and Center Charges
Overview
This feature introduces the ability for collecting either periodic or one-time charges against Center , Group and Client accounts.
Background and strategic fit
Many of the traditional MFI's have the concept of transactions (only fees) against Client, Center and Group Accounts.
These MFI's often operate in countries where they are recognized as NBFC's (Non Banking financial Institutions) . i.e they are not permitted to open savings/current account for customers.
Since these MFI's are hesitant to create transactional (current) accounts for Clients which could be used for associating fees that are not directly linked to loans (Ex: A one time joining fee, an annual membership fee etc), the need arises to track fees directly against Center, Group and Client accounts
Requirements/User Stories
# | Title | User Story | Importance | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Define Client, Group and Center Fees | As a system administrator, I must be able to define the fees which are applicable to the various entities in my system The Fees might be
I must also be able to define the Income account against which all Income from each fee would be tracked. The asset account (Cash/Bank) that would get Debited on fee payment would be Configured at an Organization level | Must Have |
|
2 | Configure accounting rules (Cash, Accrual) for a fee | As an accountant, I should be able to specify the accounting rule for each fee (Cash or accrual based accounting). For fees following Cash based accounting, the following rules would apply:
| Nice to Have | We do not need support for accrual accounting in the first cut and Cash based accounting shall be automatically used for all Center, Group and Client fees |
3 | Apply Client, Group and Center Charges | As a loan officer, I must be able to associate a pre-defined charge (either one time or periodic) to a Client, Group or Center
| Must Have | |
4 | Pay Individual Client, Group and Center Charges | As a Loan Officer, I must be able to pay any of the charges associates (Applied) to a Client, Group or Center
| Must Have | |
5 | Pay Multiple Client, Group and Center Charges | As a Loan Officer, I must be able to pay off multiple charges from single repayment screen (all charges would be associated with the same entity)
| Nice to have | Not a must of the first cut |
6 | Waive a previously applied charge | As a loan Officer, I must be able to waive either a part / or the entire charge In case of recurring charges, I must be allowed to select the date from which the waiver would be effective or the amount I wish to waive | Must Have | For the first cut, it is okay to not allow waiving a part of the charge |
7 | Adjust a payment | As a loan officer, I must be able to view all payments made (for Client charges) I must be able to adjust any of these payments to modify the amount paid or the date of the payment subject to not causing data integrity violations in the system | Must Have | |
8 | Collect Charges through collection sheet | As a loan officer, I must be able to see all charges linked to meetings in the collection sheet against the Client account I must then be able to update the charges collected in the same and the payment logic should be identical to those listed in the use case "Pay Multiple Client, Group and Center Charges"
| Must Have | |
Business Rules
When Charges are associated with Meetings, the following scenarios would update the charge due dates
a) Updates to meeting dates (meetings moved from Monday to Friday) should result in the recurring charges being
b) Updates to meeting date as a result of a Transfer (Client moved to a new group/Center) with a different frequency
Making a payment would follow these business rules
- You may not over pay a charge (or pay an amount greater than sum of all charges due in case of bulk payment)
- You are allowed to pay off an individual charge before its due date
The business rules for an adjustment would be as follows:
- If a charge is paid off in a single transaction, you are allowed to edit this transaction (undo or reduce the payment amount etc)
- If a part of a charge is paid off in a single transaction, you are allowed to edit this transaction (undo or increate the payment amount unto the charge amount)
- If a charge is paid off in multiple transactions, edits to a payment amount should ensure that the total amount paid is not greater than charge amount
Attributes
Attribute | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
Security and Permissions
Mifos Functionality Enhancements
New Screens
Changes to Existing Screens
Changes/Enhancements to Batch Jobs
Changes/Enhancements to Accounting Entries
User interaction and design
Exception Handling
Reporting
APIs
Notes
Questions
Below is a list of questions to be addressed as a result of this requirements document:
Question | Outcome |
---|---|
What happens when a Client with a recurring charge linked to the center meeting is disassociated from the center ? |