Welcome to Mifos

Important: Before reading this document, you must read the  and configure your Mifos (Microfinance Open Source) system. Many of the choices you make within Mifos depend on your configuration decisions, and some options may not appear or may be unavailable to you, based on the configuration.

Mifos is a management information system (MIS) that can be accessed over a network using a web browser. It is designed to give microfinance institutions (MFIs) a way to create and maintain their structure, get information quickly about their operations and their clients, and grow easily. We assume that users of this manual are familiar with the purpose of microfinance (starting with helping people out of poverty by basing loans on ability to repay, not just collateral) and the practices of at least one MFI, such as loans to groups, client training in business and banking, and specific loan and savings account types.

This user manual applies to the current release, Mifos 2.4.  It's an update of our previous user manual (.doc) covering 1.0 functionality  To see new features and functionality covered by the scope of this new manual please see our features added since 1.0 on our download page.

With Mifos, you can do the following things:

Set up microfinance institution (MFI) operations from scratch

Maintain an MFI someone else created

Change settings for your MFI

Create and maintain a hierarchy of regions, branches, and centers within your MFI

Create roles and assign permissions required by users at your MFI to work on Mifos

Create users (such as loan officers) who can work with your MFI

Create groups and register clients who will receive MFI services

Create (and change) loan products

Create (and change) savings products

Create and maintain loan accounts

Pay out (disburse) loans

Collect repayments on loans

Collect and keep records for all fees paid

Create and maintain savings accounts

Collect deposits and pay withdrawals for savings accounts

Upload and create reports about MFI activity

Before reading the rest of this manual, be sure to read How to use this manual

How To Setup Mifos: Overview

System recommendations

Latest release notes

Installation guide

Configuration guide

Deployment methodology

Maintenance and post-deployment planning

This manual contains information on the use of Mifos once it has been installed and configured. For information on what needs to happen before you start to use Mifos, check the following sections.

System recommendations

Before you install Mifos, you must read the system recommendations and be sure that your system is suitable to run Mifos.

Latest release notes

The release notes for each release of Mifos are here. Read them to find important information about the latest release, including known issues.

Installation guide

The installation guide gives you all the instructions you need to install Mifos.

Configuration guide

The configuration guide includes instructions on all the operations that must occur before you starting working with Mifos.

Deployment methodology

The deployment guide includes tips and advice for deploying Mifos independently through community with support via our mailing lists..

Maintenance and post-deployment planning

The maintenance section of the Mifos knowledge base includes information on maintaining Mifos and on planning for future releases.

How to use this manual

Table of contents

Using links

Searching for information

Tips and techniques

Glossary

Document conventions

Table of contents

To read any of the sections listed on the left, click the section name.

Using links

Any text in blue is a link; click it to open a Web site. For example, the Mifos configuration guide is stored on a Web site, and you may need to refer to it or change some of its details.

Searching for information

All information in this manual is indexed by Google. If you go to the Google.com site and type words or phrases in the search box, this manual will be searched for those words or phrases.

Tips and techniques

In this manual, we present several helpful tips that we and our users have found to make operation of Mifos easier. You may find other helpful tips under the FAQ section of this manual.

Glossary

The glossary in this manual (see the appendix) explains some finance terms and some terms that are used by MFIs for their work.  It also includes definitions of terms used in Mifos.

Document conventions

These are the rules for how information is presented in this manual.

All names of items on the screen (UI elements) have initial capital letters. For example, View Product Mix.

Any message from the Mifos software is surrounded by quotation marks, as in the following:
“Please select the Product Type.”
“Please specify the Category Name.”

The names of commands and buttons that you click are shown in boldface type.

Items in Mifos that must be clicked in order to navigate to a particular spot look like this:

Click Admin > Define New Holidays.
This means, click the Admin tab and, in the screen that appears, click Define New Holidays.

How to log on and log out

Open a browser and navigate to the URL for Mifos (provided by your system administrator)

The login screen appears
mifoslogin

In the Username box, type the username provided for you on Mifos.

In the Password box, type the password provided for you, and click the Login button.

The main Mifos window appears.

Note: The first time you log on, Mifos will show a screen to change your password immediately to one of your own choosing. See the How to change your password section for how to change your password after this.

To log out, click the Logout button in the upper right corner of the screen.

How to change your password

In the upper right corner of the Mifos screen, click Your settings. A list of all current settings appears.

Click Change password. The following screen appears:
mifoschangepassword

In the Old Password box, type your current password.

In the New Password box, type the new password. It must be at least 6 characters long, letters and/or numbers. It cannot be longer than 20 characters.

In the Confirm New Password box, type the new password again.

Click Submit.

How to navigate within Mifos

Tabs

Left navigation panel

Opening screen

Searching

Procedure steps

How to go back to a previous page

Editable and noneditable fields

Tabs

The tabs near the top of the screen

mifoshometab

show you the main sections of Mifos. Click any of these to move to that section. For example, if you click the Admin tab, this screen appears:

Left navigation panel

On the left, links marked "Quick Start" will take you to commonly used operations.

When you are in different sections of Mifos, the left navigation panel does different things:

While viewing the Admin tab, you can use this panel to search for clients and accounts.

While viewing the Clients & Accounts tab, you can use this panel to begin common operations.

The left navigation panel is not used while viewing the Reports tab.

Opening screen

When you first login to Mifos, you see a screen that looks much like this:

Searching

Any time you see a Search box, as in the illustration above, you can go directly to a client, center, group, or savings/loan account. Type the center/group/client name, the system ID (for a client, group, or center), client's government ID, or loan/savings account number, and click Search. If there are more than one possible responses, a list appears, which might look like the following;

In this case, click the correct one to view it.

Advanced search filters

Since Mifos 2.6.0 version, on Home page there are available advanced search filters. If you can not see filters, there is a need to click on "show" link under default search box (filters should be enabled by default). To disable search filters click on link "hide".

There is possibility to filter search results by:

Creation date (start date and end date)

Clients (status, gender, citizenship, ethnicity, business activity) 

Groups (status)

Centers (status)

Advanced filters looks like on screen below:

Procedure steps

Some procedures (like creating a loan account) have several steps. In those situations, a bar across the screen tells you which step you are in. It might look like this:

How to go back to a previous page

You can always press your browser's Back button to retrace your steps within Mifos.

You can also see the path you have taken near the top of the screen, just underneath the tabs. (This path is sometimes called a "breadcrumb trail.")

Click anywhere on this path to return to that section.

Editable and noneditable fields

Depending on the choices you made during configuration, and on your role within Mifos, you may not be able to edit some fields. If you try to type something in these fields, you see an error message like this:

In addition, some fields may appear gray or dim; this is another sign that you may not change those fields.

Data entry

All data entry screens in the system behave in the same way. Note the following:

You can type data into a text field.  A text field requires typing or scanning, as in the amount and interest rate fields in the above page. 

In a “pull-down list” or “drop-down list,” there is a predefined list of values; the user must choose one from this list. In some cases the items on this list are based on user entries; in other cases, they are configured by the MFI.

In some cases, when the data is selected, values that depend on it are displayed automatically and cannot be changed.

Fields that require no data entry are dimmed.

Mandatory fields have a red asterisk (*) before the field name. The user must enter data in this field before the form can be completed.

Where the form is longer than the screen, use the scroll bar to display more fields.

Use the keyboard to move from one field to another; after you have entered data in a field, press Tab to move to the next field.

The data entry pages indicate the numbers of steps to be completed. The above section of the create loan account screen, at the top, shows that the current step is the Loan Account Information. You can click the previous step to go back to it.

How to set up MFI operations: Overview

If you are setting up the operations for a microfinance institution (MFI) for the first time, you need to make decisions about its structure, its rules, its user members, and their roles. Some of these decisions must be made immediately, and some will be needed only when the MFI becomes more complex. Other decisions are completely optional.

In the process of configuring Mifos (see the Configuration guide), you or your administrator made many other decisions, such as the language in which Mifos is displayed to you. If you are looking for ways to control Mifos behavior and do not see them shown here, check the configuration file again.
We recommend that you make the decisions in this order, if they apply to your situation:

Create any additional fields that you will need to create offices

Create and/or view an existing MFI structure, including all offices

Create roles and permissions for system users

Create system users

Create rules for data display (labels, lookup options, additional fields)

Define accepted payment types

Create fees

Create fund types

Set product categories

Create checklists (optional)

Create holidays

Define products (loans and savings accounts)

How to switch between languages

Mifos is translated into many different languages and it gives you possibility to easily switch between them.

You can choose your preferred language in two ways:
1. Change language in 'Your Settings' section
2. Use 'Change Preferred Language' link

How to change language in 'Your Settings' section

1. Click on Your settings link on the main screen.

2. You may see a screen like this:

3. Click on Edit information link. You may see:

 4. Choose your preferred language from drop-down list.

5. Click  Preview to check your entries.
6. If you like to change anything, click Edit information to return to the earlier screen.
7. When the entries are correct, click Submit to save them or if you decide not to change any label at this time, click Cancel.

How to change language by 'Change Preferred Language' link

1. Click on Change Preferred Language  on the right corner on Mifos website.

2. You might see a screen like this:

3. Choose your preferred language from drop-down list and click Change.

How to add new language to Mifos

Mifos is currently fully translated into many different languages, other translations are in progress.
Full stats of all languages can be viewed at http://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:Mifos/stats.

New languages can be translated by using the online translation tool at Translatewiki.net or by   downloading the translation message files and translating them offline in a tool like .poedit.

To add a new local to Mifos you need to have some development skills to write the code. If you don't have such abilities, you need to request that new language/locale should be added into Mifos.

To do that, send an email to the mifos-developer list with the subject line, "Please add [LOCALE] into Mifos Database." and then new locale will be added to the new version of Mifos.

How to set office structure

Your MFI can have as many as five levels of offices, which can be organized according to geographical or functional divisions. All users and clients of the MFI must be attached to offices.

Head office

Regional office

Divisional office

Area office

Branch office

The head office is the main or parent office for an MFI. Mifos automatically creates it, and there can be only one in an MFI. During initial configuration (see the Configuration guide), you must decide on specifications for at least one branch office; this is the level at which all client interactions take place. You can also decide on specifications for the other three types of offices, which are optional.

The following screenshot shows how to choose which levels of offices you want in Mifos.

Once you have decided how many levels of office to have and have configured them, you can add more instances of each of them, if you have the appropriate permissions.

Once you have defined an office as a head office or branch office, you cannot change it to a different office type, such as regional office, sub regional office, or area office. However, you can change the offices of these three optional types to any other level except for the head office level.

TIP:  If you work in an area office or a head office and also want to offer services directly to clients, you must create a "virtual branch office" and assign clients to it.

To view and update the existing office hierarchy, click Admin > View Office Hierarchy.

How to work with offices

How to view existing offices

How to define an office

How to change the details of offices

Once you understand the current hierarchy of offices, you can view existing offices, define new ones (if you have the appropriate permissions), and change the specifications for existing offices.

How to view existing offices

Click Admin > View Offices. You might see a screen like this:

If a level of office is checked (this is set during configuration, see How to Set Office Structure), it is possible to create offices at that level.

Click the name of any office to see details about it, as shown below.

How to define an office

You can define an office two ways:

From the previous screen, you can click the Define new xxxx office link, where xxx is the type of office.

You can click Admin > Define New Office.

Either way, you see this screen next:

 Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

 Box

 Description

 Example

 Office details

 Office name

The name of the office

 Kakakpura

 Office short name

A short name for the office

 knkp

 Office type

Area Office, Branch Office, etc.

 Area Office

 Parent office

The office that is a level higher in the office hierarchy

 Office 1

 Office address

Office address

#224 Wheeler Road, NGEF Layout,

Cooke Town, Bangalore,

Karnataka, India, 560090

+91 80 23456787

 Additional information

Click Preview to check your entries.

If you want to change anything, click Edit Office Information to return to the earlier screen.

When the entries are correct, click Submit to save them. (If you want to discard all information about this office, click Cancel.)
The new office appears in the display of offices you can see when you click Admin > View Offices.

How to change the details of offices

From the details screen for a specific office, click Edit Office Information. Use the table above for information on how to fill in new information for the office details.

Click Preview to review your changes. If you want to make further changes, click Edit Office Information, make those changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with your changes, click Submit to save the changes.

How to work with roles, permissions, and system users

Personnel hierarchies and office hierarchies

How to work with roles and permissions

How to work with system users

Before you create the system users (such as loan officers) who will deal directly with clients, you must decide what their roles are and what permissions they will have. You must have appropriate permissions to create roles.

Before beginning, note the following terms:

Activity: any system action that a user might perform, such as creating a new system user

Permission: authorization to execute an activity

Role: a named set of permissions for a particular user

Data scope: a set of permissions for a role, determined by the user’s place in the personnel hierarchy and in the office hierarchy  

Personnel hierarchies and office hierarchies

The personnel hierarchy has two levels:

The Loan Officer has a data scope that is limited to his/her clients, which only she or he is able to modify as appropriate.  The Loan Officer is able to view clients assigned to other Loan Officers but cannot modify the information for them.  A Loan Officer can be attached to only one branch.  If necessary, you can create the same Loan Officer in a different branch as the same user, but in the different branch this officer must have a different system ID.

The Other level hierarchy has no restrictions and has unrestricted access subject to the office hierarchy explained below.

The following table illustrates how these two hierarchies are related.

 User's office hierarchy

 Personnel hierarchy
 Permission
 Applies to branch B1
 Applies to Branch B2

 Branch B1
 Loan officer
 Edit MFI and personal information**
 Yes*
 No

 Branch B2
 Other
 Edit MFI and personal information**
 Yes
 No

 Headquarters
 Other
 Edit MFI and personal information**

 Yes
 Yes

 Branch B2

 Loan officer

 Edit MFI and personal information**

 No
 Yes*

*- Permissions apply only to centers, groups, and clients assigned to the loan officer 

**- This is an example of a permission. See the full listing of possible permissions in Default roles and their activities

How to work with roles and permissions

Many system users can have the same role.

How to create a role

Click Admin > Manage Roles and Permissions.
If some roles are already defined, you might see a screen like this:

2mifosviewroles

To define a new role, click the New Role link.
A screen with many types of possible permissions appears. A partial list looks like this:

In the Role Name box, type a name for this role (such as Loan Officer or Branch Administrator). Note that loan officers can see information only on their clients.

If you want to give a role all personnel permissions, for example, check the Personnel box. If you want to give the role only certain of these permissions, check them individually.

When you are satisfied with the permissions you have assigned to this role, click Submit.

How to change a role

Click Admin > Manage Roles and Permissions.
The list of defined roles appears.

Click a role to see the screen with all its permissions.

Check and uncheck boxes to make any changes.

When you are satisfied with the changes you have made, click Submit.

How to work with system users

When you create system users (the people who deal directly with clients), they are always associated with an existing office. Make sure that you have created the office before you create the system user. You must have appropriate permissions to create and change users.

How to create a system user

Click Admin > Define New System User.
A list of existing offices appears, organized by type of office. It might look like the following:

Click the office that the new system user will belong to.

Enter user details as explained in the following table. All fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are mandatory.

Field name

Description

Example

Office

Office

The office the user is attached to.

Meru

User details

First Name, Middle Name, Second Last Name, Last Name

User's full names

Kamalamma, Leela

National ID

Any form of authorized ID in your country that can be used to identify the person uniquely from the rest of the population, such as a national ID, passport number, etc.  The user is uniquely identified using the combination of the government ID, Name and Date of Birth.

A440/2001

Email

Date of Birth

12 Jan, 1970

Marital Status

Married

Gender

Female

Language Preferred

Language preferred by the user

Spanish

MFI Joining Date

12 Dec, 2005

Address

Address

Address 1, Address 2, Address 3, City/District, State, Country, Postal Code, Telephone

#154, Wheeler Road, Cooke Town, Bangalore, Karnataka

India

560045

Permissions

User Title

The user's title

CFO

User Hierarchy

Defines the user's data scope in the system

Other

Roles

Select the authorized role(s) to assign to the user.   The user can be assigned more than one role.

Manager; Admin

Login Information

User name

The name must be unique in the entire system.

kamalammal

Password, Confirm password

The password must be at least 6 characters.

*

Additional Information

Custom fields 1-6

Type additional custom information in fields 1–6. See “How to define and change additional fields” for information on how to create custom fields. LINK HERE

When you have filled out all appropriate fields, click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes, or if any error messages identify fields that you have not specified, click Edit User Information, make those changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with all details, click Submit. (If you decide not to create a system user at this time, click Cancel.)
You then see a message confirming the new user, including that user's system ID number. It might look like this:                         

How to view existing system users

To see the details on any existing system user, click Admin > View System Users, type the name of the user, and click the Search button.

All users with that name appear, identified by their office.

When you see the one you were searching for, click that name to see details on that user.

How to change a system user

Search for details on a system user in any of the following ways:

In the Admin screen, type the system ID for the user in the box in the left navigation panel, and click Search.

From Admin > View System Users, type the name of the user and click Search.

In the user details screen that results, click Edit User Information. (If you want to see changes that have been made to this user before now, click View Change Log.)

If you want to make any notes about the user, click the Add Note button; type a note in the Note box; click Preview to review the note; if you want to change the note, click Edit, make the changes, and click Preview again; when you are satisfied with all the changes, click Submit.

Make any changes necessary in the screen that appears, and click Submit.

How to define and change fees

How to define a fee type

How to view existing fee types

How to change a fee

Your MFI can charge customer fees for the various services you offer. Reasons for charging a fee can vary from one MFI to another.

Mifos gives flexibility to MFIs and branches to define fee instances to meet their requirements. Examples of fee instances are a client creation fee, a training fee, and an account creation fee.

How to define a fee type

Click Admin > Define New Fees.
You see a screen like the following:

Enter specifications using the descriptions in the following table:

 Field
 Description
 Example

 Fee name

 Name for the fee

 Training fee

 Fee applies to

 Level of organization where this fee will apply

 Center

 Default fee

 Check if fee is charged to all

 Check

 Frequency

 How often the fee is assessed: Period (every month, for example) or One Time.

If you select One Time, in the list below it, select the time at which this fee will be charged. In the Amount box, type the amount of the fee

 One time

 Calculate fee as

Use this if you want to calculate the fee as a fixed amount or a percentage of another amount.

If you have configured Mifos to use multiple currencies for loan products, you can specify the currency for a fixed-amount loan fee.
A given fee can be applied multiple times to a customer account.  Interest is never charged on the fee amount.

The system will match the periodicity of the fee to the meeting schedule or repayment schedule, depending on whether it’s a client fee for example (tied to meeting schedule) or a loan fee (tied to repayment schedule).

Fees are computed automatically by the system.

 5 % of loan amount

 GL Code

 General ledger code that applies to this fee (these codes are set during configuration)

When you have made all your decisions, click Preview to see a summary.

If you have skipped any required fields, you see an error message such as the following: 

Fix any errors in the Define New Fees screen.

When you are satisfied with the fee, click Submit to save it. (If you decide not to create a new fee at this time, click Cancel.)

How to view existing fee types

Before creating any new fees, look at the existing fee types to see if the one you want already exists.

Click Admin > View Fees.
You might see a screen like this:

mifosviewfees

How to change a fee

From the View Fees screen, click an existing fee to see its details.

Use the information above to decide how to change the details for this fee.

Click Preview to see a summary of the fee details.

When you are satisfied, click Submit to save the new fee.

How to apply fees/charges

Your MFI can charge fees for any service, such as membership and loan processing. These fees and charges can be collected from centers, groups, and clients and assessed on loan accounts. To apply charges, follow these instructions:

If the fees are for the services provided to a center, group, or client, in any Search box, type the name of the center, group, or client and click Search. In the list that appears, click the link for the correct one. In the details page that appears, in the Account Information and Center/Group/Client charges section, click View Details and then Apply Charges.

If the fees are for a specific loan account, in any Search box, type the ID for the account and click Search, or navigate to that account from the center/client/group details page. Click the link that appears for that loan. In the details page that appears, in the Transactions box in the upper right corner, click Apply Charges.

Click Apply Charges. A screen like the following appears:

In the Select Charge Type list, click the appropriate charge. If there is a set amount for this charge, it appears in the Amount box.

In the Amount box, type the amount to apply.

Click Submit.

The charge now appears in the Upcoming Charges and the Recent Account Activity list. It will appear in Transaction History when posted. 

Early Repayment of Fees

This feature provides MFIs the ability to collect fees in advance of the repayment date. However, early repayment of fees is applicable only at the client, group and center level. It cannot be applied to loan accounts. 

This feature, part of Mifos 2.1, enables fees to be assessed and collected up-front at the time in which they've been assessed. Specifically, this feature could be used by MFIs to charge a fee for withdrawal from a savings account. Currently, Mifos does not provide any option to assign penalties or fees to a savings account. If your MFI has a business need to charge fee for withdrawal from a savings account, the early fee repayment feature can be used to assign and charge that fee at the client level (as described in the section below).

When an early payment is made, it is paid off in the following order:

Overdue charges

One-time fee

Recurring fee

In general, fee repayment can be entered into the system in two ways: 

Through the Apply payment option for a client/ center/ group.

Through Collection Sheet Entry

The Apply payment feature can be used to collect fee payment before the meeting, on the day of meeting and back-dating of meeting.

Collection Sheet Entry cannot be used to make an early repayment of fee for a meeting date which has not occurred yet . It can either collect payments on the day of the meeting or it can be used to collect back-dated payments before the next meeting date. 

The next section describes the process of applying fee repayment through apply payment and collection sheet entry.

For each of the below scenarios, let's assume the following scenario:  The entity (client, group, or center) has a monthly meeting date of Dec 5.  You would like to apply and collect a fee either before this meeting date or on the day of the meeting.

Without the early repayment capability, any fees applied wouldn't be able to be collected until the next meeting date.

Basic scenarios for early repayment of fees for a monthly meeting date of Dec 5

 Action:
Without Early Repayment of Fees
With Early Repayment of Fees 

Apply and collect payment of fee on Dec 1 (early)

Apply Payment: Fee can be applied prior to meeting but not collected until Dec 5. 

Collection Sheet: N/A 

Apply Payment: Fee can be applied prior to meeting and collected on Dec 1. 

Collection Sheet: N/A 

Apply and collect payment of fee on Dec 5 (day of meeting)

Apply Payment: Fee can be applied to account but not collected till next meeting, Jan 5. 

Collection Sheet: Fee will not show up as due under A/C column until next meeting for Jan 5. 

Apply Payment: Fee can be applied to account and collected on Dec 5. 

Collection Sheet: Fee will show up as due under A/C column for meeting on Dec 5.  

The steps below outline in detail the process you would follow to complete each of these scenarios.

Additional scenarios including back-dating of fees are covered in detail on the Early Repayment of Fees functional specification.

Early fee repayment through apply payment: 

When a payment is made at the center/group/client level, the payment applies only to fees. The sections below describe how early fee repayment can be made through apply payment feature.

Early fee repayment at the Center Level 

When a payment is made at the center level, the payment applies only to fees. To make an early fee repayment at the center level, select the center for which the fee needs to be collected. This can be done as follows:

1. In any search box type the name of the center for which you want a fee applied and click Search. The center(s) matching the search string you provided will be displayed. The page will look something like this:

 2. Select the required center. A screen similar to the following will be displayed:

 3. Under Center Charges in the Account Information section displayed above, click View Details. A screen with the following sections is displayed:

Apply transactions - This section allows the user to enter loan repayment details (apply payment), modify entered loan repayment details (apply adjustment) and apply charges to the center like fee, penalty, etc (apply charges).

Account Summary - This sections shows the amount due at the next installment, the amount overdue (unpaid at the previous installment) and the total.

Upcoming charges - This section shows the charges that are due at the next repayment schedule.

Recent Account Activity - As the name suggests, this section shows all recent activity by the center.

 4. Click Apply Payment. This leads to a screen similar to the following:

Date of transaction - This records the date of the transaction. By default, it is set to the current date.

Amount - This is amount of fee that is being repaid.

Mode of payment - This is the mode in which repayment is made. Typical modes include Cash, Voucher, Cheque and MPESA.

Receipt ID - If a receipt ID is used, it is entered here.

Receipt Date - The receipt date, if a receipt was used, is entered here.

5. Enter the amount of  fee repaid. When payment is made, it is applied in the following order: all overdue charges are applied first followed by one-time fee followed by recurring fee.

6. System validations and other notes:  When an amount is entered, the system performs the following validations.

The amount entered should not be greater than the total fee owed by the client. In case the amount exceeds, the system throws an error message.

The amount repaid can be less than the amount expected for that period. In this case, the system simply transfers the remaining unpaid amount towards the next payment (assessed as overdue charges)

In the case of repayment of savings penalties too, if an amount less than the expected amount is repaid, the system simply considers it as a partial repayment of penalty. The balance amount now appears as the opening balance to be repaid by the client at the next meeting. Any amount greater than the required savings penalty is applied against fee repayment, if any. If there is no fee due, then the system throws an error for repayment of an amount greater than the expected amount.

As mentioned above, the fee payment is applied in the following order:

Overdue charges

One-time fee

Recurring fee.

          So, when a fee payment is made all overdue charges are repaid first. The remaining balance is adjusted against the one-time fee. If some balance still remains, it is adjusted against the number of recurring meetings for which the fee can be repaid. 

Example: If overdue charges = 5, one-time fee = 10 and recurring fee = 2 for a period of 5 installments. Suppose the client makes a repayment of 19, then the amount is adjusted in the following manner.

Overdue charges totalling 5 are repaid first. So, the remaining balance is 19-5 = 14.

The one-time fee of 10 is repaid next. Remaining balance = 14-10 = 4

The balance of 4 can be applied against 2 schedules of recurring fee. The balance remaining is now 0.

The fee amount owed by the client is now equal to the remaining recurring fee (2 * remaining 3 installments = 6). This amount is displayed by default as the opening balance amount to be repaid by the client.

For more scenarios and examples, please look up documentation available here.

7. Click Review Transaction and if you are satisfied with the updates, click Submit. Else, click the Edit button and modify the transaction details.

Early fee repayment at the Group Level 

When a payment is made at the group level, the payment applies only to fees. To make an early fee repayment at the group level, select the group for which the fee needs to be collected. There are two ways you can do this:

1. As mentioned in the section "Early repayment at the Center Level", in any search box enter the name of the group and click Search. The group(s) matching the search string provided are displayed. Select the required group.

2. Alternately, if you know the center to which the particular group belongs, select the center as described in the previous section. A screen like this will be displayed, with the list of groups assigned to the Center.

Select the required group. The rest of the procedure is the same as described for the Center. Follow steps 3-5 outlined in the previous section "Early fee repayment at the Center Level".

The validations performed at the group level are also similar to that at the center level.

Early fee repayment at the Client Level 

This is very similar to what has been outlined in the above two sections. The client can either be located through a search or by selecting the group to which the client belongs and then selecting the client from that group. In the case of the latter, a screen similar to the following is displayed. The client can then be selected from the list of clients assigned.

After selecting the client, follow steps 2-5 outlined above for the remaining process of applying an early fee  repayment at the client level.

The validations performed are similar to that at the center level.

Note: In case a particular client has both penalty and fee due, then the repayment is applied in the following order: penalty is repaid first and if there is excess balance, the fee is repaid.

Early fee repayment through Collection Sheet Data: 

The collection sheet is set up to make your collections easy. After you type in the information for the branch, loan officer, date and mode of payment, you see a form that already includes all payments and deposits that are expected on that date. 

As already mentioned, collection sheet entry cannot be used to make early repayment of fee for a meeting which has not occurred yet. It can only be used to make payment on the day of the meeting or back-dated payments before the next meeting date.

If unfamiliar with using Collection Sheet Entry, please visit the How to enter collection sheet data section of the User Manual.  

To access the collection sheet entry page, click Clients and Accounts > Enter Collection Sheet Data and a screen similar to the following will be displayed:

Once you've clicked through Continue, a screen appears summarizing all the accounts at this branch whose collections fall on the day you specified. It might look like the following: mifoscollsheet2amifoscollsheet2b

The relevant fields for applying fees will be in the following columns:

To enter the early fee repayment for a particular client/ group/ center, enter the respective fee amount against that client/ group/ center under the A/C collections column. This field is pre-populated with the list of charges/ fee assessed against the client/ center/ group. Enter the fee amount repaid by the client. A validation is performed by the system to make sure the amount entered is not greater than the fees due.

To enter penalty for withdrawal against a savings account at the client level, enter the required penalty amount against the client in the A/C collections column. The field is pre-populated with the required penalty amount.

Note: Loan fees (which don't have the early repayment capability) will show up under Due/Collections containing the short names of each loan and/or savings product appear.

To understand the capability of the new early repayment of fees features, let's revisit our original example.  Assume you have a client whose monthly meeting date is Dec 5.  On Dec 5 (the day of the meeting) you would like to assess a client fee of 10. You manually apply the fee to the client. In the Collection Sheet Entry page for Dec 5, this fee of 10 will show up under the A/C collections column.

Prior to the early repayment of fees functionality, after applying the fee manually to the client on Dec 5, this would not show up on the Collection Sheet Entry page until the next meeting date of Jan 5. 

System validations and other notes:  When an amount is entered, the system performs the following validations.

The amount entered should not be greater than the total fee owed by the client. In case the amount exceeds, the system throws an error message.

The amount repaid can be less than the amount expected for that period. In this case, the system simply transfers the remaining unpaid amount towards the next payment (assessed as overdue charges)

In the case of repayment of savings penalties too, if an amount less than the expected amount is repaid, the system simply considers it as a partial repayment of penalty. The balance amount now appears as the opening balance to be repaid by the client at the next meeting.

As mentioned above, the fee payment is applied in the following order:

Overdue charges

One-time fee

Recurring fee.

However, in case of collection sheet entry, only payments on the meeting date or backdated payments before the meeting date is allowed.

Recurring fee payment for a meeting date which has not occurred yet is not allowed. Only backdated recurring fee for an already elapsed period or recurring fee for the current meeting date is allowed. 

So, in the case of repayment through CSE, when a fee payment is made, all overdue charges are repaid first. The remaining balance is adjusted against the one-time fee, provided the repayment date is for a period already elapsed or if repayment is scheduled for the current meeting date. Recurring fee for future meeting dates are not accepted by the system. 

Example

: If overdue charges = 5, one-time fee = 10 repayable on the first installment meeting and recurring fee = 2 for a period of 5 installments. Suppose the client makes a repayment of 19 on the meeting date of the first installment, then the amount is adjusted in the following manner.

Overdue charges totalling 5 are repaid first. So, the remaining balance is 19-5 = 14.

The one-time fee of 10 is repaid next. Remaining balance = 14-10 = 4

The balance of 4 can be applied against only 1 schedule of recurring fee since the other recurring fees are for period that haven't occurred yet. Thus, the system accepts only 2 as recurring fee and throws an error saying the amount entered is greater than expected.

For more scenarios and examples, please look up documentation available here.

When you have typed all collection data, click Preview to review your work. All values that you changed from their expected amount appear in red.

7. If you need to make changes, click Edit Data, make the changes, and click Preview again. 

8. When you are satisfied with the collection data, click Submit.

Applying misc charge or misc penalties to loans after payment has been made

It is possible to apply misc charge or misc penalties to loans after payment has been made. Loan repayment schedule will be recalculated like on screens below:

After applying misc penalty (amount = 30), repayment schedule will be recalculated like on screen below:

How to set up and configure a late penalty

For Loan account, you can define and automatically apply late penalties for overdue payments. You may set this as fixed or percentage fee.

Penalties are calculated at the end of the day by Batch Jobs and automatically added to Loan repayment schedule.

1. If you want to define a new penalty click click on Define new penalties link in Admin tab, under 'Organization Preferences' section. 

You will see a screen like following:

2. Enter mandatory information using table below.

Attribute Name

Description

Penalty Name            

Name of the penalty to be created            

Penalty Applies To            

Loan/Savings product

Grace period Type

1. None
2. Number of installments
3. Number of days            

Grace Period duration

Number of installments/days           

Cumulative Penalty Limit (minimum)            

Minimum allowed penalty

Cumulative Penalty limit(maximum)            

Maximum allowed penalty            

Interest Rate calculation type            

If the penalty is a fixed amount, enter the fixed amount value, otherwise enter the calculation basis (% of Outstanding Principal Amount, Outstanding loan amount, Overdue amount due, Overdue principal)

Penalty Application Frequency            

1. Daily: Calculate and add penalty daily
2. Weekly: Calculate and add penalty every week
3. Monthly: Calculate and add penalty every month
4. None: for one time fixed penalty            

GL Code

List the GL Codes with GL account name            

3. After filling all necessary fields click on Preview. If everything is typed properly click on Submit.

How automatic late penalties are calculated

Penalty is calculated at the end of the day (EOD) by the batch jobs and it is based on the criteria defined on the penalty:

Grace period type

Grace period duration        

Minimum and maximum penalty limit

Interest Rate calculation type    

Penalty Application Frequency    

GL Codes

Batch jobs are run automatically. If installments are not repay on time, penalties are calculated and you may see them in repayment schedule.

Once calculated and applied penalty can be removed and the transaction may be reversed.

How to configure a loan product with an automatic late penalty

To configure a loan product with automatic late penalty follow instructions below:

Click on Admin tab, under 'Manage Products' section click on Define new loan product.

Enter all necessary information. Under 'Penalties' section you will see a list of all defined penalties for a Loan account. Select appropriate penalty and click on Add button to add it to the right box.

Note: You need to have previously defined penalty for a Loan product account.

If you enter all Loan product information click on Preview and if all information are typed correctly click on Submit.

 How to create a new Loan account with penalties

If you want to add automatic penalties to Loan account select Client or Group and click on its name to display account details.

Under ‘Account information’ section you will see ‘Open new account’, click on Loan to create a new loan account.

Select Loan product (with previously added penalty) from the drop-down list and click Continue.

Enter all necessary information.

In ‘Administrative Set Penalties’ section you will see all penalties added to Loan product with amount and calculation frequency.

6. If you fill all mandatory fields click on Continue, check all information and click Preview. If everything is typed properly click on Save for approval to create Loan Account.

How to apply penalty via ‘Apply charges’ link.

There is also possibility to add penalty by clicking on Apply charges link on Loan details page in Transaction box. You will see a screen like following.

Select from drop-down list a penalty, which you want to add and click Submit. On loan details page, under Account details section, you will see newly added penalty.

How to remove a penalty

Once you have added penalty, you have also possibility to remove it. To do it, display Loan details page. Under Account details section there is a list of penalties.

Click ‘Remove’ link to delete penalty. After that all the calculated and applied penalties will be reversed.

How automatic penalties are being applied

If repayment of instalment is specified on the day and it won’t be repaid on this day, then, after a period time defined for this penalty (daily, weekly, monthly), penalty is calculated and applied by batch jobs.

Example:
Weekly loan has defined penalties amount (fixed $5) with weekly application frequency and Grace period time type: ‘Number of installments=1’.

Repayment is set on 01/04/2012 with amount $450. If repayment is not paid, then at the end of the day (01/04/2012), the daily batch jobs runs but the penalty is not calculated as there is a grace period time defined.

Amount due on 01/05/2012 is still $450. If the loan installment continues to remain unpaid until 01/11/2012, the batch job adds $5 to penalty column as the first time penalty amount.

Loan due on 01/12/2012 is: $450+$5+$450=$905.

If you want to see applied penalties click on Clients&Accounts > Select Loan account with 'Active in Bad standing' status. Under Account summary click on View repayment schedule to see a screen like following. 

It is possible to repay penalty in two ways:

‘Apply payment’ link located on Loan details page

Collection Sheet Entry which is located on left menu on 'Home' or 'Clients&Accounts' pages 

How to work with funds

How to view existing funds

How to define funds

How to edit fund names

A certain number of fund codes are included in Mifos. You can associate these codes with specific named funds (such as funds made available by donors) that you use for loans and other services.

How to view existing funds

Click Admin > View Funds.

A list of funds and their codes appears. It might look like this:

How to define funds

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can define a new fund and assign it a fund code. This fund is then available when you create a loan product. You can also assign a new fund to a loan account after it has been created.

Click Admin > Define New Fund. A screen like this appears:

Type the name of the fund.

In the list of fund codes, click the appropriate code.

Click Preview to review the details of the fund. If you want to change any details, click Edit Fund Information, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the fund details, click Submit.

How to edit fund names

From the Admin > View Funds screen, click the Edit button for the fund you want to change.

In the Name box, type the new name for this fund. (You may not change the code for this fund.)

When you have made changes, click Preview to review your changes.

If you want to make further changes, click Edit Fund Information, make those changes, and click Preview again. 

When you are satisfied with the changes to the fund, click Submit.

How to work with user checklists

How to define a checklist

How to view existing checklists

How to change a checklist

Checklists are lists of things that should be done before an action is completed.

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can set up checklists that your users will see every time they start an action, such as approving a loan. The checklist serves as a reminder to the user to see that all processes are completed. Checklists are defined by the head office and associated with certain states of customer records or accounts.

For example, if the head office defines a checklist for the state “Pending approval” of a loan account, every time a user attempts to change the state of a loan account to “Pending Approval” (no matter what the state of the loan application was up to this point), the checklist appears.

The user can then go through the list and make sure that all items on the checklist have been satisfied. Each state for clients, groups, and products can only have one checklist attached.

Note: You can change an existing checklist, but you may not delete it.

How to define a checklist

Click Admin > Define New Checklist. (You can also click Admin > View Checklists and click the Define a New Checklist from that screen.). The following screen appears.

Enter information about the checklist using the descriptions in the following table:

 Field name

 Description
Example

 Name

 Type a unique name for the checklist

 Chk Delete Member

 Type
Click the type of checklist you want to create from the list of values. The list includes: Center, Group, Client, Loan, Savings.

 Client

 Displayed When Moving Status To

Select the status that the checklist will be displayed for, if that status is attached to the type above.
For example, if the checklist type is Clients and the status is Pending Approval, the checklist is displayed whenever any client record status is changed to Pending Approval.

 Pending Approval

 Items
Type the text for the checklist item and click Add>> to include the item in the checklist below the item field. The text can accept a maximum of 250 characters. The checklist can have any number of check items defined for it.
All the listed check items will be considered mandatory and will have to be checked before the status change can be accepted by the system.

 The member has been registered

 Remove Selected

To remove a checklist item, click the item and click Remove Selected.

When you have finished typing all the items in the checklist, click Preview to review the list.

If you want to change anything in the checklist, click Edit Checklist Information, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the checklist, click Submit. (or click Cancel if you decide not to create a checklist at this time)

How to view existing checklists

Click Admin > View Checklists.
If any checklists are defined, they appear, divided by type. The screen might look like this:

mifosviewchecklist

To see the details of a checklist, click the link for that checklist.

How to change a checklist

From the Admin > View Checklists screen, click the link for a checklist, and then click Edit Checklist Information. Follow the instructions above to make and save changes.

How to work with holidays

The repayment schedules that you set up can be interrupted by holidays. If you have the appropriate permissions, you can add holidays for your organization and set the rules for when repayments ordinarily due on that due will actually be due.

Note: You may not delete a holiday once you have added it.

How to define holidays

Click Admin > Define New Holiday.

The following screen appears.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field
Description
Example

Holiday name
The name of the holiday
Tet

From Date
The first day of the holiday
04-08-2010

To Date
The last day of the holiday
05-08-2010

Repayment Rule

If repayments are due during the holiday, how to calculate when they are due afterward. Choices are:

Same Day: no change to repayment schedule

Next Meeting/Repayment: payment due that falls on this holiday is now due at the next scheduled repayment date

Next Working day: payment is now due on the next working day

Next Meeting/Repayment

Applies to

You may mark the name of Branch Office to which a new defined holiday should be applied.

MyOffice1

When you have specified holiday details, click Preview to review them.

If you want to change details of the holiday, click Edit Holiday, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the details of the holiday, click Submit. (If you decide not to create a new holiday at this time, click Cancel.)

How to view existing holidays

Click Admin > View Holidays. From here, you can click Add a New Holiday if you want to create a new one; follow the instructions above.

How to define accepted payment types

For all kinds of payments (fees from clients/groups/centers, loan disbursements/repayments, and savings withdrawal/deposits), you can specify what forms of payments you will accept. By default, Mifos puts cash, cheque, and voucher as accepted choices. You could specify additional payment types to choose from as well (click Admin > Define Lookup Options to do this). Once you have defined them as lookup options, you can decide which ones are accepted at present, and you can change these choices at any time.

Click Admin > Define Accepted Payment Types.
A screen like the following appears:

The payment types that show in the right box are the ones accepted, and the ones in the left box are not accepted. Click a payment type and use the Add>> and <<Remove buttons to move that type from one box to another.

When you are satisfied with any changes you have made, click Submit.

How to view organizational settings

It can be helpful to see all of the settings for your organization on one screen. If you click Admin > View Organizational Settings, you will see a screen something like this:

These are all the settings you specified during the configuration process. To change them, return to the configuration guide and follow instructions.

How to set rules for data display

How to define and change lookup options

How to specify that fields be mandatory and/or hidden

How to define and change additional fields

How to define customized labels

This feature allows Mifos users to customize existing text based on their respective organizational needs and other regional preferences. For example, all labels in the Mifos system marked as “Center” could be replaced as “Kendra” (which is the Hindi term for Center). The following steps detail how this can be achieved:

1. Go to Admin> in Data Display and Rules section choose Define Customized Text. A screen similar to the following is displayed

2. Click Add. A screen similar to the following is displayed.

Two fields are displayed:

Original Text: This refers to the text that needs to be replaced. In the scenario discussed above, the original text would read "Center".
Custom Text: This refers to the text that the original text needs to be replaced with. In the scenario discussed above, the custom text would read "Kendra"

Enter the required values for both fields and click Submit.

3. The Define customized text screen which previously was unpopulated now contains the customization that was defined and added to the system. A screen similar to the following is displayed.

In this case, Center is the old label which has now been replaced by ‘Kendra’. If satisfied with the changes made, click Done. This will replace all occurrences of “Center” in the system with “Kendra”.

4. To check if the changes have been effected, go to the Clients and Accounts page by clicking on the “Clients and Accounts” tab. Center has now been replaced by Kendra as displayed in the screenshot below.

Note: The customized text is case sensitive and all references will be replaced.

For example: If the original text is "client" and the custom text is "member", then "client" will be replaced with "member" throughout. In addition, "clients" will be replaced with "members". However, "Client" will not be replaced with "Member". 

  5. If you want to change your entries, mark an item from the list, click Edit.

You may see a screen like following:

Original text field is not editable. Change a text in Custom Text field on appropriate one and click Submit if you are satisfied with your entried or click Cancel if you do not want to change anyting at this time.

6. If you want to delete previously defined customize text, choose and mark an item to delete, then click on Remove button. A definition of customize text will disappears from the list.

How to define and change lookup options

In many procedures within Mifos, you choose among items in a list. These are called "lookup options." For some of these lists, you can control the items that appear there to fit your local circumstances, either by adding new options or editing the existing ones. For example, in the list of salutations, you might want to add "Sri" or "Rev."

Note: You can add new lookup options or edit the ones that appear there, but you may not delete any.

Follow these instructions to change lookup options:

Click Admin > Define Lookup Options.
A screen appears showing all current lookup options for lists that you can change. This screen (in two pieces) looks like this:

To add a lookup option, click that option and click Add.
A screen appears with an empty box for that option.

Type the new option and click Submit.

To edit a lookup option, click that option and click Edit.
A screen appears with a box showing the current option.

Type the changed option and click Submit.

How to specify that fields be mandatory and/or hidden

For many of the fields in Mifos, if you have the appropriate permissions, you can decide whether a field is mandatory (meaning that the procedure cannot be completed until this field is filled in) and also whether a field is hidden. For example, if it is essential to fill in the purpose of a loan before that loan is granted, you can mark the "Purpose of loan" field as mandatory. If a field such as "Address 3" is unnecessary, you can mark it as hidden.

Note: Before marking a field as hidden, be sure that you will not need it later. MFI records that were created when the field was hidden may be different from those that are created later when the field is visible, and this can create problems.

Follow these instructions to make the specifications:

Click Admin > Define Mandatory/Hidden Fields.
A screen appears showing all fields for which you can make these specifications. These are grouped:

Fields that are systemwide (they appear everywhere in Mifos)

Fields that are filled with information about clients and system users

Fields that are filled with information about groups

Fields that are used for loan accounts
The screen looks like this:

Check and uncheck the boxes according to your preferences.

When you are satisfied with your specifications, click Submit. (If you decide not to change the status of any fields at this time, click Cancel.)

Note: If you make a field mandatory, it will always have an asterisk (*) next to it.

How to define and change additional fields

As of the Mifos 2.x release and beyond, additional fields in Mifos are now handled through the Question Groups functionality.  You have all the flexibility you need to gather additional fields about a client's business along with the added control of choosing where to insert these into your regular workflow. These question groups can be a part of your regular workflow (like an "additional field") or collected periodically (like a survey).

Please follow our Question Groups section to learn more.  Essentially instead of using the previous  Admin > Define Additional Fields capability, you will now Add a Question Group and then Insert New Questions (additional fields) into your Question Group.

How to Work with Batch Jobs

How to Suspend Scheduled Batch Jobs

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

Batch jobs (also known as cron jobs on Unix-based systems) are a series of back-end jobs executed on a computer. Mifos currently has 9 batch processes which are scheduled to run nightly.

At any point, you can view the list of batch jobs scheduled to run along with other details specific to each job. Click Admin>>Batch Jobs (under System Administration) to view the following details for each batch job 

Name of the Batch Job

Next Start

Previous Run Start

Task Type

Task Priority

Previous Run Status

Cron expression 

How to Suspend Scheduled Batch Jobs

The current status of the scheduler is displayed under the Batch Jobs Information section on the Batch Jobs page. This status can be either "Active" or "Standby". If the scheduler status is Active, it indicates that all batch jobs are running/ will run as per the specified schedule.

The whole batch-job scheduler can be put in standby mode by using the Suspend option. Clicking on the suspend button will ensure all scheduled batch runs are suspended. The scheduler status will now show "Standby".

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

First select the batch jobs that need to be manually executed.  This selection is done by clicking the respective check boxes (to the left of each job). After the required jobs are selected, click on 'Run Selected Tasks'. This will execute the selected batch jobs. 

On click of 'Run Selected Tasks', the list of tasks selected for manual execution will be displayed under the section 'Tasks sent for execution'.

 To verify that all the selected tasks have indeed been sent for execution, check the field 'Previous Run Status' for these tasks. The Previous Run Status for these tasks should read 'Started'.

How to close month

Month closing option enables you to close month so there is no possibility to enter transaction before that date. You cannot edit transactions prior to the accounting close out date, thus ensuring that portfolio tracker and accounting remain reconciled.

To close month follow instruction below:

1. Click on Admin tab to see a screen like below:

2. Month Closing Date is default on current date. You may select different one by clicking on calendar or type it manually.

3. Click on Change button. Note that 'Current Month Closing date' is changed.

'Month closing' blocks following transactions:

Apply payment

Apply adjustment

Repay Loan

Make deposit/withdrawal

Collection Sheet Entry

How to use User interface for Chart of Accounts creation

Chart of Account creation & mapping is core of any MIS & financial accounting system. Previously configuration and customization of COA was only available by editing xml file. This way was not effective and not easy to manage.

New version of Mifos brings functionality which allows to add new, modify and remove accounts directly from the Mifos User Interface. It is possible to modify/remove only those GL Codes which were not previously used in the system. Four main categories ASSETS, LIABILITIES, INCOME and EXPENDITURE cannot be removed or modified.

Note: Initial version of Chart of Accounts xml file still needs to be added to Mifos before first start of Mifos.

Follow the steps below to see how to manage Chart of Accounts directly from Mifos UI.

1. Open 'Admin' tab and click on 'Manage Chart of Accounts' link:

2. On 'Manage Chart of Accounts' page, four main categories will be displayed:

3. You can expand each main category by clicking on its name:

4. Next to each account, there is a link to Add a new under it or if possible, link to Modify and Delete account:

5. To add a new GL Code under the e.g. ASSETS category, click on Add link next to the ASSETS:

6. 'Define new Charts of Accounts code' page will be displayed on which you can specify name of account and GL Code:

7. After entering name and code, click on 'Preview' button and 'Submit' to confirm the account creation:

8. New account will by automatically added and listed on 'Manage Chart of Accounts' page:

9. If you want to modify account (if account wasn't previously used) then click on Modify link, next to account. 'Modify Charts of Accounts code' page will be displayed:

10. On 'Modify Charts of Accounts code' page it is possible to change name of the account, GL code number and also move it to another parent account. At the bottom there is a section in which there is a possibility to see the whole Chart of Accounts tree and you can check to which parent it can be moved:

11. After modifying account parameters click on 'Preview' button and then on 'Submit' button to save the changes:

12. Account will be modified and automatically refreshed on the Chart of Accounts list:

13. If you want to remove account (if account wasn't previously used) then click on Delete link, next to account. 'Delete Charts of Accounts code' page will be displayed:

14. Click 'Delete' button to remove account. Account will be deleted and will no longer exist in the system.

Managing Chart of Accounts functionality has its own permission, so it is possible to control which users can add/modify/delete accounts:

When permission is disabled then Add/Modify/Delete links are not displayed next to the accounts:

How to upload attachments

Mifos enables to attach any type of files (pdfs, word, docs, etc.) during client creation or creating a new loan account. It is possible to upload max 2 MB size files.

To upload file follow these instructions:

Create new client / loan account (to see how to do this, please review How to create a new client and How to create a new loan account).

During client / loan account creation you will see:

Select appropriate file (you can type directory manually or click on Browse button and choose file).

It is also possible to add description of attachment.

Click on Add file button.    

It is possible to add multiple attachments.

After clicking Add file, below the button, you will see list of added files with descriptions.

You can remove attachment by clicking button "x".                                    

How to manage attachments

It is possible to add more attachments after client's or loan account creation. On client's or loan account details page you will see View uploaded files link.

Follow instructions below, to view, download or upload a new attachment:

Click on View uploaded files link to view attachments details page.

You will see:

To delete attachment click on Delete link.

To download uploaded attachment click on Download link.

If you want to upload a new attachment click on Select new file to upload and browse a new file.

After selecting a file (optionally you can add file description) click on Preview and Submit.

Note that if you want to upload a file, which already exists in system (or if the name of file already exists) then you will overwrite this file with the new one.

On attachment details page you will see a list of uploaded files.

How to upload new logo

It is possible to customize Mifos view, by importing office's logo instead of default Mifos logo. Logo may be changed both in application interface and in reports. There is a need to upload only one logo and it will be automatically changed in each place.

To upload logo follow instructions below:

Open Admin tab.

Under Manage Mifos View section, there is Upload new logo link. Click on it.

You will see following page:

Click on Browse to select logo file.

Click on Upload logo.

If you don't want to change logo now, you can click on Back to previous page

How to set product rules and attributes

How to define new product categories

How to view and change existing product categories

How to view and change the lateness definition and the dormancy definition

How to define new product categories

Most MFIs have savings products and loan products. In addition, you can define subcategories of these products. These can be useful in your reports, if you want to compare the repayment rates and profitability of different kinds of loans. For example, you might want to create an "Income-generating loan" category that is used to report on loans for business. You could create different products within this category such as "Farm loan" and "Food kiosk loan." A second category, "Housing loan," might contain different products for "Standard housing loans" and "Tsunami rebuilding loans." Then you could compare the categories to see which were the most popular and the most profitable.

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can create new categories. Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Define New Category.
The following screen appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Product Type

Savings or Loan. These hierarchies are separate, so a loan product cannot be assigned to a savings product category, and vice versa.

Loan

Category Name

This name will be used to refer to the category when new products are defined, and also in the reports where data are summarized or filtered by the product category.

3-year education loan

Category Description

Type a description that will help system users decide who to provide the product for.

3-year education loan

When you are finished, click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes to the category, click Edit Category Information, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the details of the category, click Submit. (If you decide not to add a new category at this time, click Cancel.)

How to view and change existing product categories

Click Admin > View Product Categories.
A list of existing categories appears. It might look like this:

To see the details on any category, click its link. From the screen that appears, you can click Edit Category Information to make changes, as in the procedure above.

How to view and change the lateness definition and the dormancy definition

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can decide how long to wait after nonpayment of a loan before Mifos automatically changes a loan account's status from Active in Good Standing to Active—Bad Standing. The default Lateness value is 10 days, and you can change this value.

Mifos moves the account back to the Active in Good Standing status when the total amount overdue has been paid (the complete principal overdue + interest overdue + fee overdue + penalty overdue).

You can also decide how long, after a period of no deposits or withdrawals (dormancy) in a savings account, to mark the account as On Hold. The default value is 30 days.

You can change these definitions again at any time.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin >View Lateness/Dormancy Definitions.
A screen like the following appears:

mifoslateness

In the Loan box, type the number of days to wait after nonpayment before the account is marked Active—Bad Standing.

In the Savings box, type the number of days to wait after no activity before it is marked On Hold.

When you are satisfied with the changes, click Submit. (If you decide not to make any changes to the definition at this time, click Cancel.)

How to define new loan products

How to waive interest on early loan repayment 

How to configure variable loan installments

How to use multicurrency features

In Mifos, a loan product is a type of loan account. A single MFI typically has several loan products--for example, a 4-year housing loan, and a 2-year educational loan. The product provides the terms and definitions of these different programs to the Mifos system. Loan products are available to the whole MFI.

If a customer wants to borrow a 2-year educational loan, the MFI uses the 2-year educational loan to create an account for the customer. The loan account is used to track transactions related to the loan, which include interest, repayment, and any applicable charges. The loan account is a specific instance of a loan product, with a specified interest rate and an account number, and it is owned by a specified MFI customer.

For example, Rashmi and Shalini might both have loans for income-generating businesses. They are separate accounts (they have different account numbers and different balances), but both loans are instances of the same product (they were authorized by loan officers under the same program and share common traits, such as the way that the proceeds are used, the way interest is calculated, and the general ledger entries they are posted to). Although the terms of a loan account are governed by the product definition, the loan officer may have some flexibility to change interest rates and other attributes. Therefore, many of the properties of a loan product define the minimum and maximum values that the user may choose when an account of that type is opened.

The purpose of a product is as follows:

To offer MFI personnel a menu of choices of predefined services to offer clients, and the range of legal parameters where variation is permitted.

To define a link to the accounting system, so that disbursements and receipts can be credited to the proper general ledger account.

To provide a grouping of different accounts that should be combined for reporting purposes. Before you can make individual loans, you must define a loan product. All individual loans created from the same product have the same basic attributes.

Note: If you want to see the loan products that have already been created before you make a new one, click Admin > View Loan Products and click any of the products displayed on that screen.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Define New Loan Product.
A screen appears with all the specifications for the product. The first part of the screen looks like this:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name

Description

Product instance name

The full name of the loan product being defined.

Short name

An abbreviated version of the name, used in reports or menus where space is limited, such as Collection Sheets.

Description

A description of the loan product: its purpose, eligible recipients, or other information that will help an employee determine whether it is appropriate for a particular client.

Product Category

A selection from the list of all the active loan product categories. Products not assigned to any category are assigned to the Other category.

Start Date

The full date after which loans of this type may be issued.

End Date

The last date on which loans of this type may be issued.

Applicable For

Click whether this is a loan given to groups or individual clients.

Include in Loan Cycle Counter

A Yes/No choice for whether these loans count towards the experience level of this borrower.  The default option is Yes.  

 An additional field titled 'Can waive interest on Prepay Loan' is displayed. Information on its significance and how the feature can be enabled is discussed in the next section.

Waive Interest on Loan Repayment 

Mifos provides MFIs the option to waive interest during repayment of certain Loan products. In some cases, this is used to reward clients who repay loans earlier than the required date. When MFIs exercise this option to waive interest for a certain product type, clients repaying loans of that specific product type are not charged interest for the current active instalment. Otherwise, when a client repays a loan, interest is captured for the current active instalment as well.

If the option to waive interest is not enabled, the loan amount due is calculated as follows:

Amount due =

        All installments unpaid + Current installment due + Future Principle amounts only.  

This feature can be specified for new as well as existing loan products.

To enable feature for new loan products: Follow steps detailed in above section to define new loan product.  To select the 'Can Waive Interest on Prepay Loan' option for the loan in question, mark the corresponding check box as shown below.

 By default, this feature is not enabled.

To enable feature for existing loan products: Select the existing loan product for which the interest needs to be waived. To do this, follow these instructions:

1. Click Admin> View Loan Products (under Manage Products> Manage Loan Products)

The following screen with the list of loan products created will be displayed.

2. Click on the loan product that you'd like to modify. On click of that product, the product details are visible.

3. Click Edit Loans Product Information (top right). All the fields are visible in edit mode. Mark the Can waive interest on Prepay Loan option as shown below.

4. Click the Preview button to check if the changes have been made. The Can Waive Interest on Prepay Loan field should now read Yes. 

5. Click Submit. 

The next section deals with the amount of the loan. If you have multiple currencies configured for loan products, you can select the currency that the loan product applies to.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Calculate Loan Amount

The way the loan should be calculated:

Same for All Loans: The loan amount does not vary, and the loan history is not taken into consideration.

By Last Loan Amount: The loan amount depends on the amount of the last loan this client or group received. After a successfully repaid loan, the amount of money available for the next loan increases.

By Loan cycle: The loan amount depends on the experience of the borrower (prompt or late repayment, for example) with previous loans. The larger the number of successfully repaid loan cycles, the larger the amount of money available for the loan.

Same for All Loans

Min Amount

The smallest amount that a loan of this type may be granted for.

50

Max Amount

The largest amount that a loan of this type may be granted for.

300

Default (Standard) Amount

The typical amount that a loan of this type may be granted for.

150

The next section deals with interest rates. The loan product sets up a range of interest rates; a manager can specify a rate within this range for an individual loan instance.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name

Description

Interest Rate Type

The formula used to calculate interest due, based on the amount of money borrowed.  For example, the Flat rate sets the interest due as the product of the principal times the interest rate times the full term of the loan. The amount can be paid all at once or distributed throughout the loan period. 

The Declining Balance rate charges interest on the outstanding loan at the end of the instalment period.  As the loan amount decreases, the interest due decreases as well.

The Declining Balance—Equal Principal Instalment is like the Declining Balance type, except that the borrower pays equal instalments of principal for the duration of the loan, and the interest is calculated on principal that has not been paid for the loan period.

The Declining Balance - Interest Recalculation method calculates interest based on early or late and/or partial or excess payments. Installments are equal throughout the loan with the recalculation factored into the allocation between principal and interest for each installment.  

Max interest rate

The maximum interest rate that can be charged with this loan product.

Min interest rate

The minimum interest rate that can be charged with this loan product.

Default interest rate

The standard interest rate that is charged with this loan product, if you do not make any changes to the rate.

The next section deals with the installments of the loan. 

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Loan product attribute

Description

Example

Frequency of Instalments

The frequency the payments are made to the MFI. In the Recur Every Box, type the number of weeks or months in each instalment.

Every week

Calculate # (number) of Installments

Click one of three choices:
Same for all loans : The number of installments does not vary.

By last loan amount : The number of instalments depends on the amount of the last loan this client or group received.

By loan cycle : The number of installments depends on the experience of the borrower (prompt or late repayment, for example) with previous loans.

Max # of Installments

The maximum number of installments in which the loan can be repaid.

20

Min # of Installments

The minimum number of installments in which the loan can be repaid.

10

Default # of installments

The default value entered in the number of installments when defining a loan account. The user will be able to change the installments value when defining a loan account based on this loan product.

15

Grace Period Type

An initial grace period is the time between the disbursal date of a loan and the collection of the first regular payment.

Click one of the following choices for the type of extra time allowed for repayment:

None : No extra time is allowed.

Grace on All Repayments : The client is not required to start repayment until the grace period ends, and interest is not charged during this period. That is, extra time is given for both principal and interest.

Principal-only Grace : Extra time is allowed only for the principal, not the interest of the loan. The client must make regular interest payments but is not required to make payments against the principal during the grace period.

Grace on All Repayments

Grace Period duration (instalments)

This is the number of initial due dates at the beginning of the loan when no payment is due.  The first payment would be due on the next instalment date.

3 (first payment due at period 4)

How to create Variable Installment Loans

Overview: Often times, MFIs face the need to tailor loan disbursement, loan repayment recovery and loan maturity to suit the cash flow patterns of the borrower. This is especially true of products like agricultural loans where clients repayments can be quite volatile. The volatility arises due to increased vulnerability of the agricultural industry to factors like inclement weather. Consequently returns in such sectors are seasonal, unpredictable and often lower than those of the regular commercial enterprises for which MFIs disburse loans. This necessitates the need for MFIs to have customized loans products, which allow for more flexibility with the installment schedule. 

The Variable Installment Loans feature of Mifos enables MFIs to accommodate this flexibility by specifying different gaps between installments, as explained in the How to Manage Variable Loan Installments section.    

The next section deals with any fees that are attached to this loan.

In the box on the left are all fees currently defined in Mifos. The box on the right contains any fees applied to this loan. Click any fee on the left and then click Add>> to move it to the box on the right. You can add more than one fee to this loan product. To remove the fee from this loan product, click it in the box on the right and then click <<Remove.

The next section deals with accounting details for the loan product. These details are sent to an external accounting application to keep track of the sources of funds and general ledger processing (interest/principal).

In the box on the left are all funds currently defined in Mifos. The box on the right contains any funds used as sources for this loan. Click any fund on the left and then click Add>> to move it to the box on the right. You can add more than one fund to this loan product. To remove the fund from this loan product, click it in the box on the right and then click <<Remove.

The Product GL Code refers to general ledger codes set at the time of configuration. Every transaction has a corresponding GL code for further financial tracking. To apply a GL code to the interest for this loan product, click a code in the Interest list. To apply a GL code to the principal for this loan product, click a code in the Principal list.

When you are done setting up the loan product, click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes. click Edit Loan Product Information and make changes.

When you are satisfied with all the details, click Submit. (If you decide not to create a loan product at this time, click Cancel.)

How to use multicurrency features

If Mifos has been set up in configuration to handle more than one currency, then when you define a new loan product, you can keep the default currency or specify an additional currency. The same choice appears when you define new fees. All loan accounts created from a loan product use the currency defined for that product.

When you create the new loan product, a currency field appears in the Loan Product Details section, as shown here:

All fees associated with that loan product must also use the same currency.

When the user chooses a loan product to create a loan account from, the currency for that product appears in the definition of the product.

How to manage the product mix

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can decide which types of products a given client or group can mix. In this way, you can restrict clients from having active loans or savings accounts of different products at the same time.

For example, if you have three different loan products (A, B, and C), you can make a rule that if a client has loan A, they can have loan B but not C.

To establish the mix of loans and savings products that you want to allow, follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Define Products Mix.
The following screen appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Product Type

Savings or Loan

Product Name

Click a loan product or savings account product; you can then restrict the types of other loans or savings accounts that an individual client or group can have in addition to this product.

Remove Not Allowed Products

All other products in this category are by default in the allowed section (to the right). To mark a product so that it cannot be used by a client/group at the same time as the Product Name you chose, click that product and click the <<Remove button.

The product moves to the box on the left.

To cancel the restriction and allow a product to be offered at the same time as the original Product name you chose, click that product and click Add>>.

That product moves to the box on the right.

When you have made your choices, click Preview to review your work.

A list of products that are allowed appears, follow by the list of products that are not allowed in combination with the product you originally chose.

To change this product mix, click Edit Product Mix Information, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the product mix, click Submit. (If you decide not to make any changes to the product mix at this time, click Cancel.)

To change an existing product mix, click Admin > View Product Mix, click the link for the product you want to change, and click Edit Product Mix Information. Make your changes, and click Submit when you are done.

How to view system information and manage a Mifos shutdown

How to view system information

How to manage a Mifos shutdown

How to view system information

At any point, you can check the basic information about the system you are using to run Mifos. Click Admin > View System Information to see items such as the following:

Operating system version

Application server version

Database server name

How to manage a Mifos shutdown

When you need to shut down Mifos (for upgrades or maintenance, for example), you must give users a chance to finish their work first, and you must prevent any new users from logging on. For that reason, the process includes ways to see how many users are currently working and to notify them of the shutdown.

To manage the shutdown of Mifos, follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Shutdown.
A screen like the following appears:
mifosshutdown

The Shutdown Status shows whether a shutdown of the system is planned or not. The Active Sessions section shows you the names of all system users logged on, their branch office, and the action or page they are involved in in Mifos. When you start a shutdown of Mifos, all active sessions will see a notification at the top of their screens indicating that a shutdown is imminent.

To be sure that you are seeing all active sessions of Mifos, click the Refresh button.

In the Schedule In box, type the number of seconds' delay until Mifos shuts down.

Click Start Shutdown.
In the specified number of seconds, all active sessions of Mifos will have to complete their work, and no new sessions can be started. If you need to cancel this operation, click Cancel Shutdown. Active users will then be able to continue their sessions, and new users can log on.

Now that all sessions have shut down, the Mifos administrator can stop the entire Mifos application.

How to define and change savings products

How to change savings products

Before you can create individual savings accounts, you must define a savings product. All savings accounts are created from these products and inherit their characteristics.

Savings products can be set up for mandatory or voluntary deposits. If the account holder does not make any deposits to or withdrawals from the account in a certain period of time (the default is 30 days), the account becomes dormant.

 Note: If you want to see the savings products that have already been created before making a new one, click Admin > View Savings Products and click any of the products displayed on that screen. From that display, you can make changes to the existing savings products.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Define New Savings Product.
A screen appears with all the specifications for the product. The first part of the screen looks like this:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name

Description

Product instance name

The full name of the savings product being defined.

Short name

An abbreviated version of the name, used in reports or menus where space is limited such as the Collection Sheet.

Description

A description of the savings product: its purpose, eligible recipients, or other information that will help an employee determine whether it is appropriate for a particular client.

Product Category

A selection from the list of all the active savings product categories.

Start Date

The full date after which products of this type may be issued.

End Date

The last date on which products of this type may be issued.

Applicable For

Click whether this is an account given only to centers, groups, or individual clients.

The next section sets rules for deposits and withdrawals.

3 Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Savings product attribute

Description

Example

Type of deposits

Click whether deposits are voluntary or mandatory.  A voluntary deposit means that the client(s) or group(s) assigned this product are not obliged to save; a mandatory product means that savings deposits must be made as defined in the product.

Mandatory

Recommended amount for deposit

Type the recommended value of each deposit.  If the type of deposit is mandatory and the savings account requires a monthly deposit, for example, the client(s) or group(s) must make a savings deposit on a monthly basis.

1000

Recommended Amount Applies to

If you chose Groups in the Applicable For list above, you can choose who the recommended savings amount applies to: the individual or the group. That is, the group could be responsible for the deposit amount, dividing it up among the clients in the group, or each client could be individually responsible for the deposit amount.

In a center savings account, the recommended amount always applies to the client.

Complete Group

Max amount per withdrawal

Type the largest amount of money that can be withdrawn from the account at any given time.

200

The next section deals with setting interest.

4 Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Savings product attribute

Description

Example

Interest rate

Type the applicable interest rate.

Balance Used for Interest Rate Calculation

Select the type of balance that will be used for interest: minimum balance or average balance. Compound interest is the only method supported as a basis of calculating interest. If you change this setting, the change is reflected in the open accounts as soon as the change is detected by Mifos.

If the attribute is modified, the interest installments should be recalculated.

Minimum Balance

Time Period for Interest Rate Calculation

Enter the time period when the interest can be calculated. 1 month means that the interest rate will be calculated at the end of every month.

Computation:  A = P(1+r/n)

Where:
P = principal amount (initial amount)
r = annual rate of interest (as a decimal)
A = amount of money accumulated including interest
n = number of times the interest is compounded per year

Frequency of Interest Posting to Accounts

Type the frequency of posting into the accounts (for example, interest is posted to the savings accounts once a month). Changes to this account will affect future transactions only.

The frequency of deposit is inherited from the client's meeting frequency.

1 month = every month.  Posting is always at the end of the period defined.  

Min balance required for interest rate calculation

Enter the smallest balance that the account must have before it can accrue interest. If the amount is lower than the amount entered here, interest will not be applied.

10

In the Accounting section, if you have general ledger codes for deposits and interest, click those codes in each list.

When you have made all choices for this savings product, click Preview.

Review your choices. If you want to make changes, click Edit Savings Product Information, make changes, and click Submit. (If you decide not to create a savings product at this time, click Cancel.)

How to change savings products

If you change savings products that are already in use, the changes affect all future savings accounts created from those products, but they do not affect savings accounts that were created before. Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > View Savings Products.
A screen appears like the following:

2mifosviewsavings

Click the link for the product you want to change.

In the screen that appears, review the terms of the product.

Click Edit Savings Product Information and proceed as in the procedure above, clicking Submit when you are done.

How to sort client and loan fields

It is possible to sort client's and loan's fields on details page to enable better customization. You can select the fields order, which is the most suitable for your needs.

 Follow steps below to sort client's or loans's fields:

Open client's/loan's details page.

Click on Change fields order:

You will see buttons, which will enable you to sort client's/loan's fields.

Click onto move fields in right order.

After you sort fields as you wanted, click on Save changes.

Centers, groups, and clients: Overview

Below the level of the branch, your MFI can have centers and groups to organize and empower clients. Usually, a single Loan Officer works in a center and has responsibility for several groups. If there is a center, it determines the meeting schedule (if there is one) for all the groups contained in it. (Otherwise, the branch does this.)

Groups include clients; they can sometimes act as a unit, as in the case where a group has a savings or loan account, and all clients in that group contribute to it.

Clients can act on their own, with individual savings and loan accounts, or they can act as part of a group.

How to create a new center

A center is a collection of many groups. It is associated with a branch office. A center can have a savings account, like a group or a client. Groups or clients associated with that center can make deposits to and withdrawals from such an account, and the center can also pay fees for accounts.

Follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts > Create New Center.
A screen appears that might look like this:

From the list of branches, click the branch that this center will be associated with.
A screen appears showing the branch office you chose. The first section might look like this:

Enter information about the center using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name
Description
Example

Branch selected

The center's parent branch.

Branch 01

Center details

Name

The center's name (make sure that this is unique within the MFI).

Fina Center

Loan officer assigned

The loan officer assigned to the center. Groups associated with this center inherit this value.

Sri Nagesh

Meeting schedule

Click Schedule Meeting to set the number of times meetings are to be held within a time period. Groups associated with this center inherit this value. Click Weeks or Months.

If you click Months, set a meeting for a specific day in each period or a specific day of a specific week in each period. If you click Weeks, type the number of weeks between meetings, and in the list next to it, click the day of the week on which the meeting takes place.

In the Location of Meeting box, type where the meeting is to take place. Click save to save this schedule and return to the previous page.

The 12th day of every third month

or

The 4th Tuesday of every second month

Village store

Collection sheet type

The type of collection sheet used for collecting payment from members belonging to the center.

External ID

A unique identifier of the center in another system. This will be used to link the center in Mifos system and center's details in another system.

BRA-001

MFI Joining Date

Date when the center was first approved and saved in the system.

01/02/2002

The next section is for the address of the center.

Field name
Description
Example

Center Address

Address lines 1 -3, city, State, country, Postal code and Telephone

#224, Wheeler Road, Bangalore, Karnataka, INDIA, 560090

91 80 23456787

The next sections are for additional information and any fees.

Field name
Description
Example

Additional information

Customized fields

Fields that are configured by the system administrator to allow the MFI to capture more information.

Administrative set fees

Application or other fee (if charged)

Fee charged to be a member, process membership application, etc.  These fees are set as default when defined.

2.50

Periodicity

The frequency the fee is applicable in a given period.

One-time fee

Check to remove

A user can check this box if they wish to remove the default fee. An unchecked check box means that the fee is applicable.

Apply additional fees

Fee Type, Amount

Additional fee type and amounts defined by the MFI.

When you have made all specifications, click Preview and review your work.

If you want to make changes, click Edit Center Information, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with your changes, click Submit. (If you decide not to create a center at this time, click Cancel.)

A screen appears confirming the creation of the center and providing a system ID number. You can use this number to find details on the center (including its performance data) quickly. The screen might look like this:

The center details page might look like this:

From the center dashboard, you can do the following:

View and change center status

Add groups

Open new savings accounts

View closed accounts

Edit center details

Edit meeting schedule

View the change log

View performance history

View and attach surveys

View and add notes

Check the appropriate chapters of this manual for information on each of these.

How to create a new group

A group is a collection of clients that is assigned to a center or a branch (depending on the MFI hierarchy). It inherits the loan officer and the meeting schedule (if any) from its parent center or branch.

The group can act to borrow money and hold a savings account, as if it were an individual client. It can also have an account for group fees (for membership, loan applications, and so forth). A group can have positions such as President and Treasurer that are assigned to group members.

Follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts > Create New Group.
The following screen appears:

In the Center Name box, type the name of the center or branch that this group will belong to, and click Search.
All centers with that name appear in a list.

Click the correct center.
A screen appears for group details, starting with this section:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field Name

Description

Example

Group Name

The name of the group, which must be unique.

Hope and Effort Group

Formed By

Type the name of the person who facilitated the formation of the group.

Venkatesh V

Trained

Check the correct box for if a group has been trained or not.

Yes

Trained On

The date the training was administered.

01/12/2002

External ID

Used to link Mifos group with another system. This value represents the group identifier in another system.

GRP-001

The next section is for the address of the group.

Field Name

Description

Example

Group address

Address 1-3, City, Stat, Country, Postal Code, Telephone

#154, Wheeler Road, Cooke Town
Bangalore, Karnataka, India - 560045
+91 80 23549876

The next section is for additional information and fees.

Field Name

Description

Example

Administrative set fees

Any applicable fee

Shows the mandatory fee for the group.

3:07

Periodicity

The time frequency during which the fee is applicable.

Check to Remove

Check to disable the fee from being required for the group.

Additional Information

Custom fields 1 – 6

Fields used to capture MFI custom data.

Apply additional fees

Fee type; Amount

Additional fee types amounts defined by the MFI for the group.

When you have made all specifications, click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes, click Edit Group Information, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with all changes, you can click Submit for Approval or (if you are not ready to submit the group) Save for Later. (If you decide not to create a group at all at this time, click Cancel.)

When the group application is approved, you see a screen like the following:

The group details page might look like this:

From the group dashboard, you can do the following:

View and change group status

Add clients

Open new savings and loan accounts

View closed accounts

Edit group information

Edit center membership

Edit personal information

View summarized historical data

View the change log

View performance history

View and attach surveys

View and add notes

Check the appropriate chapters of this manual for information on each of these.

How to reassign a group to a new center

If it ever becomes necessary, you can reassign a group so that it is now associated with a different center. Follow these instructions:

From the Group Details page of the Group you'd like to re-assign, scroll down to middle of this page and click Edit Center Membership. (If there is no center, and you are reassigning the group to a new branch, click Edit Branch Membership.)
The Change Center Membership screen appears.

2mifoschangecenter

Type the name of the center you want this group to belong to and click Search.

The center name appears. Click its link.

Review a summary of your change and click Submit.
The group is now included on the page for that center.

Note: The meeting time and Loan Officer of the new center is inherited by the group and all its members. Groups cannot be transferred unless all the active loan accounts are closed.

How to create a new client

The individual client can have savings accounts and borrow money according to the rules of your MFI. If the client is associated with a group, that client inherits the loan officer, the meeting schedule, and the meeting location of the group.

Follow these instructions to create a client account.

Click Clients & Accounts. In the left navigation panel, click Create New Client.

The following screen appears:

In the Group Name box, type the name of the group that this client is assigned to, and click Proceed. A list of groups by that name appears; click the correct one. If the correct group name is not on this list (perhaps you mistyped it?), type the group name again and click Search to try again. When you see the correct group name, click it.

If group membership is not required for your client, click that link to proceed.
A screen for information about the client appears.

The first section contains personal information. All fields with an asterisk (*) are required.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table (note that some fields may not appear or may have different choices, depending on how Mifos is configured for your MFI):

Field name

Description

Example

Salutation

Mr, Mrs etc.  In Mifos, the system administrator can define more salutations.

Mr.

First Name

Albert

Middle Name

Second Last Name

Smith

Last Name

Anderson

National ID

Can be Government ID, or National ID, or Social Security Number. This is not editable after a client enters Active state. Some external IDs might have characters associated with them.

N-001

Date of Birth

Nov-11, 2005

Gender

Male

Marital Status

Married

Number of Children

The total number of children the client has.

4

Citizenship

Kenyan

Ethnicity

Arab

Education Level

Captures the maximum level of education the client has attained, for example, Graduate

Graduate

Activities

The nature of the client's business

Self-owned business

Handicapped

If this field is present, check whether there is a handicap or not.

No

Poverty Status

If this field is present, click the appropriate status for the client, if known.

Very poor

Income

If this field is present, click the appropriate monthly income for the client, if known.

200

Photograph

User can upload a photo, which will be a part of the client details page and may be edited after client's creation. The maximum allowed size is 300kB and required formats are jpg, gif or png. Other formats and size over than 300kB are not accepted and error message is displayed.
Click Choose File, browse your computer for the photograph file, and double-click it so that the filename appears next to the box.

C:\microfin\photos\smith01.gif

Spouse/Father Name

Relationship, First Name, Middle Name and Second Last Name and Last Name

Names of the spouse or father.

Jane Smith, Spouse

The next section is for the address of the group.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name

Description

Example

Address

Address

Address 1-3, city, state, country, postal code, Telephone

P.O Box 2223, Stanford, California, 94305, +1650-271-2450

The next section are Attachments. It is possible to attach any file to client details page (pdfs, word, docs, etc.).           To attach file to client's details page, please select appropriate file (you can type directory manually or click on Browse button and choose file). It is also possible to add description of attachment. After selecting a file, click on Add file button.                                              It is possible to add multiple attachments. After clicking Add file, below the button, you will see list of added files with descriptions. You can also remove attachment by clicking button "x".                                    

The next section is for additional information about the client, if any is required.

If you have set additional family details information in database you will see, on next step, during client creation, following family details page:

 Field name
Description

 Example

 Relationship
 Possible to chose kind of relationship from  drop-down list: Spouse; Father; Mother; Child

 Father

First Name

 Albert

Last Name

 Smith

Date of Birth

Jan-21, 2012

Gender
 Male/Female
 Male

Living Status
 E.g. together, not together
Together

You may add more than one family member. To do it click on Add row button. You will see next row to fill. You may also delete the row by clicking Delete link.

After you add all embers and fill all necessarily fields, click continue.

The next section is for MFI-related information.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name

Description

Example

MFI related information

Recruited by

Select the loan officer to be assigned to the client.  This is applicable if you selected to assign the client directly to a branch; otherwise the value is inherited from the group.

Loan Officer 1

Meeting Schedule

Define the meeting schedule. This field appears only if you assign the client directly to the branch; otherwise, the meeting schedule is inherited from the group.  A client can be created without a meeting schedule if there is no need for one.  Such client's name will not appear in the collection sheets.

External ID

The client's unique identifier in another system that shares client details with Mifos.

E003

Trained

Has the client been trained?

Yes

Trained On

The date when the client was trained.

Dec-12, 2005

The next section is for client fees.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field name

Description

Example

Administrative set fees

Any fees, if applicable

Any group or branch fees, such as membership application fees

8.85

Periodicity

The frequency the fee is applicable. Periodicity can be Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly

One-time fee

Check to Remove

Check to remove the application fee.

Apply additional fees

Fee Type; Amount

Mifos allows the definition of three custom fee types. Click the applicable fee type from the list and type the amount of the fee in the Amount box.

Processing fee, 3.00

The next section is for savings accounts.

If you want to create a savings account for this client now, click the name of the savings product from the Savings Name list. You can create up to three savings accounts.

When you have finished, click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes, click Edit MFI-related Information and make the changes.

When you are satisfied with all the changes, click Submit for Approval. If you want to submit this client later, click Save for Later; the account goes into a Partial Application state, and you can build a custom report to find all client records in this state. (If you decide not to create this client at all at this time, click Cancel.)

A screen appears that might look like this:

Note the system ID number for this client, so that you can use it to search for details about that client later.

The client details (dashboard) page might look like this:

From the client dashboard, you can do the following:

View and change client status

Open new savings and loan accounts

View closed accounts

Edit MFI information

Edit or remove group membership

Edit personal information

View summarized historical data

View the change log

View performance history

View and attach surveys

View and add notes

View uploaded files 

Check the appropriate chapters of this manual for information on each of these.

How to use dashboard with metrics

Since Mifos 2.6.0 version it is possible to use Dashboard with metrics. All metrics are displayed on Mifos Home page in a table called "Dashboard".

Screen below shows how dashboard looks like:

Following metrics (statistics) are currently available:

Total borrowers

Total borrowing groups

Active Centers

Active Groups

Active Clients

Loans waiting for approval

Loans in bad standing

Loans to be paid in current week

Each metric is a link which redirect to the list of metric details. Click on the link, to see details. Near the link, there is a value of metric, which is automatically updated after providing any change in the system.

How to import client data

How to import clients from Excel file

Common errors, which may occur during import clients data

Mifos provides a functionality to create a large number of clients by automatically importing them from Excel file (.xls format). You can import clients in any states with all necessary information. There is no difference between clients created manually and clients created automatically via import functionality.

How to import clients from Excel file

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Import client data

A screen like the following appears:

Click on Browse and select previously prepared Excel file (.xls format), which you want to import.

Note: You may use example file to import. Click here to download Excel file.

If you chosen appropriate file click on Review. Mifos imports file and checks for errors. After that Mifos will display a confirmation that import was successful.

Click Submit to continue with import

Note: You may click Submit button, even if Mifos shows errors. Then only valid rows are imported and invalid rows are rejected. You may also click 'Cancel' instead 'Submit' during an import. If you do so, Mifos will return you to admin section. The data will not be imported. You can also go back to step 2 by clicking on 'Edit:Client information' button and select different Excel file.

How to set client's activation date

Currently it is possibility to set customer activation date. This functionality enables to create history in Mifos, and create and disburse loans in the past. Before, client's activation date was automatically set on day of import.

To set client's activation date, there is only need to type appropriate date in Excel template file in column "Activation Date". Here you can download template.

Common errors, which may occur during import clients data

Note: User can not correct errors during the import. If any error occurred, user can stop importing data, make changes and start import again.

Displayed error

Explanation

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: <value> does not exist

If a row contains a cell that's missing a required field, Mifos displays an error message for each row this occurs.

Error in row <#>, Column Date of Birth: Invalid date: <value>

Date of Birth is in the format YYYY-MM-DD. If any value under Date column does not start in format of YYYY-MM-DD, then Mifos displays an error message for each row this occurs.

Error in row <#>, Column Date of Birth: Date of birth cannot be a future date

Mifos throws this error message, if Date of Birth is a future date

Error in row <#>, Column Date of Birth: Given age is out of range. Age must be between <value> and <value>

Date of Birth cannot be greater or lower than specified age range in configuration file.

Error in row <#>: You must specify either Branch short name or Group global number

If Branch short name and Group global number are not defined in the file.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Invalid cell value: <value>

Cell contains value which is not defined in Mifos.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Group status should be higher than that of Client

If there is Status column in the file, create Client in Mifos in specified state.
If status of Client is greater than status of the Group, then Mifos throws this error message.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Group with global number <global number> is closed

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Group with global number <global number> is canceled

Group is in wrong state.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Invalid group global number <global number>

Group Gloabal number does not matach with any Global number defined in Mifos.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Client already exists

If the same Client has been imported or already exists in Mifos.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Duplicate global number: <value>

Client with the same global number has been imported or already exists in Mifos.

Error loading file <file name>

File is not in .xls format.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Empty mandatory field

Mandatory field is not defined in the file.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: No active loan officers in office <value>

If there are no active Loan Officers in Branch to which Client will be imported.

Not enough input cells

Not enough input rows

If file doesn't contain enough number of cells or rows.

Error in row <#>, Column <column name>: Office <value> does not exist

If specified Office short name does not match any Office short names in Mifos.

How to change a meeting schedule for a center

Meeting schedules are set when you create a center. If you ever need to change the schedule, follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts

In the Search box, type the center name and click Search. In the list that appears, click the link for the correct center

Click Edit Meeting Schedule

Change the schedule according to the instructions in How to create a center.

Meeting Schedule changes take effect the day after the changes are made.  After changing the meeting schedule, all associated clients and groups with that center will have an updated meeting schedule the next day.  If loan schedules are tied to meeting schedules, loan repayment schedules will also be updated.

How to view and change details for centers, groups, and clients

How to edit details

You can change details about a center, group, or client at any time.

Follow these instructions:

From any search box, type the name of the center, group, or client, and click Search.
All entities with that name appear; click the correct one.

In the Center/Group/Client Information section, click Edit Center/Group/Client Details.
The screen that was filled out when the center, group, or client was created appears. For information on what each field means, see "How to create a new center", "How to create a new group" or "How to create a new client".

Make any changes and click Preview.

If you want to make changes, click the edit button, make changes, and click Submit.

How to make notes

In the center, group, or client dashboard (details page), you can record any notes in the Recent Notes section. To see all notes, click See All Notes. Any notes created about the group, center, or client (in the account status or adjustments section, for example) appear here as well.

To add a note, follow these instructions:

Click Add a Note.
The following screen appears:
mifoscenteraddnote

In the Note box, type the note.

Click Preview to review your work. If you want to make changes, click Edit, make changes, and click Submit.
The note now appears in the Recent Notes section.

How to view the change log

In the center, group, or client dashboard (details page), you can see a record of all changes that have been made. At the bottom of that screen, click View Change Log. It might look like the following screen:

How to change the status of centers, groups and clients

Overview of status states for centers, groups, and clients

How to change the status of a center

How to change the status of groups and/or clients

Overview of status states for centers, groups, and clients

From the details page (dashboard) for centers, groups, and clients, you can change the status from active to inactive, or vice versa. (Clients and groups can have other statuses as well.) The procedure is the same for all three entities. A green square next to the center, group, or client name means that it is active.

The following rules apply when a center becomes inactive:

Any periodic fee linked to the center record is not stopped.

Transactions can still be made.

A miscellaneous penalty or any amount that is due remains due.

The system will not allow users to apply any periodic fee type to the account except for an upfront fee and any miscellaneous penalty fees.

Follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts.

In the Search box, type the name of the center and click Search.

In the results box, click the name of the center you want.
The details page (dashboard) for that center appears.

Click Edit Center Status.
The Change status box appears. It might look like the following screen:2mifoschangestatuscenter

Click the button for the new status.

In the Note box, type a note explaining why this status is changing.

Click Preview to review your change.

If you want to make further changes, click Edit Status, make any changes, and click Preview again.

How to change the status of groups and/or clients

The following table shows the various states that a client can be in:

 ⁞State
 Description

 Partial application

Assigned to the client if the record has been created, but data is incomplete or the user does not want the status to be as “Pending Approval”, status can be marked as “Partial Application”.

 Pending approval

This is an optional state and can be omitted during the initial system setup by the MFI. Record contains all necessary data and is waiting for approval. Before and after this point, there could be some offline processes, which might govern the approval process. These processes can be specific to each MFI and will not impact Mifos functionality.
A record can be saved in this state after the mandatory fields (according to the attributes table) have been filled.

 Active
Client has been Approved and is eligible to open a savings account or apply for a loan, or is eligible for other products offered by the MFI.
Every client has to have a loan officer to be active.

 Cancel
 A client application can be cancelled due to various reasons:
•    Client can withdraw the application
•    The application was rejected by an Officer of the MFI
•    The client is not eligible, as the client has been Blacklisted
•    A duplicate client record already exists, and thus one record is being canceled.

 On hold

 This status means:
•    No new accounts can be opened for the client.
•    Interest in the client’s savings account will keep on accumulating, but no withdrawals will be allowed. Deposits will be allowed.
•    No new loans will be disbursed to the client, but repayments for current loans will be as scheduled.

On Hold status of a client should be indicated on all the client’s accounts to ensure that the client is unable to operate the accounts.
On Hold status can either be changed to Closed or Approved. The rules of the respective status will then be applicable on the record.

 Close
A client record can be closed to indicate that the client is not banking with the branch anymore or a duplicate record for the client exists in the system. The flags associated with this state are: Transferred, Duplicate Account, Blacklisted, Left Program, and Other. Once closed, client can reapply again but the client record has to follow the complete application procedure.

The following table shows the various states that a group can be in:

 State
 Description

 Partial application

If the record has been created, but data is incomplete or the user does not want the status to be “pending approval”, the status can be marked as “Partial Application”.  Group creation status defaults to this status if configured by the MFI.

 Pending approval

This is an optional state and can be hidden by the MFI.during the initial system setup and configuration.  The status means that the record contains all necessary data, and is waiting for approval pending any MFI manual process.
When a group is created, this is the default status if the user does not have access to 'approve' status.

 Active/Approved
Group has been approved and is eligible to open a savings account or apply for a loan, or for other products offered by the MFI. To be Active, every Group must have a loan officer assigned.

 Cancel
A group application can be canceled due to various reasons, which include withdrawal of the application; the application was rejected by an officer of the MFI; the group is not eligible as it has been Blacklisted; or a duplicate group record already exists and thus one record is being canceled.

 On hold

If the group status is marked On hold, it will have the following implications:

New accounts: No new accounts will be opened for the group.

Savings account: Interest in savings account will keep on accumulating interest, but no withdrawals will be allowed. Deposits will be allowed.

Loans: No new loans will be disbursed to the group, but repayments for current loans will be as scheduled.

“On Hold” status can either be changed to Closed or Active/Approved. The rules of the respective status will then be applicable on the record.

If a group is On Hold, clients and client accounts will not be affected.

 Close

A group record can be Closed to indicate that the group is not banking with the branch anymore, or a duplicate record for the group exists in the system. The flags associated with this state are: Transferred, Duplicate Account, Left Program, Blacklisted, and Other.

A group cannot be closed if any client has 'on-hold' or 'active' status.

Once closed, group can reapply again, but the record creation has to follow the complete application procedure again.

Every time the status of the group is changed to "closed", Mifos system has to validate if all group accounts have been closed and all individuals are either reassigned or closed.

Follow these instructions to change the status:

Click Clients & Accounts.

In the Search box, type the name of the group or client and click Search.

In the results box, click the name of the group or client you want.
The details page (dashboard) for that group or client appears.

Click  Edit Group Status or Edit Client Status.
The Change status box appears. It might look like the following screen:mifosclientchangestatus

Click the button for the new status.
For a group, if you click Closed, click a reason from the list immediately below.

In the Note box, type a note explaining why this status is changing.

Click Preview to review your change.

If you want to make further changes, click Edit Status, make any changes, and click Preview again.

How to change the status of a center

The following rules apply when a center becomes inactive:

Any periodic fee linked to the center record is not stopped.

Transactions can still be made.

A miscellaneous penalty or any amount that is due remains due.

The system will not allow users to apply any periodic fee type to the account except for an upfront fee and any miscellaneous penalty fees.

Follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts.

In the Search box, type the name of the center and click Search.

In the results box, click the name of the center you want.
The details page (dashboard) for that center appears.

Click Edit Center Status.
The Change status box appears. It might look like the following screen:

How to view performance history

Performance history of a center

Performance history of a group

Performance history of a client

On the details page (dashboard) for centers, groups, and clients, performance history is summarized in a box at the upper right.

Performance history of a center

For a center, it includes the following:

Number of active clients: Total number of clients belonging to the center, irrespective of the client status.

Number of active groups: Total number of groups belonging to the center, irrespective of the group status.

Total loan portfolio: Total original value of all outstanding loans (including all groups' loans and client loans). This does not include group-funded loan products.

Total savings: All the savings accounts of the center

Performance history of a group

For a group, it includes the following:

Number of active clients: Total number of clients belonging to the group, irrespective of the client status.

Amount of last group loan: Last largest group loan disbursed.

Average individual loan size: Sum of active loan amount for all client loan accounts / Number of active client loan accounts 

Total loan portfolio: Total original value of all outstanding loans (including group loans and all client loans). This does not include group-funded loan products.

Portfolio at risk: The remaining balance of all outstanding loans that have one or more installments of principal past due more than 30 days / total original value of all outstanding loans. Principal amounts of loan product loans (not group-funded loan product) excluding interest.

Total savings: All the savings accounts of the group.

Loan cycle per product: The number of times a loan product has been used for a loan account. If the group has taken two agricultural loans and three cattle loans, for example, the performance history displays the following: education loan=2, cattle loan=3. The counter is incremented when a loan account is approved and decremented for rescheduled loans or written-off loans.

Performance history of a client

For a client, it includes the following:

Loan cycle number: A loan cycle number is incremented when a new loan account is opened for the client. Rescheduling or writing-off a loan decrements the loan cycle count.

Amount of last loan: The most recent loan with "closed-- obligations met" status.

Number of active loans: Loans with 'active in good standing' and 'active in bad standing' statuses.

Delinquent portfolio: Amount of overdue loan principal / Total original value of all outstanding loans. Loans with 'active in good standing', 'active in bad standing' statuses and rescheduled loans are still 'overdue'.

Total savings: All the savings accounts of the client

Meetings attended

Meetings missed

Loan cycle per product: The number of times a loan product has been used for a loan account. If the client has taken two agricultural loans and three cattle loans, for example, the performance history displays the following: education loan=2, cattle loan=3. The counter is incremented when a loan account is approved and decremented for rescheduled loans or written-off loans.

This data is also viewable from the client and group dashboards, at the bottom, from the View Summarized Historical Data link.

How to attach and collect Question Groups

Question Groups are ways for loan officers and others working in the branch to collect information about groups and clients. These question groups can include demographic information (income, family size, types of business) that might change over time, and they enable you to know your clients and serve their needs better. The process of attaching question groups is the same for centers, groups, and clients. The example used here is for a center.

Center workers can ask the question groups directly from the computer screen, or they can print a copy of the question groups and take it directly to the client. If they use a paper copy of the question group, they must enter the answers in the computer later.

To create a new question group, follow the instructions in How to create a new question group.

When you are ready to use the question group online (or to enter question group data from the printed copy), follow these instructions.

In any Search box, type the name of a center, group, or client and click Search.

In the list that appears, click the link for the correct center, group, or client.

In the Center Details screen, click Attach a Question Group.
A screen like the following appears:

In the Select Question Group list, click the Question Group you want to enter data for and click Continue. (You can see only the QG that are available for this center.) The online form of the QG might appear like this screen:

Click or type a response to each question. If the question is mandatory, you may not finish the question group until the question is answered.

When you have answered all questions, click Submit.

In the Question Group box, the name and date of the QG now appear. To see details of that QG, click the name of the QG, you may also edit your answer if you click Edit.

How to link guarantor to client

Guarantor is a person, who will ensure that loan account will be paid. On loan details page it is possible to attach guarantor to loan account. Guarantee can be applied only to loan account and individual loan account. It is possible to display guarantor's details and remove guarantor.

Client that is an "active" guarantor has a note displayed on the guarantors client page saying that this client is guarantying a loan for client (loan id and client name is displayed).

 To link guarantor, follow instructions below:

Open loan account details page that you want to link with guarantor.

You will see:                       

Click on Apply guaranty link.

You will see following screen:

Choose a Client, who you want to link. Note: You can type ' % ' to display all possible clients.

Click Search.

You will see a list of clients match to text in text box.

Click on client's link.

You will see a screen like following:

Check if each field is displayed properly and click Submit.

You will see list of guaranties on loan details page:

It is also possible o display guarantors details (click on show link near guarantor name). You can also remove guarantee, by clicking on link remove. It is possible to add more than one guarantor. Just click on apply guarantee and follow instructions 1-11.

On client, who is guarantor, details page there is a section with list of clients and their's loans. It is possible to display details by clicking show.

Introduction to loan accounts

What is a loan account?

Group loans versus client loans

The loan account "dashboard"

Loan account summary

Group loans individual monitoring (GLIM)

What is a loan account?

A single MFI typically has several loan products, for example, a 4-year housing loan, and a 2-year educational loan. The product provides the terms and definitions of these different programs to the Mifos system. Loan products are available to the whole MFI.

If a customer wants to have a 2-year educational loan, the MFI uses the 2-year educational loan to create an account for the customer. The loan account is used to track transactions related to the loan, which include interest, repayment, and any applicable charges. The loan account is a specific instance of a loan product, with a specified interest rate and an account number, and it is owned by a specified MFI customer.

Group loans versus client loans

If your MFI is structured to have groups as well as clients, you have a choice of issuing group loans or individual loans. With group loans, the group as a whole is responsible for repayment and fees, and each individual in the group has a designated responsibility to pay their part of the debt.

The benefits of the group include the following:

By vouching for other members of the group, the group does the work of checking the creditworthiness of each individual in the group.

By co-signing the loan, the group provides insurance of payment by individuals.

The group provides reinforcement, esprit de corps, and encouragement to individuals to bear their part of the debt responsibility.

The loan account "dashboard"

At any point, you can look at the details of a loan to find out its terms and its current status. Such a dashboard might look like this:

The following table summarizes the sections of the dashboard:

Category

Description

Loan account header

Loan account number, current status, disbursal date, and purpose of the loan

Account summary

Shows the loan amount, amount paid, and the loan balance broken down by the principal, interest, fees, and penalty. It includes a link to the repayment schedule.

Recent activity

A list of transactions that have taken place with regard to the loan.

Account details

Shows the loan account details, which include interest and repayment rules and collateral details. It includes a link to a section where you can create a receipt for payment.

More account and transaction details

Shows the status history, change log, and change history for the loan account.

Transactions

Provides the links to applying a payment, an adjustment, or a charge to the loan account.

Performance history

Show various loan account performance indicators.

Recent notes

Shows the three most recent notes appended to the loan account, with additional links to add a new note or view all the notes.

Loan account summary

The section displays the original loan, the amount paid and the balance for the principal, the loan interest, and the total fees and penalties on the loan account. These amounts are further subdivided by the balances for the loan account, the amount paid, and the loan balance. Totals for the original loan related amount, the amount paid, and the total loan balance appear as well.

The summary might look like this:

The following table explains the entries shown on this page.

Original loan

Amount paid

Loan balance

Principal

The original loan amount. This cannot be updated once the account has been approved.

The amount paid against the principal up to the present date.

Original loan minus the amount paid.

Interest

A computed value showing the interest due from the loan account based on the original loan amount.

The total interest paid up to the present date.

The amount paid can be greater than the amount calculated in the original loan if interest can be recalculated.

The amount of interest remaining on the loan.

Fees

The amount expected from this account according to the fee types attached to the account.

The amount paid against fees and miscellaneous fees up to the present date.

The unpaid fee amount expected from this account.

Penalty

Zero at the start of the loan.

The total penalty amount paid up to the present date.

Penalties charged but not yet paid up to the present date.

Total

The total of the amounts listed above.

Repayment schedule

At any time, you can look at the repayment schedule (including all repayments to date, the number of repayments, due dates, and so forth) for a group or an individual loan. While you are looking at this page, you can use the links there to apply payment adjustments and charges.

The page might look like this:

The following table explains the entries on this page:

Column name

Description

Installment No.

Sequence number of the installment.

Due Date

The first due date is the first repayment start date. If the loan is disbursed during a meeting, the repayment Start Date is the disbursal date + frequency of loan repayment + grace period duration (considering holidays and nonworking days).

If the meeting day falls on a holiday, the new repayment date will be the next working day or the next repayment day, depending on how Mifos has been configured. No penalty is calculated for the period between the actual repayment date and the new repayment date.

In case the loan duration extends beyond the current year, the system will create the repayment schedule for all years. However, the system assumes that the subsequent years have NO holidays. When the holidays next year are defined in the system, the repayment schedule for that year will be regenerated, taking into account the Holidays specified.

If payment is not received, the penalty will be calculated from the new rescheduled date.

Succeeding Installment Due Dates are calculated based on Previous Installment Due Date, holidays, and nonworking days as defined by the MFI.

In case of holidays, if the head office configures it to be Next Repayment Day, no penalty will be calculated for that period. Penalty calculation will start if the client does not pay on the next repayment day.

Date Paid

The date when payment for the installment was received.

Principal

Principal paid or due, in the next payment or in the future.

Interest

Interest paid or due, in the next payment or in the future.

Fees

Fees paid or due, in the next payment or in the future.

Total

Total of the Interest + Principal + Fees.

Missed Installments

If a client or group misses payment for an installment, the same amount is included in the next installment due. For example, if the client has to repay $100 (principal = $80 and interest = $20) every month, and he or she defaults for the month of August, then for the month of September, the installment due (including penalty) is $202. The following computation shows how the $202 is arrived at:

Principal due $80

Interest due $20

Penalty due $2 (for the missed/defaulted installment)

Principal overdue $80 (for the missed/defaulted installment)

Interest overdue $20 (for the missed/defaulted installment)

Total amount due $202

Partial payments are accepted.

Group loans individual monitoring (GLIM)

Mifos currently offers two major types of loans, individual and group. In an individual loan, the individual is totally responsible for repayment of the loan and for payment of any associated fees. In a group loan, the group has a single loan account, and the group is the primary unit that the MFI interacts with; a single repayment schedule is maintained for the entire group. The group provides credit worthiness to all its members; if one member is delinquent in the group, then all the contracting group members are also considered delinquent.

If your MFI wants to do things differently-that is, if it wants to keep the credit worthiness of each individual in a group loan separate-it can use GLIM (group loans individual monitoring), which calculates performance history separately for each individual participating in a group loan.

With a GLIM loan, the group is still the primary unit that participates in transactions, but the performance history of each contracting member is calculated in a slightly different way when compared to how it is calculated for a regular group loan.

In a GLIM loan, all transactions (disbursals, payments, adjustments, bulk entry, and so forth) take place at the group level. The only major difference between GLIM and the usual group loans is that the initial loan account creation specifies the amounts given to each individual, the purposes for these amounts, and the way these loans affect the calculation of individual performance metrics.

Payments made on the GLIM loan are applied to Group loan account and also pro-rated across the individual schedule of every Group member.

Note: At the time of configuration, you must decide whether your group loans will be standard or will use GLIM. Once set, this option cannot be changed after deploying Mifos.

How to create a new loan account

Loan schedule independent of meeting (LSIM)

Group loan with individual monitoring (GLIM) 

You can create individual loans for clients and for groups. All the loan products defined by your MFI are available for use, and you can adjust the amount of these loans in the ranges set for those products. You can also define and adjust the interest rate for each loan, choose options for the payment schedule, set a grace period (extra time for repayment), set fees in addition to the loan repayment, choose the fund that this loan comes from, and associate the loan with your general ledger codes.

Note: If you want to make several loans at the same time to clients or groups, see How to create multiple loans (bulk loan creation).

Loans can be held by clients and groups. To create a new loan for one of these, you must navigate to the details page for that customer. You can do this in several ways:

From the Home screen search function

From the Quick Start left navigation list (click Open New Loan Account)

From the Clients & Accounts left navigation panel (click Create Loan Account)

From the Clients & Accounts main panel (click a Branch Office from the list on the right to narrow down the search for the customer)

All these methods ask for the name, system ID, or account number for a group or client. When you type this information and click Search, you see a list of all possible choices for your search information. Click the correct one, or (if you don't see the customer you were expecting) try retyping the search information carefully and then click Search again.

Once you see the details page for a customer (group or client), the procedure is the same. This example shows how to create a loan for a client.

Note : By default, repayments are due on center meeting dates. If you have specified an LSIM arrangement during configuration, you will see a box in which you can specify a repayment day that is different from the meeting day of the client's center. See Loan schedule independent of meeting for information about LSIM.

A screen shows details about this client's information and history with your MFI.

In the Account Information section, find the Open New Account line and click the Loan link.

The following screen appears:

The list includes all loan products that are available to this account owner. If the account owner is a client, the loan products listed are restricted to those applicable to Clients in the product definition and products applicable to groups are not listed. In addition, the list includes only those products with a repayment frequency that is a multiple of the client's meeting frequency. That is, a client who has a meeting frequency of every third or sixth or ninth week (a multiple of 3) is eligible for loan instances that have a repayment frequency of weeks in a multiple of 3. A client whose meeting frequency is the last Monday of every 2 months is eligible for loan instances that have a repayment frequency of months in a multiple of 2. (This condition does not apply to clients who have no scheduled meetings.) If you attempt to change a meeting schedule so that it violates any of the above conditions, the change will not be possible.

Note: The only loans that appear on this list have a status of Eligible for New Accounts.

There are no built-in restrictions on the number of loans that a client/group can have. Your MFI is responsible for the approval of any loan, and for the mix of loan products that any client or group is allowed to have. See How to manage the product mix" for information.

In the Loan Product Name list, click the type of loan you want to create, and click Continue.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table (note that these fields may vary somewhat, depending on the details of the loan product itself):

Field name

Description

Example

Amount

The loan amount for the client, limited to the minimum and maximum amounts shown in brackets.

100.00

Interest Rate

Applicable interest rate, limited to the minimum and maximum values shown in brackets.  If a default field was defined for the product, this field shows the default interest rate value.

The rate field can be zero but cannot be left blank.

You may not change the interest rate once the loan has been paid out to the client.

18

No. of Installments

The number of installments in which the loan will be repaid, limited to the values shown in brackets.

12

Disbursement Date

The date when the loan is likely to be disbursed (paid out).  If the client/group has a meeting date, the date must be one of the meeting dates.

This date will be used as a Loan Start Date to generate the repayment schedule. This field can be updated with the Actual disbursement when the loan is actually disbursed to the client. ?? This date can be in the past. The repayment schedule will be regenerated when this date is updated.

If a client has no meeting date, this date will not be checked against the meeting date schedule.

History information about the date change will not be available except in the change log.

You may not change this date after the account is set to "active in good standing" status.

02/07/2006

Grace Period for Payments

Type how long to wait for late repayment: that is, how many installments.

If the loan product specifies "No grace" or if interest is automatically deducted at the time of disbursal, this field cannot be used.

You can extend or reduce the length of the grace period if the grace period has not yet expired.

The grace period starts as of the day the loan is disbursed to the client.

Source of Funds

Click the applicable source of funds for the loan as defined by the MFI.

Tsunami

Purpose of Loan

Click the purpose of the loan.

Business work activities

The type of activity the client is engaged in.

Farming

Collateral type

The type of collateral the client has provided for the loan.

Type 1

Collateral notes

Explanatory notes about the collateral type applicable to the loan.

Land title deed verified by loan officer

External ID

If this loan has an ID number from some other system, type it here.

Additional information: Custom fields

Enter any additional information required by your MFI in the custom fields.

Administrative Set Fees

Apply any set fees for this loan, as defined by your MFI.

If you want to change the default fee amount for any fee displayed, type the amount in the box. If you want to remove this fee, check the Check to Remove Box.

Additional Fee type

Apply up to a maximum of 3 different fee types, as defined by your MFI.

Attachments
Ability to attach max 2 MB files.

Click Continue.

A screen appears summarizing the loan repayment installments. The screen you see might look like this:

The list of installments shows the following:

The number of installments

The due date for each installment

The principal for the loan at each installment

The interest at each installment

Any fee charged at the time of the installment

The total amount of money due for each installment

7 Click Preview to review all the loan information. If you want to make changes in the loan, click Edit Account Information, make the changes, and click Preview again.

8 When you are satisfied with all changes, click Submit for Approval (or, if you want to wait to submit this loan, click Save for Later). (If you decide not to create the loan at all at this time, click Cancel.)

A screen confirming the loan appears; it might look like this:

9 After creating Loan, you need to change the status of the account. To do that click on Edit account status link and then select appropriate account state.

In some situations, there can be a need to back date transactions and record disbursements that have happened in the past. To do that, just enter the past date (which can be before creation date) and then approve account. Disbursal would still follow the rule that it must happen on or after the date of the approval.

NOTE: To be able to approve loans in the past, 'Back-date approvals' and 'BackDatedApprovalsAllowed' option should be enabled in Mifos configuration file.

Loan schedule independent of meeting (LSIM)

If your MFI intends to collect loan payments on nonmeeting days, it can set up this LSIM system to adjust the repayment schedule.

During the configuration process, the Allow Payments on Nonmeeting Days setting is turned on.

Then, in Mifos, you see the following differences when you create a loan:

· Ordinarily, the default disbursal date is the next meeting date. If LSIM is activated, however, you can change this date to something else. However, this disbursal date must be in the future.

· You can also change the default repayment day to a nonmeeting day (in the Repayment Day field), but it must occur at the same frequency as meeting days (that is, if the meeting occurs once a month, the repayment day must be once a month). You may not change the frequency of repayments.

Mifos calculates the repayment schedule, including grace periods, based on these dates.

How to create loans of multiple frequencies

This feature allows MFIs to give clients loans of different frequencies. Previously, Mifos allowed only loan products that matched the frequency of a client’s meeting schedule to be disbursed. For example, a client that had weekly meetings was not allowed to have monthly loans. In other words, if a client’s meeting schedule was set to "weekly", only loan products that had repayments scheduled every N weeks could be disbursed. Thus, meeting schedule was a rigid constraint in Mifos. This new feature serves to remove some of that rigidity.

This feature only works when LSIM (Loan Schedule Independent of Meeting) is on. For details on enabling LSIM, look up here. Since this only works when LSIM is enabled, its scope is restricted to only loans and does not affect customer account related aspects like savings and fees.

This feature is available for groups as well as individual members. In addition, this feature is available for both variable and non-variable loans. The below sections details the procedure to be followed to create loans of multiple frequencies.  

Scenario 1: Workflow to create monthly loan for client that meets weekly (non-variable installment loan): 

Before proceeding to create a monthly loan for a client that meets weekly, ensure that the following two conditions are met.

Ensure that the particular client has been created in Mifos and approved for meetings on a weekly basis. For details on how to create a client with weekly loan, look up How to create a new client.

Note: While creating a new client, the client’s Member Status initially reads “Application

Pending Approval”. (screenshot below)

No loan can be disbursed to a client while in the pending approval state. Change the status

to “Active” by clicking on Edit Member Status. A screen similar to the following is

displayed.

Change the status to “Active” in order to disburse loans (as shown in the screenshot

below).

Ensure that the required loan product has been created with a frequency of installments set to 1 month. The loan product should not be a variable installment loan. For details on how to create a non-variable installment loan product with monthly installment frequency, look up How to create a new loan account.

Once the client has been created, follow these steps to create a monthly loan for a client that meets weekly.

1. Log in to the Mifos system and select the required client for whom the loan has to be disbursed. The client can be selected through the search boxes provided on the home page.

 Ensure that the selected client has meetings scheduled on a weekly basis.

2. Under the account information section of the client’s details, click Open new account> Loan. A screen similar to the following is displayed:

 3. Select the required product name from the dropdown menu and click Continue. Make sure that the loan product selected has monthly installments. On click of Continue, a screen similar to the following is displayed.

Note:

Under Loan Product Summary, Frequency of Installments = 1 month.

Under Loan Account Details, Repayment Day has the day greyed out and the month selected. In the case of the above loan product, repayment date has been set as the first day of each month.

4. Under Loan Account details, type all necessary fields.

 5. Click Continue. A screen similar to the following is displayed.

Note that the two due dates listed for this monthly loan fall on the second Thursday of each month.

6. Click Preview. A screen similar to the following is displayed detailing all loan account information.

If satisfied with all details, click Save for approval. To edit details, click Edit Account Information.

7. On submitting the loan for approval, the following confirmation message is displayed.

Note: In the above case of a client that meets weekly, the client can now have both weekly and monthly loans.

In the screenshot above displaying the two loans assigned to the monthly client, Test Prd 3 is a weekly loan and Test Prd 1 is a monthly loan. 

In the above screenshot of Test Prd1, under section Account Details> Repayment Rules, the Frequency of Installments  reads ‘1 Month’.

 In the above screenshot of Test Prd3, under section Account Details> Repayment Rules, the Frequency of Installments  reads ‘1 Week’.

Scenario 2: Workflow to create weekly loan for client that meets monthly (non-variable installment loan):

Before proceeding to create a weekly loan for a client that meets monthly, ensure the following two conditions are met.

Ensure that the particular client has been created in Mifos and approved for meetings on a monthly basis. For details on how to create a client with monthly loan, look up How to create a new client.

Note: Change Member status for a new client as per the steps mentioned in the above

section.

Ensure that the required loan product has been created with a frequency of installments set to 1 week. The loan product should not be a variable installment loan. For details on how to create a non-variable installment loan product with weekly installment frequency, look up How to create a new loan account.

Once the client has been created, follow these steps to create a weekly loan for a client that meets monthly. 

 1. Log in to the Mifos system and select the required client for whom the loan has to be disbursed. The client can be selected through the search boxes provided on the home page.

Ensure that the selected client has meetings scheduled on a monthly basis.

2. Under the account information section of the client’s details, click Open new account> Loan. A screen similar to the following is displayed:

3. Select the required product name from the dropdown menu and click Continue. Make sure that the loan product selected has monthly installments. On click of Continue, a screen similar to the following is displayed.

 Note:

Under Loan Product Summary, Frequency of Installments = 1 week.
Under Loan Account Details, Repayment Day has the month greyed out and the week selected. In the case of the above loan product, repayment date has been set as every Monday.

4. Under Loan Account details, change the repayment day values. Click Preview. A screen similar to the following is displayed.

5. If satisfied with all details, click Save for approval. To edit details, click Edit Account Information.

6. On submitting the loan for approval, the following confirmation message is displayed.

Note: In the above case of a client that meets monthly, the client can now have both weekly and monthly loans as shown in the snapshot below.

In the screenshot above displaying the two loans assigned to the monthly client, Test Prd 3 is a weekly loan and Test Prd 1 is a monthly loan.

How to create a group loan with GLIM option enabled

">

Mifos provides extended Group Loan functionality (GLIM) which allows to track individual repayment schedules of every member of the Group Loan. To enable GLIM functionality you need to activate the right configuration option in the database (for more datails please refer to section about Loan with Individual Monitoring on http://mifos.org/documentation/configuration#id30).

Note: To check if GLIM is added properly, click Admin > Organizational Settings. Under 'Miscellaneous' section find: Group loan with individual monitoring (GLIM) – it should be set to Yes.

Group loan with individual monitoring (GLIM) enables you to allocate principal amounts and select different loan purposes to individual group members. A loan is distributed to group and you are able to see not only group repayment schedule but also schedule for each individual group member. This functionality more clearly shows the amounts needed to repay by individual persons.

To create GLIM Group Loan account follow the steps below:

Click on Clients & Accounts tab.

Search for a Group, where you want to create a Group Loan Account.

You will see a list of groups matched to your Group Name, choose appropriate one.

Note: If you want create Group Loan account, the group should have at least two active clients.

4. You will see Group details. Under Account Information section click on Loan to create a new Group Loan account.

5. Choose Loan product name from drop-down list and click Continue.

6. You will see a page where you need to enter Loan Account Information. If GLIM function is enabled you need to choose individual details for each member of Group Loan. Check checkboxes next to the clients who are members of Group Loan (individual repayment schedule will be created for them), type amount value and choose loan purpose from the drop-down list.

7. After fulfilling all necessary fields click Continue button.

8. On 'Review installments' page, click Preview button.

9. On 'Preview Loan account information' page, check account information and then click on Save for approval button.  

10. If you display group details page, you will see a newly created account.

Click on Loan Name to display its details. On the Group details page, you will see the GLIM table with listed Group Lona members as it is shown below:

8.  Individual repayment schedule for every member of the Group Loan will be displayed after disburisng the loan. To do that you need to first change Group Account status. Click Edit account status link.

Actual Group Loan status is 'Application Pending Approval', so you need to change it to 'Application Approved'. Type an appropriate note. Click Preview > Submit

On the Loan Group details page you should see Application Approved status.

In some situations, there can be a need to back date transactions and record disbursements that have happened in the past. To do that, just enter the past date (which can be before creation date) and then approve account. Disbursal would still follow the rule that it must happen on or after the date of the approval.

NOTE: To be able to approve loans in the past, 'Back-date approvals' and 'BackDatedApprovalsAllowed' option should be enabled in Mifos configuration file.

After that, You will see a screen like following:

9.  Now you must click on Disburse Loan in the right panel, under 'Transactions' section. You will see a screen like following:

10. Type all necessary fields and than click Review transaction > Submit.

11. Now, in Group Lon details you may see the following list of clients in GLIM table, along with a new column which allows to display individual repayment schedule for every member of Group Loan.

12. To display individual schedule repayment for each clients in Group Loan, click on Show link.

You may see a screen like following:

Each client in Group Loan has his own schedule, so he/she can view when and with what amount installments need to be repaid. 

13. If you want to apply payment to the Group Loan, click on Apply payment link, as it is shown below:

14. On 'Apply payment' page, enter payment amount, select mode of payment and click on Review transaction button.

15. If all payment details are correct, click on Submit button.

17. Payment is applied to Group Loan account:

And is also pro-rated across the individual schedules of every member:

Payment is pro-rated depending on the contribution of every member in a Group loan account. In this case there are two Group members: one member has 8000 and second member has 2000. So that, payment of 100 is divided into 80 and 20, as it shown below:

How to change the status of (approve, close) loan accounts

How to approve or close a single loan account

Before loans can be disbursed, they must be approved by someone with the appropriate permissions. The same procedure is used to cancel loan applications.

The following table explains the meanings of the statuses that a loan can have. When you configure Mifos, you can decide which of these statuses is available for use. See the Configuration guide for information.

Status

Description

Partial Application

Save the loan account in this status when:

The information entered is not complete; or

Is required by the MFI as part of the loan approval process; or

Want to save it with this status for the time being.

Most loan account attributes can be modified when the account is in this status.

Use the Save for later button when saving the loan account

Pending Approval

This is an optional status showing that loan account information is complete information.  This status allows the MFI to execute offline process with regard to the loan account before approving it in the system.

The loan account can be cancelled when it is in this status.

Use the Submit for Approval button when saving the loan account

Approved

The loan amount and repayment schedule have been approved by the MFI. All loan account parameters including the interest amount, loan term and funding source of the account are frozen and cannot be changed at this state

The loan account can be canceled when it is in this status.

If there is a need, it is possible to approve loan in the past. It can be done by setting the past approval date (which can be even before the creation date) while changing the status to Approved.

Active in good standing

Can be changed to this status once the loan has been disbursed to the customer.

The Actual disbursement date can be entered at this point and the loan account grace period starts counting where applicable.

This status confirms that the loan has been issued to the client.

Closed - Rescheduled

A loan can be rescheduled if the MFI allows rescheduling. The current loan account has to be closed with the status marked as Closed- Rescheduled, and a new loan account must be created; it can have the same or different conditions and rules compared to the previous loan.

The system will not link the old and new accounts.

Transactions can still be applied to accounts in this status, but the user will be given a warning before proceeding.

In performance reporting and other reporting, this loan will not be counted as part of the loan cycle.

Closed - Obligations met

The system moves the account to this state automatically when the loan amount is completely paid off.

The account can be moved to this status manually without validating if the amount has been paid off.

Active- Bad standing

The system moves to this status any time the loan account terms are violated, for example, if there is nonpayment of an installment.

The system automatically moves the account to Active in Good Standing once the amount overdue has been paid.

Closed- Written Off

The loan account can be written off if the MFI or Loan Officer  determines that the loan cannot be repaid.

Cancelled

A loan can be cancelled before it gets to Active and in Good Standing status.  The loan can be cancelled if the customer withdraws the application or an officer of the MFI rejects the application.

To approve (or cancel) a loan, follow these instructions:

From any Search screen, search for the borrower name (client or group), or the loan account number if you know it.

In the list of clients or groups that appears, click the correct one.

 In the Account Information section, find the loan you need to approve (all loans that need approval have a yellow square next to them). Click that link.

Click Edit Account Status.

A screen like the following appears:

Click either Partial Application, Application Approved, or Cancel. If you click Cancel, you must click an explanation from the list that appears, such as Rejected. If the application was withdrawn, click Withdraw. If neither explanation fits, click Other.

If there is a need to back date transactions and record disbursements that have happened in the past, simply enter the past approval date (which can be before creation date) and then approve account. Disbursal would still follow the rule that it must happen on or after the date of the approval.

NOTE: To be able to approve loans in the past, 'Back-date approvals' and 'BackDatedApprovalsAllowed' option should be enabled in Mifos configuration file.

In the Note box, type a note explaining any reasons for your action.

Click Preview to review your work.

If a survey is required for this loan product, you must check the Client has Completed Loan Survey box.

Click Submit.

The loan now appears on the details page with a green square, showing that it is approved.

How to approve multiple accounts

See How to approve multiple loans (bulk loan approval) under bulk transactions.

How to approve loan amounts by different loan amount ranges

Mifos provides functionality which allows to approve loans by different loan amount ranges.

Loan amounts in a specific range can be approved only by the person who has the permission to approve loans with that amounts.

Follow the steps below to see how to specify maximum loan approval amount in role and what impact does it have on Loan approval process:

1. Go to Admin tab and click on Manage roles and Permissions link.

2. Select one of the roles on the list and then navigate to the "Can change state to Approved" permission.

3. Check 'Maximum loan amount' checkbox and enter the maximum loan amount that the role is allowed to approve.

4. Click on Submit button. 

After that, Mifos allows this role only to approve loan which amount is less than specified.

Follow the steps below, to see how Mifos handles situation when user tries to approve loan with amount greater then allowed in his role:

1. If Maximum loan amount is set as 10000 for the role, then create a new Loan Account with greater amount e.g. 20000, as it is shown below:

2. Then, while account is still in 'Pending Approval' state, click on Edit account status link to approve Loan.

3. Select 'Application Approved' status, fill notes and click on Preview button.

4. Click Submit button to confirm the status change.

Validation message appears that user is not allowed to approve Loan with that amount, as it is shown below:

How to writing off a loan

Mifos provides functionality to write off transactions. You may specify a date for writing off loan, it can be current date or backdate.

To write off loan account, follow instructions below. Status of Loan Account will be changed to  “Closed- Written Off”.

1. Click on Clients&Accounts tab, type a name of group or client and click Search. You will see a list of groups/clients with Loan Accounts assigned to them.

2. Choose appropriate loan account and click on it to display its details.

 You will see a page like following.

3. Click Edit account status to write-off transaction .

You will see a screen like following:

4. Date of transaction is default set as current date. You can specify different transaction date e.g. enter backdate, but it can not be less then the last payment date or the last meeting date.

Note:

You will be able to write off loan with backdate only if 'Back dated transactions allowed: Yes' option is enabled in the system. You can check if this option is enabled in your system in Admin tab on 'View organization settings' page.

If LSIM option is enabled, only the last payment matters and you can enter date which cannot be before the last payment date. If LSIM is disabled, then transaction date must not be before the previous meeting date or last payment date.

Type all necessary fields and click Preview to check your entries or Cancel if you don't want to change anything at this time.

If you like to change anything, click Edit status to return to the earlier screen.

When the entries are correct, click Submit to save them or if you decide not to change any label at this time, click Cancel.

How to disburse a loan

How to reverse a loan disbursal

How to redo a loan disbursal

You can disburse a loan to the borrower starting on the day specified in the loan account. When you search for the loan, the date of disbursal appears near the top of the screen for this particular loan:

Follow these instructions:

In the loan account screen for the client or group, in the upper right corner, click Disburse Loan.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Disbursal Date

The date the loan is being paid out (can be also past date if Loan was approved with backdated date)

19/01/2010

Receipt ID

If you are providing receipts, the identification of this receipt

#40500

Receipt Date

The date the receipt was provided to the borrower

19/022010

Loan Amount

The total amount of the loan

3434.0

Mode of payment

Cash, cheque, voucher, or a custom mode set by your MFI

Cash

Payment Details

Amount of any loan fee

Mode of Payment

If there is a loan fee, the way it is paid: cash, cheque, voucher, or a custom mode set by your MFI

NOTE: If Loan was approved in the past, then disbursal date can also be set in the past (disbursal still follow the rule that it must happen on or after the date of the approval date of Loan). By doing this it is possible to record disbursements that have happened in the past.

Click Review Transaction to review your choices.

If you need to make any changes, click Edit Transaction, make changes, and click Review Transaction again.

When you are satisfied with the disbursal details, click Submit.
The disbursal date in the account status summary changes to reflect your changes.

How to reverse a loan disbursal

Sometimes, data entry errors result in loans that are created for the wrong client, or perhaps the wrong type of loan product is created for a client. The error might not be detected until several repayments have been made.

To correct this error, if you have the appropriate permissions, you can reverse the loan disbursal and all repayments made up to this point. This can happen only if the loan is in an "Active in good standing" or "Active in bad standing" state. (Afterward, if repayments have already been made, you can redo the disbursal by recreating the correct loan and applying all those repayments to it. Make a note of any repayments, so that you can apply them to the new loan. See How to redo a loan disbursal

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Reverse Loan Disbursal.

In the screen that appears, type the account ID for the loan and click Search.
A screen like the following appears:

In the Note box, type a note explaining why this loan payout is being reversed, and click Preview to review your work.

A summary of this action appears. Be sure that you intend to reverse this payout, as the action reverses all financial transactions made up to this date, and the loan account status will be marked as canceled.

If you are satisfied with this action, click Submit.
The loan account is now marked canceled. This action is recorded in account notes and adjustment notes, and the change is logged in account activity. The canceled loan is not included in loan counts for any reports.

How to redo a loan disbursal

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can redo the disbursal of a loan that was previously reversed. You can apply any repayments for the erroneous loan to the new loan.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Redo Loan Disbursal.

In the screen that appears, in the Name box, type the client or group who holds the loan account and click Search .

All clients/groups with that name appear. Click the link for the correct one.

In the screen that appears, in the Loan (Instance) Name list, click the type of loan product that you want to replace the incorrect one and click Continue.

In the screen that appears, make your choices about the terms of the loan. For instructions, see How to create a loan account. Note that the disbursal date must be earlier than today's date.

Click Continue.
A screen appears for redoing and reviewing the repayment installments.

For each installment, the Actual Payment Date and the Actual Amount Paid are already filled and can be changed.  Update the appropriate values in each repayment.

Click Preview to review your work.

If you need to make changes, click Edit Loan Account Information, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the new loan, click Submit.
A confirmation page appears.

How to manage loan account details

Once a loan account is created, you can change a few details about it.

Follow these instructions:

In any search box, type the name of the borrower, the system ID of the borrower, or the loan account number and click Search.

In the list of results that appears, click the correct account.
The details page for that loan appears.

In the Account Details section, click Edit Account Information.
A screen like the following appears:

2mifoseditacctinfo

In the available fields, type and click the appropriate changes you want to make. Use the table in "How to create a loan account" for details on the meaning of each field.

Click Preview to review your changes. When you are satisfied, click Submit.

How to import new loans accounts

Loan accounts import functionality enables users to automatically create in Mifos a large number of loans using .xls file. First, you need to prepare .xls file, using template (you can download it from here).

Following table explains the content of columns:

Field
Explanation

Account number
Loan account global identification number must be unique, otherwise you will see error during import.

Customer Global ID
Number of customer must exist in the Mifos system.

Product name
Name of loan product which will be used as a base for new loan account. Product must exist in the system.

Status name
Allowed values are:

Canceled

Active in good standing

Active in bad standing

Approved

Closed Obligation Met

Closed Rescheduled

Closed Written OFF

Partial Application

Pending Approval

Values are not case-sensitive.

Cancel flag reason
Explain the reason for canceling account.

Allowed values are:

Withdraw

Other

Reversal

Rejected

Values are not case-sensitive.

Loan amount

Loan amount must conform to loan product requirements and Mifos restrictions on decimal values.

Interest rate
Interest rate must conform to loan product requirements and Mifos restrictions on decimal values.

No. of installments
Number of installments must conform to loan product definition.

Disbursal date
Default date format is: D.MM.YYYY where D is day, MM is month (always two digits) and YYYY is year (always four digits).
Date must conform to loan product requirements, customer requirements and Mifos restrictions.

Grace period
This column is mandatory only if loan products allows for grace period. Otherwise this column is ignored.

Source of fund
Must conform to values defined in Mifos.

Purpose
Must conform to values defined in Mifos.

Collateral
Must conform to values defined in Mifos.

Collateral notes
Must conform to values defined in Mifos.

External ID
Must conform to values defined in Mifos.

If your excel file is prepared, then you can start importing loan accounts.

Go to Administration page ("Admin").

Click on link "Import Loans" link under ‘Manage Imports and Exports’ section.

  3.  System opens new page "Import Loans".

   4.  Select document with loans data (XLS Document) and upload it to Mifos server.

   5.  System parses uploaded document and shows how many rows were parsed successfully and which rows were not. Each row with errors has an explanation.

   6.  Click "Save" button to save imported rows if any of them were parsed successfully.

How to make transactions for a loan account

How to apply payments

How to apply adjustments

How to repay a loan

How to apply charges and fees

How to remove recurring account fees

How to record and clear overpayments

How to Apply Principal Pre-payment  

How to repay overdue interests first

Regardless of whether the loan is held by a client or a group, the process of making transactions is the same.

In any Search box, type the name of the client or the group (or the number of the loan account, if you know it). If you type the client or group name, a list appears with all clients and groups having that name. Click the link for the correct one and, from the details page that appears, click the link for the correct loan account.

Then follow these instructions for the transaction that you want to make.

How to apply payments

In the Transactions box at the upper right of the screen, click Apply Payments.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Date of Transaction

This shows today's date. If you need to change this date because the payment took place at another time, type the day (XX), month (XX), and year (XXXX) of the payment.

Amount

The amount of the payment. If the borrower is making only a partial payment, type the amount of this payment.

Mode of Payment

The way the payment was made.

Receipt ID

The number of the receipt, if you use one.

Receipt Date

Date the receipt was issued, if you used one.

When you are done, click Review Transaction to review your work.

For information on uploading administrative documents that you can use for payment transactions, see "How to manage administrative documents."  You can get information on entering information on several accounts at the same time; see "How to enter collection sheet data."

How to apply payments via a savings transfer

Mifos provides functionality which allows to repay loan fees and payments by funds transfer from Savings account, if customer has both Loan and Savings accounts. It is easy and can be done by using standard ‘Apply payment’ functionality.

Follows the steps below to see how to apply payments via savings transfer:

1. Make sure that you have enough balance on Savings account to apply Loan payment.

2. Go to Loan Account and click on Apply payment link.

3. Enter payment amount and select mode of payment - 'Transfer from Savings Account', as it shown below:

After selecting 'Transfer from Savings Account' as a mode of payment, the list of all active customer’s Savings accounts is displayed and you select any of them.

NOTE: If you select Savings account with insufficient balance to repay loan, then validation message will appear once you try to submit transaction - "Insufficient Balance in savings account to make the payments".

If the amount entered is greater than the maximum amount per withdrawal limit on the savings account, an error message "The amount entered exceeds the maximum amount per withdrawal limit on the savings account"  is displayed.

4. Click Review transaction button.

5. Verify that all payment details are appropriate and click on Submit button.

After that, funds will be transferred from Savings account and applied as payment reflecting this hierarchy: Penalty -> Fees -> Interest -> Principal.

6. You can check that payment has been applied:

7. Go to Savings account to see that balance has been reduced, as it is shown below:

NOTE: You can apply payments via savings transfer only if 'Transfer from Savings Account' payment type is added to right group (e.g. Repayments, Fees) on 'Define accepted payment types' page in 'Admin' tab.

How to apply adjustments

Sometimes errors occur when payments for a loan are recorded. If you need to cancel the full amount of the last repayment, you can do this by making an "adjustment." If you need to cancel several repayments, you must do each one separately. You have also a possibility to adjust historical transactions. If you have made incorrect transaction in the past, you can make adjustment of any transaction you want.

When you have made an adjustment, Mifos divides the canceled payment into principal, interest, and fees, and makes adjustments in each of these categories to the total amount still due for the loan.

To apply adjustment, follow these instructions:

In the Transactions box at the upper right of the screen, click Apply Adjustment.
Note: If no payments have been made up to the present for this loan, this button does not appear.
A screen like the following appears, showing all payments:

You can choose any payment (including those in the past) and click Apply Adjustment to see a scren like following: 

 Check the Check to Revert the Last Payment box, if you want to adjust full amount. 

Note: You may also adjust only part of amount. If you want to do so, do not check the Check to Revert the Last Payment box and specify Amount value which you want to adjust.

Date of transaction is set on the current day, but you may change it to any date, and make adjustment not only of the last transaction, but also of transactions, made in the past.

Choose Mode of payment from the drop-down list.

In the Notes box, type information describing why you made this adjustment.

When you have made the adjustment, click Review Adjustment to review your work and click Submit.

Note: Partial adjustments are not available for declining balance with interest recalculation method and savings accounts (you may only specify amount and make adjustment for the last transaction).

How to repay a loan

You can repay the entire remaining loan balance at once using the Repay Loan link.  After following these instructions, the status of the loan will change to "Closed - Obligation Met".

Date of transaction is automatically set as current date, but you change it. If you forget to record the loan repayment on the day of the center meeting you may may specify a backdate of the repayment of a loan up in Date of transaction field, but it can not be earlier then date of the last payment or last meeting date.

Note:

You will be able to write off loan with backdate only if 'Back dated transactions allowed: Yes' option is enabled in the system. You can check if this option is enabled in your system in Admin tab on 'View organization settings' page.

If LSIM option is enabled, only the last payment matters and you can enter date which cannot be before the last payment date. If LSIM is disabled, then transaction date must not be before the previous meeting date or last payment date.

To repay loan follow this instructions:

In the Transactions box at the upper right of the screen, click Repay Loan.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Mode of Payment

The way the payment was made

Receipt ID

A number for the receipt, if you use one.

Receipt Date

The date the receipt was issued, if you use one.

Date of transaction

The date when transaction was made or backdate if transaction is made in different date than repayment.

When you are done, click Review Transaction to review your work.

If you want to make changes, click Edit Transaction, make any changes, and click Review Transaction again.

When you are satisfied with all changes, click Submit.

How to apply charges and fees

If you want to apply fees or penalties directly to the loan, following these instructions.

In the Transactions box at the upper right of the screen, click Apply Charges.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Select Charge type

Click the appropriate charge or fee.  These are loan fees that have been created or you can select Misc Fee or Misc Penalty

Amount

The amount to apply. If there is a set amount for this charge, it appears in the Amount box; type over this to change it.

Click Submit.
The charge now appears in the Upcoming Charges and the Recent Account Activity list. It will appear in Transaction History when posted.

Note the following:

In addition to the penalty calculated for delayed repayment, the user can apply a "Misc penalty" amount to the account. If a Misc Penalty amount is applied to the account, the same will be included in the next payment due for the account.

If the penalty rate is changed in between two payments, the old penalty rate should be taken for calculation until the date the change was made.

A penalty is not calculated until the day after the due date.

How to remove recurring account fees

In the Recurring Account Fees section, near the bottom of the account details screen, a list of recurring account fees associated with the account are listed.  Click Remove for the fee you wish to remove. The fee is now gone from the Account Details section and is no longer associated with the loan account.

How to do an early repayment of Loan

After a loan is disbursed, a client can make repayments at any time. The date of repayment need not necessarily be on the date the amount is due. The repayment can be either partial or a full repayment of the total amount outstanding. Depending on the type of loan repayment (whether full or partial), one of the following repay options is used in Mifos:

Repay Loan

Apply Payment

Difference between Repay Loans and Apply Payments:

Apply Payments:

This is used in case of partial repayment of loan amount, where the repay amount is not equal to the amount due on a specific date. In this case, details of this transaction can be recorded into the Mifos system by modifying the default amount and entering an amount less than the expected amount. Before processing and saving the transaction details, Mifos performs the following validations:

Date of transaction should be between the last payment date and current date

Amount entered is not greater than the total amount outstanding on that account.

Repay Loans:
After loan disbursal, the client can at any time repay the entire loan in a single payment. To record a total repayment, the Repay Loans option is used. The system calculates the total amount due as of the current date as follows:

Principal: The principal is calculated as the sum total of principal due in unpaid, due and future installments.

Interest: Interest is calculated depending on whether the waive interest feature is enabled - this is explained in greater detail in the next section.

Fees: The fees due for all future installments is not included, but the fees due for all past unpaid installments and the current installment is included in the total due.

Penalty: This includes miscellaneous penalties and penalties due to late repayments, if any. The total includes miscellaneous penalties, both for the current instalment and for those due through the last installment.

Early repayment of Loans - Repay Loans and Waive Interest

Scenario: If the client repays the loan earlier than the due date and the loan product has been marked as ‘Can Waive Off Interest’.

1. Click Repay Loan link on the Loan Details page (top right of the screen). A screen like the following appears:

2.  As shown in the screenshot above, the Can Waive Off Interest option is enabled. (This is because the loan product has been marked as Can Waive Off Interest). Depending on your MFI’s current requirement, you have the option to disable it or retain it.

Waive Interest Option Disabled: The Amount is calculated by waiving off all the future fee, future interests. The payment due interest is included in the calculate amount and the penalty is not waived off.

Waive Interest Option Enabled: The Amount is calculated by waiving off all the future fee, future interests and the payment due interest. The penalty is not waived off.

3. Select the appropriate mode of payment from the list provided. The receipt ID and receipt date are optional fields. After entering the required details, click Review Transactions. A screen like the following appears:

4. If any changes need to be made, click Cancel. This will direct back to the Loan Details page. Click Repay Loan again to make the necessary changes to the transaction.
If all details are in order, click Submit.

5. The status of the loan should read ‘Closed-obligation met’ as shown below.

To further verify that the transaction has indeed been recorded as 'closed' by the Mifos system, check that the Loans Balance field in the Accounts Summary section reads 0 (refer screenshot above).

Click View Repayment Schedule (in the Accounts summary section). The Repayment schedule should display all installments under the Installments Paid section.

How to record and clear overpayment

Mifos provides possibility to make payment greater then remaining balance of the loan (an overpayment) by using import transaction functionality. Sometimes it is only a few dollars over, sometimes an entire extra installment is mistakenly paid. It may occur only during repayment of the last installment. Mifos validates loan balance and shows overpayment amount, which may be returned to clients. If overpayment is made, client's account automatically changes the status to ' Closed- Obligation met' and the new section called 'Overpayments' on client's details page is displayed.

How to import transaction with overpayment

Import transactions functionality is possible only if Audi Bank plugin is available (it should be added into catalog Home > .mifos > plugins). Then you should import previously prepared Excel file (.xls) which contains loan payment transactions.

To import Excel file follow instructions below:

1. At the beginning you must prepare Excel file, which contains transactions for actual client. Transaction may contain amount greater than last installment amount (an overpayment).
2. Click on Admin tab. Under 'Manage Imports and Exports' section click on Import transactions link.

Note: You only can make an overpayment for client's last installment.

You will see following screen:

     3. Select import format (Audi Bank Excel 2007) from the drop-down list and choose earlier prepared file to import (each file may be imported only once). After filling required fields click Review.

     4. If no errors occur during import, you will see a screen like this.

5. Click Submit to import a file or edit information if you want to make changes.

How to display and clear overpayment

   1. Click on Clients & Accounts tab and type an appropriate Client Name.
   2. Choose a client from the list and click on Client Name to display his details

Client details page looks like following:

3. To display closed accounts, click on 'View closed accounts' under the list of loans and savings accounts. Choose appropriate Loan Account and click on its name to display details page.

4. On the right panel you will see an 'Overpayments' section which displays overpayment amount made during import transaction.

5. If you want to clear overpayment amount, click on Clear link.

You may see a screen like following. Allowed overpayment amount is loaded automatically and you can not change it.

Type Amount value, which you want to clear, it may be less than overpayment amount but it can not be greater, otherwise you will see validation message. Then click Submit.

Note that overpayment value has been changed in 'Overpayments' section:

You may also clear a full amount at one time. To do that enter the full allowed amount and click Submit button.

After clearing the whole amount, overpayment section is no longer displayed on Loan Account details page.

How to Apply Principal Pre-payment

Principal Pre-payment option is enabled only for Loan accounts with ‘Declining Balance’ or ‘Declining Balance-Equal Principal Installment’ interest rate type. If you add such Loan account to Client or Group, then you will see on Loan account details page, in Transaction box, an additional option named ‘Apply Principal Pre-payment’ (as it is shown below).

‘Apply Principal Pre-payment’ option allows you to make more than one transaction on the same day, even if you applied a payment for interest on the same date.

There is also a possibility to make principal pre-payment on non-meeting date (i.e. on a date on which there is no entry in the loan schedule table) or if the duration of the loan went beyond what was entered into loan schedule table by Mifos.

If you want to apply principal pre-payment transaction, follow the instruction below.

1. Choose appropriate Client or Group and enter Loan account (with ‘Declining Balance’ or ‘Declining Balance-Equal Principal Installment’ interest rate type) details page. In Transaction box click on Apply Principal Pre-payment.

You will see a screen like following.

2. Type all mandatory information such as: Date of transaction, Amount and Mode of payment. You can also specify also Receipt ID and Receipt Date.
3. Click on Submit button.
4. You can check this transaction in repayment schedule. To do it, click on View repayment schedule on Loan account details page.

You will see a screen like following:

1. Before transaction:

2. After transaction ($10 was paid):

How to repay overdue interests first

First you need to set different payment order in your Mifos configuration file and add following row:
OverdueInterestPaidFirst=true

If you enable this option, then all overdue interests will be paid first, before principal amount.

You can see result of setting OverdueInterestPaidFirst option by following those steps:

1. Open loan account with couple of due Installments.

2. Click on link 'View repayment schedule'. Number in bracket shows amount of interest which has already been paid.

3. Click on apply payment and pay for example amount=10.

Note that Interest for second installment is partly payed and Principal is still 0.

4. After all Interests are paid, then if there are no fees/penalties, Principal will be paid. In this case, after applying payment with amount=150, whole Interests are paid and also part of principal.

After next payment, the rest of principal can be paid.

How to track loan account history (transactions, performance)

How to view the history of all transactions

How to view status history

How to view performance history

How to view missed installments

How to view change log

How to view and add notes about the loan

How to view the history of all transactions

At the bottom of the screen, click View Transaction History.
A screen like the following appears (only part of the screen shows here):

This screen shows the following:

All transactions

ID number of Transaction

Transaction Type

General ledger code

Amount of debit of credit

Client or group name

Date posted

User who posted the transaction

Any notes on adjustments

How to view status history

At any point, you can see the history of a loan: the original application, whether it was approved, and whether it is active, in good standing, or closed. You can use this information to track the progress of the loan and the efficiency of the loan officer or the MFI approval process itself.

At the bottom of the screen, click View Status History.
A screen like the following appears:

How to view performance history

The box in the upper right corner summarizes the performance of the client or group for this loan. It includes the following: 

Number of payments: The total number of payments/installments that have been made successfully

Number of missed payments: The total number of payments/installments that are missed and are in arrears

Days in arrears: The number of days the loan account is behind on payment (that is, the number of days overdue)

Loan maturity date: The date on which the loan matures and the outstanding loan balance is due

How to view missed installments

If an installment payment is missed, it is displayed in the overdue information, and the Total Amount Due includes the missed installment. For example, if a client has to repay $100 (principal = $80 and Interest = $20) every month, and she defaults for the month of August, then for the month of September, the following amounts are displayed in the Next Payment details:

Principal Due= $80

Interest Due = $20

Penalty Due = $2 (for the missed/defaulted installment)

Principal Overdue= $80 (for the missed/defaulted installment)

Interest Overdue = $20 (for the missed/defaulted installment)

Total Amount Due= $202

How to view the change log

Any changes that have been made to loan details are contained in the change log. These might include

Account information changes

Addition/removal of fee types

Addition of notes and change in collateral notes

Status changes: includes changes that were made by the user and the system.

However, changes related to transactions (such as payment of principal, interest, fees, and penalties) are not logged.

At the bottom of the screen, click View Change Log to see these. The log might look like this:

To return to the center details page, click Back to Details Page.

How to view and add notes about the loan

You can record any notes about the loan. To see all notes already recorded, in the recent Notes box at the bottom right of the screen, click See All Notes. Any notes added in other sections, such as account information or adjustments, appear in this section as well.

To add a note, follow these instructions:

Click Add a Note.
The following screen appears:

In the Note box, type the note.

Click Preview to review your work. If you want to make changes, click Edit, make changes, and click Submit.
The note now appears in the Recent Notes section.

How to manage Variable Loan Installments

How to create a variable installment loan product

How to create a new loan account with variable installments

How to create a new loan account with variable installments and cash flow comparison 

How to create a Variable Installment Loan product 

Overview: Often times, MFIs face the need to tailor loan disbursement, loan repayment recovery and loan maturity to suit the cash flow patterns of the borrower. This is especially true of products like agricultural loans where clients repayments can be quite volatile. The volatility arises due to increased vulnerability of the agricultural industry to factors like inclement weather. Consequently returns in such sectors are seasonal, unpredictable and often lower than those of the regular commercial enterprises for which MFIs disburse loans. This necessitates the need for MFIs to have customized loans products, which allow for more flexibility with the installment schedule. 

The Variable Installment Loans feature of Mifos enables MFIs to accommodate this flexibility by specifying different gaps between installments, as explained in the sections below.   

Configuring variable installments when defining a new loan product.

To configure variable installments, the checkbox 'Can configure variable installment' must be enabled.

For the checkbox to be enabled, the following two conditions must be set:

The loan product must have a ‘Declining balance' or 'Flat' selected in Interest rate type drop-down list:

Mifos should have the LSIM feature turned ON. LSIM stands for Loan Schedule Independent of Meeting and if this feature is enabled, repayment schedules and loan disbursals no longer need to coincide with meeting schedules. LSIM is set at the database level. 

In other words, when the LSIM feature is ON and the selected interest rate type is other than ‘declining’, ‘can configure variable installment’ checkbox will get disabled.

How to configure variable installments when defining a new loan product.

1. Under section Repayment Schedule, check the 'Can configure variable installments' checkbox.

2. The following parameters will be displayed:

Minimum Gap between Installments - This is the minimum gap, in days, that is required between two consecutive installments. This is a required field. 

Maximum Gap between Installments - This is the maximum gap, in days, between installments. This value is optional.

Minimum Installment Amount -  The minimum amount that needs to be repaid at each installment. This value is optional. 

Compare with Cash Flow settings:  

Mifos provides MFIs the option to compare loan installments with customer's cash flow. This option allows MFIs to specify conditions with regard to customers' cash flow and loans are created in accordance with these conditions. This feature is available for loans with variable installment and without. 

To enable comparison with cash flow, mark the checkbox 'Compare with Cash Flow'. The following parameters will be displayed:

Warning Threshold - This value, expressed as a percentage, is the fraction of a customer's cumulative cash flow and the upper limit for loan installment for any period. In other words, this field will be used to alert a user if the loan installment for any period is above a certain percentage of the cumulative cash flow (cash flow calculation explained is explained in the following section). The warning threshold can be between 0 and 99% (It cannot be a 100% because it would then mean that loan installments for any period can be equal to a customer's cumulative cash flow).

Indebtedness Ratio - This value specifies the range within which a client's indebtedness rate can fall (Formula for calculation of indebtedness rate is explained in the following section). Mifos allows loans to be created only if the calculated Indebtedness Rate for a client is lesser than this pre-specified value.  This value is expressed as a percentage and can be between 0 and 50%.

Repayment Capacity -  This value specifies the range within which a client's repayment capacity can fall (Formula for calculation of repayment capacity is explained in the following section).  Mifos allows loans to be created only if the calculated Repayment Capacity for a client is is between the pre-specified range.  This value is expressed as a percentage and can be between 150 and 1000%.

How to create a new loan account with variable installments

As discussed in the previous section,  variable installment loans can be created with or without the compare with cash flow option. We first look at the process of creating a variable installment loan without cash flow comparison enabled.

Before creating a loan with variable installment, ensure that the required loan product has variable installment option enabled. If variable installment has already been enabled for the loan product, please skip the following steps and move to the next section 'Creating New Loan'.

If a new loan product with variable installment has to be created, follow the steps mentioned in the previous section to create new loan product with variable installments.

To have variable installment configured for an existing loan product, follow these steps:

1. Click Admin>Manage Loan Products>View Loan Products. A list of existing loan products is displayed.

 2. Select the loan product which needs to be modified by clicking on it. The loan product's details are displayed as shown in the screenshot below.

3. Click 'Edit Loan Product Information' on the top right of the page. The loan product details page appears in Edit mode. Scroll down to section 'Repayment Schedule'.

4.  Check the 'Can configure variable installments' checkbox and fill in the installment details as explained in the previous section.

Grace period in variable installments: To specify grace period for variable installment loans, the grace period should first be set at the product level. While creating the loan product, under section Repayment Schedule, fill in the grace period details as explained in the How to Define and Change New and Existing Loan Products section. This is how grace period is implemented in the case of variable installment loans: 

     if Grace period duration  = 3 installments  

     frequency of installments for variable installment loan product =  1 week.

Then, only after the completion of 3 installments of one week each will the loan move to active in bad standing.    

Creating New Loan Account with Variable Installments

For a detailed explanation on how to create new loan, refer to section section "How to Create a Loan Account" under chapter "Loan Accounts". The loan creation process is also explained below briefly, including the variable installment feature.

Loans can be created for individual clients or groups. The process of creating loans is the same for both clients and groups.

1. Click Clients & Accounts on the main panel. The following screen appears.

2. Client/ group search can be done with the name, system ID, phone number or account number. When you type this information and click Search, a list of all possible choices matching the search information is displayed. Click the correct one, or (if you don't see the customer you were expecting) try retyping the search information carefully and then click Search again. A screen similar to the following is displayed:

 3. Select the required client by clicking on the client's name in the list. The client's details are displayed, similar to the screenshot below.

 4. To create a new loan, click on Loan on the top right of the Account Information section. The following screen is displayed. Select the required loan product (the product with variable loan installment in this case). Click Continue.

 5.  The Loan Account information page is displayed. The loan product summary shows the variable installments configuration details (minimum and maximum gap between installments, etc).

  6. In the account details section, enter the account details. 

 7.  Enter information using the descriptions in the following table (note that these fields may vary somewhat, depending on the details of the loan product itself.):

Field name

Description

Example

Amount

The loan amount for the client, limited to the minimum and maximum amounts shown in brackets.

100.00

Interest Rate

Applicable interest rate, limited to the minimum and maximum values shown in brackets.  If a default field was defined for the product, this field shows the default interest rate value.

The rate field can be zero but cannot be left blank.

You may not change the interest rate once the loan has been paid out to the client.

18

No. of Installments

The number of installments in which the loan will be repaid, limited to the values shown in brackets.

12

Disbursement Date

The date when the loan is likely to be disbursed (paid out).  If the client/group has a meeting date, the date must be one of the meeting dates.

This date will be used as a Loan Start Date to generate the repayment schedule. This field can be updated with the Actual disbursement when the loan is actually disbursed to the client. ?? This date can be in the past. The repayment schedule will be regenerated when this date is updated.

If a client has no meeting date, this date will not be checked against the meeting date schedule.

History information about the date change will not be available except in the change log.

You may not change this date after the account is set to "active in good standing" status.

02/07/2006

Grace Period for Payments

Type how long to wait for late repayment: that is, how many installments.

If the loan product specifies "No grace" or if interest is automatically deducted at the time of disbursal, this field cannot be used.

You can extend or reduce the length of the grace period if the grace period has not yet expired.

The grace period starts as of the day the loan is disbursed to the client.

Source of Funds

Click the applicable source of funds for the loan as defined by the MFI.

Tsunami

Purpose of Loan

The purpose for which the loan has been disbursed

Material Purchase

Business work activities

The type of activity the client is engaged in.

Farming

Collateral type

The type of collateral the client has provided for the loan.

Type 1

Collateral notes

Explanatory notes about the collateral type applicable to the loan.

Land title deed verified by loan officer

External ID

If this loan has an ID number from some other system, type it here.

Additional information: Custom fields

Enter any additional information required by your MFI in the custom fields.

Administrative Set Fees

Apply any set fees for this loan, as defined by your MFI.

If you want to change the default fee amount for any fee displayed, type the amount in the box. If you want to remove this fee, check the Check to Remove Box.

Additional Fee type

Apply up to a maximum of 3 different fee types, as defined by your MFI.

 Click Submit after entering the required details. 

 8. The loan installment schedule for the client is summarized and displayed. The screen looks something like this.

The installments table displays the following fields:

Installment - The installment month

Due Date - The date when the installment is due. This field can be edited, as explained below.

Principal - The principal amount for that particular installment

Interest - The amount of interest for that particular installment.

Fees - Fees, if any, imposed on the loan repayment for that particular installment

Total - The total repayment amount for that particular installment. (Principal + Interest + Fees)

Editing Installment Due Dates and Installment Amounts

The Due Date field is editable and the dates can be modified, in keeping with the variable installment conditions specified while creating the loan (specifically the minimum gap between installments field which is the required field).

Similarly, the total installment amount field is also editable - all installment amounts except the last installment are editable. The installment amounts can be modified, in keeping with the conditions specified at the time of creation of the loan product (minimum installment amount). Also ensure that the installment amount entered for a period is not any lesser than either the sum of Fee and Interest for that period or the Minimum Installment Amount specified during product creation, whichever is greater.

After the edits are done,  click Validate. This function will check if the modified due dates and modified installment amounts are in accordance with the conditions specified. Possible errors are as follows:

The first installment date could be before the loan disbursal date.

The gap between two installments is less than the allowed minimum.

The due date falls on a pre-specified holiday.

The installment amount is less than either the minimum installment amount or sum of fee and interest for that period, whichever is greater. 

 Below are two sample error screens:

 Error Type - Gap between installment due dates less than allowed minimum

Error Type - Installment due date falls on holiday

 9. After the errors are resolved and the due dates adjusted, click Preview. A screen similar to this will be displayed.

 10. If any of the above details need to be edited, click Edit account information or Edit Loan Schedule Information depending on what needs to be edited. 

11. When you are satisfied with all changes, click Submit for Approval (or, if you want to wait to submit this loan, click Save for Later). (If you decide not to create the loan at all at this time, click Cancel.)  

Creating New Loan Account with Variable Installments and Cash Flow Comparison configured

Overview: Cash Flow comparison feature enables MFIs to first assess if their clients have enough money to repay loans. This assessment is done by comparing the client's overall cash flow with his/ her monthly installment.  

Creating a new Loan account: Before proceeding with creating a new loan account with cash flow comparison, ensure that the specific loan product has cash flow comparison feature enabled. To enable this, refer to section "Cash flow comparison settings".

Once the cash flow comparison settings have been enabled at the loan product level, follow these steps to create a new loan account with variable installments.

The process of creating a new loan account with cash flow comparison is similar to what has been outlined in the previous section ("Create a new loan account with variable installments").  For clarity, the steps are stated again with the new inclusion, cash flow comparison. Skip down to Step 7 to view the cash flow comparison section. 

Loans can be created for individual clients or groups. The process of creating loans is the same for both clients and groups.

1. Click Clients & Accounts on the main panel. The following screen appears.

2. Client/ group search can be done with the name, system ID, phone number or account number. When you type this information and click Search, a list of all possible choices matching the search information is displayed. Click the correct one, or (if you don't see the customer you were expecting) try retyping the search information carefully and then click Search again. A screen similar to the following is displayed:

 3. Select the required client by clicking on the client's name in the list. The client's details are displayed, similar to the screenshot below.

 4. To create a new loan, click on Loan on the top right of the Account Information section. The following screen is displayed. Select the required loan product (the product with variable loan installment in this case). Click Continue.

 5.  The Loan Account information page is displayed. The loan product summary shows the variable installments configuration details (minimum and maximum gap between installments, etc).

  6.  In the account details section, enter the account details and click Continue. To cancel and return to the previous page, click Cancel.

 7. The Cash Flow Details screen is displayed. The screen will look something like this.

All the months which fall between the first and the last installments, including the first and the last installment months are displayed. In addition, the month immediately preceding the first installment month and the month immediately following the last installment are displayed. 

Example 1: Disbursal date: 26-Aug-2010, No. of Installments: 3, Frequency of Loan Installments: 1 month

Installment Months: September, October and November.

Cash flow months will be captured for months : August, September, October, November, December. 

Example 2: Disbursal date: 26-Aug-2010, No. of Installments: 8, Frequency of Loan Installments: 2 Weeks

Installment Months: September, October, November and December.

Cash flow months will be captured for months : August, September, October, November, December, January. 

Cash Flow Data 

Enter the client's expense and revenue for each of the listed months, in the fields "Expense" and "Revenue" respectively. In the notes column, enter any comment/ note about the client's revenue/ expense for that particular month. Also enter the client's Total Capital and Total Liability. Click Continue. The client's cash flow is calculated, as explained below.

Cash Flow Comparison calculation 

In general, cash flow is captured starting one month before the first installment month to allow the MFI to enter cash in hand thus far leading into the installment month. On the disbursal month, the loan amount is added to the the cumulative cash flow for comparison.

The month immediately following the last installment month is added to allow the MFI to see what sort of an impact loan payment will have on the customer. If there is a sudden drop of cash of the customer into the month right after the loan payment, then it may lead to a situation where the customer may default. Thus, to better understand the customer's position after repayment of loan, MFIs capture the cash flow for the following month as well. 

After the revenue and expenses for each month are entered and you click Continue, the system calculates the indebtedness rate and repayment capacity of the client with the information provided in the cash flow capture page. If the client's indebtedness rate is greater than the allowed value specified during creation of the loan product or if the client's repayment capacity is less than the threshold value specified during creation of the loan product, the loan account cannot be created.

Formula for calculation of Indebtedness Rate:  

Indebtedness Rate= (Total liability + loan amount)*100/Total capital

Example:

During loan product definition, the indebtedness rate has been set as 100. 

Assume a Rs.1000 loan is being applied for. 

Total liability = Rs.5000, Total capital = Rs.4000 (entered by the user)

Indebtedness rate = (5000 + 1000)*100/4000 = 150. 

The client's indebtedness rate is greater than the permissible limit, hence Mifos will not allow the loan to be created. An error message will be displayed as follows.

Formula for Calculation of Repayment Capacity:

Repayment Capacity=[(Total revenues-Total expenses)+Loan Amount]*100 / Sum of Installments amount

Example: 

During loan product definition, the Repayment Capacity limit has been set as 150. 

Assume a Rs.1000 loan is being applied for. 

Assume sum of all expenses entered by the user on the cash flow page is Rs.5000 and the sum of all revenues entered is 10000. Assume the sum of all installment amounts is 1500.

Repayment Capacity = [(10000 - 5000) + 1000] * 100/ 1500 = 400.

The Repayment Capacity of 400 is over the required minimum capacity of 150. Thus, Mifos allows the loan to be created. 

8.  After the cash flow details have been entered and the system allows the loan to be created, the Review Installments page is displayed. The page contains details of the installments and a summary of the cash flow. A screen similar to this will be displayed.

Please refer to the previous section "Creating new loan with variable installments" for details on how to edit the installment dates and total installment amount.

The Cash Flow summary table displays the following fields:

Months - Name of the installment month

Cumulative Cash Flow - This is calculated as: Cash flow for present installment + Sum of cash flows for all previous installments

Cumulative Cash Flow - Total Installment Amount per month - This value is the difference between the cumulative cash flow for a particular installment month and the total installment amount for that month.

Total installment amount per month as % of cash flow - If this value exceeds the warning threshold specified at the time of loan product creation, then Mifos will not allow the loan to be created.

 Notes - Any notes recorded in the system for that particular installment month.

9. To proceed with the loan creation, click Validate. This will validate the edited installment data against the conditions specified at the time of loan product creation. (please refer previous section on "Creating new loan with variable installments" for the various validations performed and possible errors). 

10. Click Preview  to click the loan account information.  A screen similar to this will be displayed. 

 If any of the above details need to be edited, click Edit account information or Edit Loan Schedule Information depending on what needs to be edited. 

11. When you are satisfied with all changes, click Submit for Approval (or, if you want to wait to submit this loan, click Save for Later). (If you decide not to create the loan at all at this time, click Cancel.) 

Introduction to savings accounts

What is a savings account?

You can create savings accounts for centers, groups, and clients based on the savings products defined in Mifos. All accounts inherit the rules of the product they are created from.

Note: The savings product must be in an Active state before you can create an account based on it.

Savings accounts are vital to the economic health of the client or group. MFIs encourage regular contributions to these accounts, and in some cases make contributions mandatory. Your MFI could make a rule that you cannot create loan accounts for borrowers unless their savings accounts are at a minimum level. You may also make a rule that the client or group does not earn interest if the savings account is lower than a specified minimum amount.

If you create a savings account for a group or a center, all members of the group or center can deposit to and withdraw from these accounts. Usually, when a transaction is made, the user chooses the client name from a list of approved clients belonging to that group or centre.

A center, group, or client can have more than one account, of the same or different savings products, but a single account cannot be shared by more than one center, group, or client. In addition, no conversion is allowed between individual client accounts and center/group accounts.

Mandatory versus voluntary savings

Some MFIs make their savings accounts mandatory. The minimum deposit amount is considered "due" at every meeting day of the account owner.  Partial payments are allowed. If the client or group does not make this minimum deposit on time, the required deposit amount at the next meeting is increased by that amount. For example, if the minimum deposit is 50, and the client does not pay, then at the next meeting, the required deposit will be 100. If the minimum deposit is 50 and the client pays 25, then at the next meeting, the required deposit will be 75.

If the savings account is held by a center, the deposit amount is applied to all clients in Active or On Hold states. If the savings account is held by a group, and the minimum deposit applies to each group member separately, the deposit amount is applied to clients in Active or On Hold states.

Voluntary accounts have no minimum deposit, though there is a "recommended deposit" amount that can be included in the definition of the savings product.

The savings account "dashboard"

The savings account details page ("dashboard") shows the detailed transactions and functions related to savings accounts. It includes the account status, the recent activity status, and transaction tracking details.

To view the dashboard, in any Search box, type the account number for the savings account. You can also type the client or group name and click the account link from the details page for that client or group.

The screen might look like the following:
mifossavingsdash

The dashboard might include the following items:

Category

Description

Savings account header

Savings account number, current status, balance, and amount due at next meeting (if account is mandatory)

Recent Activity

A list of transactions that have taken place with regard to the account.

Account Details

Shows the savings account details, which include recommended or mandatory amount for deposit, type of deposit, maximum amount allowed per withdrawal, and interest rate.

More account and transaction details

Shows the status history, change log, and change history for the loan account.

Transactions

Provides the links to making a deposit, withdrawal, or adjustment, or closing the savings account.

Performance history

Show various account performance indicators, such as total deposits, withdrawals, and interest.

Recent Notes

Shows the three most recent notes appended to the account, with additional links to add a new note or view all the notes.

How to create a new savings account

The following are necessary for you to create a savings account:

If the savings account is for a client or group, the client and/or group must be in Approved state.

If the savings account is for a center, the center must be Active.

Note: You may not delete savings accounts.

You can create a new account from several places in Mifos.  One way is to navigate to the details page for that client, group, or center.  You can do this by searching for the client, group, or center from the Search on the Home screen or navigating to the details page directly

From the Home screen search function
mifoshomesearch 

From the Clients & Accounts main panel (click a Branch Office from the list on the right to narrow down the search for the customer)  Continue to click on the Loan Officer, then finding the client, group, or center to create a savings account for.
mifoscamainquickstart

If you are creating a savings account for a client, navigate to the client details page.  A screen shows details about this client's information and history with your MFI. In the Account Information section, find the Open new account line and click the Savings link.

Another way to create savings accounts is from the quick links in Mifos.

From the Quick Start left navigation list (click Open New Savings Account)
mifosquickstart

From the Clients & Accounts left navigation panel (click Create Savings Account)
mifoscaquickstart

All these methods ask for the name, system ID, or account number for a center, group, or client. When you type this information and click Search, you see a list of all possible choices for your search information. Click the correct one, or (if you don't see the customer you were expecting) try retyping the search information carefully and then click Search again.

Once you have selected the customer you are creating the account for, the procedure is the same.

The following screen appears:

In the Savings Product Name list, click the type of account you want to create, and click Continue. A screen appears summarizing the terms of the savings product. For information on these terms, see "How to define and change new savings products"

Review the terms. If you are satisfied, click Preview.

If you want to change anything about this savings account, click Edit Savings Account Information, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with all details, click Submit for Approval (or, if you want to submit this account later, Save for Later). (If you decide not to create a savings account at all at this time, click Cancel.)

How to approve a savings account

When an application for a savings account is made, the account appears in the Account Information section of the client or group dashboard with a yellow circle, as in the following screen:

To approve the account, click the link for the account.

Click Edit Account Status.
The following screen appears:
savings_approve

Click Partial Application, Active (approved), or Cancel (not approved).

If you click Cancel, click a reason for our action from the list that appears. (You might reject the application, or the client might withdraw the request.)

In the Notes box, type any information about your reasons for approving, delaying, or not approving the savings account.

Click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make any changes, click Edit Status, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the change in status, click Submit.

The savings account "dashboard"

The savings account details page ("dashboard") shows the detailed transactions and functions related to savings accounts. It includes the account status, the recent activity status, and transaction tracking details.

To view the dashboard, in any Search box, type the account number for the savings account. You can also type the client or group name and click the account link from the details page for that client or group.

The screen might look like the following:
mifossavingsdash

The dashboard might include the following items:

Category

Description

Savings account header

Savings account number, current status, balance, and amount due at next meeting (if account is mandatory)

Recent Activity

A list of transactions that have taken place with regard to the account.

Account Details

Shows the savings account details, which include recommended or mandatory amount for deposit, type of deposit, maximum amount allowed per withdrawal, and interest rate.

More account and transaction details

Shows the status history, change log, and change history for the loan account.

Transactions

Provides the links to making a deposit, withdrawal, or adjustment, or closing the savings account.

Performance history

Show various account performance indicators, such as total deposits, withdrawals, and interest.

Recent Notes

Shows the three most recent notes appended to the account, with additional links to add a new note or view all the notes.

How to change the status of a savings account

You can change the status of a savings account depending on what status it is in.

The following table shows the descriptions of all the statuses a savings account can have. Depending on how your MFI is configured and in what status the savings account is in, you may not see all of these status choices.

Status

Description

Partial Application

If the record has been created but data is incomplete, or if the user does not want the status to be pending approval, status can be marked as Partial Application. More data can be added, or the record can be edited in this state.

Pending Approval

The record contains all necessary data and is waiting for approval. Before and after this point, there could be some offline processes, which might govern the approval process. These processes can be specific to each MFI and will not have an impact on Mifos functionality.

Approved/ Active

The savings account has been approved. After this, the customer can start transacting and operating their savings account.

Inactive

In case there are no transactions in the savings account for a certain number of days (the default is 30), the state is automatically changed to Inactive. If a transaction is made, the state will changes to Approved/ Active.

Cancel

A savings application can be cancelled for various reasons:

The customer can withdraw the application

The application was rejected the MFI

Because the customer is blacklisted, they are not eligible.

Closed

The savings account is closed and archived.

From the account dashboard, click Edit Account Status.

In the Status section, click the Status you would like the Account to change to.

In the Notes box, type a reason for the change in status.

Click Preview to review the change.

If you want to make changes, click Edit Status, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the changes, click Submit.
The account dashboard shows the new status.

How to manage savings account details

You can make changes to the recommended deposit amount. If your MFI has defined additional fields, you can change those in this section as well.

From the savings account dashboard, click Edit Account information.
The following screen appears:

Make any changes to the account.

Click Preview to review them.

When you are satisfied with the changes, click Submit.

How to import new Savings accounts

Import savings accounts functionality allows users to create a multiple savings accounts in Mifos by importing them from .xls file.

Template to create .xls file with savings accounts can be downloaded from here.

Use following table to fill all necessary fields:

Column name
Column description

Account Number
Savings account global identification number. It should be unique for each account.

Customer Global ID
Number of customer for which we create new account. Customer must exist in the system and have “Active” state.

Product Name
Name of savings product which will be used as a base for new savings account. Product must exist in the system.

Status Name
Allowed values are:

Canceled

Active

Closed

Partial Application

Pending Approval

Values are not case-sensitive.

Cancel Flag Reason
Reason for canceling account.
Allowed values are:

Withdraw

Blacklisted

Rejected

Values are not case-sensitive.

Savings Amount
Savings (deposit) amount.

Savings Balance
Savings balance amount.

If you have prepared Excel file with savings accounts, you can start importing them into Mifos.

1. Open Mifos and go to Administration page ("Admin").

2. Click on link "Import Savings" link under ‘Manage Imports and Exports’ section.

 3. System open new page "Import Savings".

4. Select document with savings data (XLS Document) and upload it to Mifos server.

5. System parses uploaded document and shows to you how many rows were  parsed successfully and which rows were not. Each row with errors has an explanation.

6. Click "Submit" button to save imported rows if any of them were parsed successfully.

7. System will save data and presents a simple summary.

How to make transactions for a savings account

How to make deposits to or withdrawals from a savings account

How to make adjustments to a savings deposit

How to transfer funds from one Savings account to another

How to make deposits to or withdrawals from a savings account

Click Make Deposit/Withdrawal.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the decriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Date of Transaction

The date of this deposit or withdrawal

03/04/2010

Payment Type

Deposit or withdrawal

Deposit

Enter Amount

The amount of deposit or withdrawal

200

Mode of Payment

The way the money will be transferred

Cash

Receipt ID

The number of the receipt, if you use one

00034

Receipt Date

The date the receipt was issued, if you use one

03/04/2010

When you are done, click Review Transaction to review your work.

If you want to make changes, click Edit Transaction, make any changes, and click Review Transaction again.

When you are satisfied with all changes, click Submit.

How to make adjustments to a savings deposit

Sometimes errors occur when savings accounts transactions are recorded. If you need to cancel the full amount of the last deposit or withdrawal, you can do this by making an "adjustment." If you need to cancel several transactions, you must do each one separately.

Follow these instructions:

From the Transactions box at the upper right of the screen, click Apply Adjustment.
A screen like the following appears, showing the last payment made:

In the Correct Amount, type the accurate deposit or withdrawal amount.

In the Notes box, type information describing why you made this adjustment.

When you have made the adjustment, click Review Adjustment to review your work, and click Submit.

Adjustments appear in performance tracking, summarized historical data, and the change log.

How to transfer funds from one Savings account to another

Mifos provides functionality which allows to transfer funds from one Savings account to another via 'Apply transfer' link. Funds can be transferred between all Savings accounts which belongs to one customer as well as they could be transferred to Savings account of another customer. 

Follow the steps below to see how to transfer funds from one account to another:

1. Open Savings account from which you want to transfer funds to another account and click on Apply transfer link, as it is shown below:

2. Enter beneficiary name to whom you want to transfer funds and click on Search button.

3. Select appropriate client from the list.

4. On the next page, you will see the list of active Savings accounts of selected beneficiary client with balance summary. Click on the account number to which you want to transfer funds:

5. Enter transfer details and click Submit to apply transfer.

NOTE: You can always change beneficiary account by using Select different account button.

6. Check all transfer details and on Submit button to confirm the funds transfer.

7. You can check that Savings account balance has been reduced, as it is shown below:

NOTE: Funds transfer from one account to another is possible only when user has assigned permission "Can transfer funds between Savings accounts".

How to track savings account history (transactions, performance)

How to view the history of all transactions

How to view status history

How to view performance history

How to view the change log

How to view and add notes about the savings account

How to view the history of all transactions

At the bottom of the screen, click View Transaction History.
A screen like the following appears (only part of the screen shows here):

2mifossavingtransaction

This screen shows the following:

Date of transaction

Payment ID

Transaction ID

Type of transaction

General ledger code

Amount of debit or credit

Client or group name

Date posted

User who posted the transaction

Adjustment notes, if any

How to view status history

At any point, you can see the history of a savings account: the original application, whether it was approved, and its current status. 

At the bottom of the screen, click View Status History.
A screen like the following appears:

2mifossavinghistory

How to view performance history

On the details page (dashboard) for centers, groups, and clients, performance history is summarized in a box at the upper right.

It includes the following:

Date account opened

Total deposits

Total interest earned

Total withdrawals

How to view the change log

In the center, group, or client dashboard (details page), you can see a record of all changes that have been made. At the bottom of that screen, click View Change Log. It might look like the following screen:

How to view and add notes about the savings account

You can record any notes about the savings account. To see all notes already recorded, in the recent Notes box at the bottom right of the screen, click See All Notes. Any notes added in other sections, such as account information or adjustments, appear in this section as well.

To add a note, follow these instructions:

Click Add a Note.
The following screen appears:

2mifossavingaddnote

In the Note box, type the note.

Click Preview to review your work. If you want to make changes, click Edit, make changes, and click Submit.
The note now appears in the Recent Notes section.

How to enter collection sheet data

The collection sheet is set up to make your collections easy. After you type in the information for the branch, loan officer, date, and mode of payment, you see a form that already includes all payments and deposits that are expected on that date. Fields that have changed (such as missed payments and absences from meetings) display in red, so that you can see them immediately.

If you have appropriate permissions, you can enter the data for collections from clients and groups.

Follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts > Enter Collection Sheet Data.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Branch office

The appropriate branch office

Loan officer

Loan officer of accounts for this collection sheet

Date of Transaction

The default is today's date. If you need to change the date, type over the existing dates.

Mode of Payment

The appropriate type of payment

Receipt ID

The number of the receipt, if any

Receipt Date

The date that the receipt was issued, if any.

Click Continue.

A screen appears summarizing all the accounts at this branch whose collections fall on the day you specified. It might look like the following: mifoscollsheet2amifoscollsheet2b

Notice the following fields:

Under Due/Collections, the short names of each loan and/or savings product appear. Under them are the amounts due for this collection period.  For loan accounts, this is the amount of the payment due.  For savings accounts, this is the deposit due.

Under Issues/Withdrawals, the short names of each loan and/or savings product appear. Under them are the amounts expected for withdrawal if it is a savings account, or disbursal if it is a loan account.

Check all data for today's collection. If the amounts match the amounts already in the boxes, you do not need to type anything. Type new amounts only if these have changed. In the Due/Collections section, type any money you collect. In the Issues/Withdrawals section, type any money that is being withdrawn or paid out (disbursed) for loans. The numbers in the Total Collections, Total Issues/Withdrawals, and Net Cash sections update accordingly.

In the Attn list, click the appropriate code for client/group attendance.

 Code

Description

P

Present

A

Absent

AA

Approved absence

L

late

When you have typed all collection data, click Preview to review your work.

All values that you changed from their expected amount appear in red.

If you need to make changes, click Edit Data, make the changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the collection data, click Submit.

How to create multiple loans (bulk loan creation)

You can create loans of the same type at the same time for many clients and groups within the same center. You might want to do this, for example, if there were a natural disaster in a village and many clients needed household improvement loans at the same time. It takes only one process to create the loans; you can also approve them in one step. Clients or groups must be active at the time you create these loans. You can specify the following:

Which client or group will receive the loan

The amount of the loan

The purpose of the loan

Follow these instructions:

From the Clients & Accounts Tasks list in the left navigation pane, click Create Multiple Loan Accounts.
The following screen appears:

In the Branch Office, Loan Officer, Center, and Loan  Product Name lists, click the appropriate values.

Click Search.

All client and groups in this center who are assigned to the loan officer appear in a list.

In the checkbox at the far left of the list, check those clients and groups who will receive the loan.

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Loan Amount

The amount of the loan for each client or group. The default loan amount is in the box; the range for this type of loan appears on the right.

200

Purpose of Loan

The appropriate purpose for each client or group.

Education

When you are satisfied with the loans, click Submit for Approval (or, if you want to submit this loan later, click Save for Later). (If you decide not to create multiple loans at all at this time, click Cancel.)
A screen appears confirming the creation of the loans. It might look like this:

Loans are then subject to approval. See How to approve multiple loans for information on how to approve this application.

Note: To disburse (pay out) these loans, and to see when they are ready to disburse, read How to disburse (pay out) a loan.

How to import transactions

If you have appropriate permissions, and if your MFI is set up for this action, you can import transactions from another system.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Import Transactions.
A screen like the following appears:

In the Import Format list, click the format of the transaction information.

In the Select Import File section, click Choose File to browse your files, and double-click the one you want to import.

The filename appears on the screen.

Click Review to review your choice. Check with your MFI for further instructions.

How to import M-PESA transactions

M-PESA is a mobile-phone based money transfer service designed to enable users to complete basic banking transactions without the need to visit a bank branch. This form of a branchless banking service would allow borrowers to conveniently receive and repay loans through mobile phones. This would enable microfinance institutions (MFIs) to offer more competitive loan rates to their users, as there is a reduced cost of dealing in cash. The users of the service would gain through being able to track their finances more easily.   

Overview of the M-PESA import plug-in

The M-PESA import plug-in is the basis for mobile money integration with Mifos. This plugin integrates with Kenya's leading mobile money platform by supporting the import of an Excel (.xls) spreadsheet into Mifos. MFIs accepting transactions via M-PESA currently download a spreadsheet with a record of each transaction from Safaricom. Safaricom is a mobile network operator in Kenya.

What the plug-in does 

This plugin allows for the import and validation of these transactions via the mobile phone number of the customer.  Currently the plugin supports the import of loan repayments and savings deposits into Mifos. Incoming payments are first applied towards the current amount due on any applicable loans and the remaining amount is then deposited to a savings account.  

Install and Configure Plug-in

To install and configure the plug-in, refer to the documentation available here. 

The M-PESA mode of loan repayment should also be added to the mifos system - as lookup option and payment type.

Add MPESA as Lookup Option 

1. Click Admin> Define Lookup Options. 

2. Under category Payment Modes, add MPESA. To add this option, click the edit option next to Payment Modes. A textbox to add a new payment mode is displayed. Add MPESA and click Submit. *IMPORTANT: This must be MPESA, not M-PESA or any other variant. 

 3. After clicking Submit, check and ensure that MPESA has been added to the list displayed under payment modes.

 Add M-PESA as Payment Type

Before adding M-PESA as an accepted payment type, make sure that it has already been added as a Lookup Option. 

 1. Click Admin>Define Accepted Payment Types. The following categories and fields will be displayed.

Clients/ Groups/ Centers

Fees

Loans

Disbursements

Repayments

Savings

Withdrawals

Deposits 

2. Since M-PESA has already been added as a lookup option, it will be displayed on the left box under each category. Add M-PESA as an accepted payment type. To do this, click on M-PESA on the left box to select. Then click Add. 

3. Click Submit.

Take note of the following points while configuring the plug-in:

Make sure the M-PESA plugin has been installed in the proper directory. The plugin (a jar file) has to be copied into $MIFOS_CONF/plugins folder (detailed in the install instructions available here).

The file generated by Safaricom cannot be used as in by Mifos. Only Excel formats will be accepted by the system. To convert the Safaricom file to Excel, open the file in Excel and save it with .xls extension.

How to define order to apply transactions

In the properties file called ke.co.safaricom.MPesaXlsImporter.ImportTransactionOrder specify the default order of transactions. This can be done by specifying all required product names separated by comma (,). Accounts to which repayments and deposits are made will be applied to in the order specified here when importing a row.

While specifying the order of transactions, make sure that there is only one savings account at the end. 

If the default order of transactions is not specified in the properties file, you will have to manually specify which the short name of the loan product in which to apply payments to in the Transaction Party Details column in the spreadsheet being imported.

Otherwise, during import you will receive an error noting "Missing required data". 

You can confirm whether or not the order to apply transactions has been defined by going to Admin - View organization settings. Underneath the miscellaneous heading, you should see MPESA transaction order and a status of DEFINED or NOT DEFINED.

How to import M-PESA transaction file

To import the M-PESA transaction file into Mifos, click Admin>Manage Imports> Import Transactions. From the Import format dropdown box, select M-PESA and then choose the Excel file from Safaricom which needs to be imported into the Mifos system. 

 Following are the columns in the imported m-PESA file.

Receipt (required) - Receipt ID is proof of payment and a unique MPESA identifier that can be cross-referenced with clients phone receipt. This must be imported into Mifos since needed as reference in the Collection Sheet.

Date (required) - Payment Date. The payment date cannot be before the present date. However, if  backdated transactions have been enabled in Mifos, then the date can be before the present date up until the previous meeting date.  

Details - Contains information payment received from phone number, telephone number, MFI account number. The value of this column is ignored.

Status (required) - One of four statuses displayed - Completed, Attempted, Cancelled, Declined. This value must be Completed or else it is ignored.

Withdrawn - Amount paid from MFI. This is the amount of the payment out from the MFI in the form of a disbursal.

Paid In - Transaction amount paid to MFI. This is the amount of the repayment/deposit from the customer to the MFI. 

Balance - Balance of MFI. This value is ignored during import. 

Balance confirmed - This value is ignored during import. 

Transaction Type (required) - This field determines if this is a repayment or disbursal. For the M-PESA plug-in support repayments and disbursals, if this value is "Pay Utility" it will be treated as a repayment and there must be a corresponding value in the Paid In column. If the value is "Business Payment", it will be treated as a disbursal and there must be a corresponding value in the Withdrawn column. For prior versions of the plug-in that only supported repayments, all values other than "Pay Utility" will be ignored. 

Other Party Info (required) - This field is required and is Safaricom generated phone number and is the phone number that is used to cross-reference the Safaricom M-PESA account with the account in Mifos. The 10 digit number in this column is compared against the Phone Number field under the Client record in Mifos.

Transaction Party Details - This field will include Mifos Product Code if there is one, and other information such as Client's Group ID, etc. A value is required here if no default order to apply transactions has been defined in the .properties configuration file.  If the Mifos Product Code is different than the default order set in ke.co.safaricom.MPesaXlsImporter.ImportTransactionOrder, then this field will include the short names of product(s) applied to the client's accounts.

Logic behind payment application 

If there is a product name specified after a client ID,  then payment is applied to that particular product. If no product name is specified, then all  transaction amounts will be applied according to the default order which was specified initially. 

 For example: Lets assume ke.co.safaricom.MPesaXlsImporter.ImportTransactionOrder  =      AL1, NL1,SP1 where AL1, NL1 and SP1 are product names. In this case, all rows that do      not specify a product name after the client ID will have their transaction amount applied to in this order. Only the next payment due will  be applied.  In this example, if the client owes  $10 on AL1 next instalment and $20 on NL1, and the client pays $100 then those    respective amounts would be applied, and then $70 deposited in SP1.

Repayments versus Disbursals 

Repayments and Deposits will have the Transaction type of Pay Utility and a corresponding value in the Paid In column. Disbursals will have the Transaction Type of Business Payment and a corresponding value in the Withdrawn column.

How to cancel or correct errors during import

If there are errors during import, Mifos displays an appropriate error message. The  screenshot below shows the error message displayed when the file is uploaded with no valid rows. 

The screenshot below shows the error messages displayed when rows with import data are found and they are not properly validated. You'll notice that the total amount of transactions to be imported is listed as 0.0 because all transactions have errors. When the total amount to be imported is 0.0, you will not be allowed to submit. See below for a list of common errors and steps to resolve them. 

  To correct the error, click the button Edit Import Information.This will direct the user back to the main page displayed below and the corrected file can be uploaded again.

How to verify that data has been imported 

If there are rows that contain no errors and will successfully be imported, you will see a screen like below with the number of rows that will be imported and a summation of the total transactions to be imported.

After uploading the Excel file and clicking Submit, Mifos imports the file and displays a confirmation screen that the import was successful.  

 <<screenshot with confirmation message>>

 Once the file has been imported, there is no option to revert the file upload.

Common error messages while importing

Row <22> error - Y88CM251 - Missing required data

This error message typically occurs when the order to apply transactions has not been defined. To resolve, either define the default order for payment transactions in your .properties configuration file or manually specify the short code of the product the transaction should apply to in the Transaction Party Details column of your import spreadsheet.  

Row <18> error - Y89QA171 - Invalid transaction date 

This error message typically occurs if you have the transaction date does not fall in the correct range. Transaction date cannot be prior to previous meeting or later than today (i.e. if last meeting date was Feb 18 and today is Feb 24, transaction date must be between Feb 18 and Feb 24.

Row <#> error - <Receipt ID> - Transactions with same Receipt ID have already been imported. 

This error message is displayed if a transaction with that Receipt ID has already been imported and exists in Mifos. This is to prevent duplicate transactions from being imported.

Row <#> error - <Receipt ID> - Date does not begin with expected format (YYYY-MM-DD).  

This error message is displayed if the date is not in the proper format of YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:ss

Row <#> error - <Receipt ID> - Client with mobile number <mobile number> was not found.

This error message if the mobile number specified in the Other Party Info column of the import spreadsheet does not belong to a client in Mifos.  This is the primary way in which Mifos references an M-PESA transaction.  The first 10 digits in the Other Party Info column are recognized as a phone number and compared with the Client's Phone Number field in Mifos. If there is not a match, the message is displayed.

Row <#> error - <Receipt ID> - More than 1 client with mobile number <mobile number> was found.

Likewise, M-PESA accounts must be unique and transactions can only be applied to one customer account; if the phone number matches more than one Phone Number in Mifos, this error message will be displayed.  

How to approve multiple loans (bulk loan approval)

You can approve loans one at a time for each individual client (see How to change the status (approve, close) loan accounts ), or you can approve them all at once. To do the latter, follow these instructions:

Click Clients & Accounts.

In the left navigation pane, at the bottom, click Approve multiple loans.
A screen like the following appears:

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Branch

The branch where these loans are created

Suarez

Loan Officer

The loan officer in charge of these loans

Sally Magalong

Type

Loan category

Emergency loan 1

Current Status

Click Application Pending.

Click Search.
A list like the following appears:

At the top of the list, next to the Current Status column heading, check the box to select all pending loans at the same time.

At the bottom of the list, in the New Status list, click Approved.

In the Note box, type any information explaining the circumstances of this approval action.

Click Submit.
A confirmation box appears like the following: 

The loan now appears in the dashboard for each client with a green square indicating that it has been approved.

How to import M-PESA transactions using Kopo Kopo

Kopo Kopo platform allows to accept and process payments in real-time. Corporate mobile money account(s) can be easily linked to Kopo Kopo account to benefit from number of services such as integration with money transfer systems, extended reporting and payments analysis tools and many more.

Mifos integration with Kopo Kopo gives possibility to import M-PESA transactions and apply them directly on customer's accounts. To be able to import M-PESA transactions using Kopo-Kopo you need to first create a new Kopo Kopo account.

Follow the steps below to see how to sign up and import transactions using Kopo Kopo:

1. Go to https://app.kopokopo.com/companies/sign_up page to create a new Kopo Kopo account. Fill the sign-up form and click on Sign Up button.

2. After signing up, use your email and password to sign in on this page https://app.kopokopo.com/users/sign_in :

3. After signing in, you will see Kopo Kopo dashboard where you check sales and transactions for the last seven days. To configure integrate Mifos with Kopo Kopo you need to first set up connection to Mifos. Click on Settings link at the top of the page:

4. Select Account settings:

5. In HTTP(S) POST Configuration section, click on Edit button and enter Mifos URL and login credentials:

After that, Mifos will be configured to import M-PESA trasactions using Kopo Kopo.

7. When Kopo Kopo receives mobile payment (M-PESA), it is displayed in 'Payments' section:

8. Transaction is automatically transferred from Kopo Kopo to appropriate account in Mifos:

How to run Reports in Mifos Business Intelligence Suite (Pentaho)

Installing Mifos Business Intelligence Suite

Download Mifos Business Intelligence Suite and follow instructions for installation for either Windows servers or Linux servers. 

NOTE: From Mifos 2.4.0, the following Pentaho reports are directly embedded in Mifos and be run from Reports tab:

 Operational
    Active Loans Summary per Branch
    Active Loans by Center
    Active Loans by Loan Product
    Active Loans by Loan Purpose
    Active Loans by Loan Officer
    Active Loans in their Last Installment
    Branch Expected Cash Flow
    Clients Summary
    Center Collection Sheet
    Group Collection Sheet (M-PESA)
    Groups Information
    Loan Ageing Report
    Loans Pending Approval
    Loans to be Disbursed
    Mifos Transactions - Detailed
    Mifos Transactions - Summary
    Overdue Mature Loans
    Written Off Loans
    Balance Outstanding (DW)
    Balance Outstanding By Source Of Funds (DW)
    Due Vs Collected Branch (DW)
    Due Vs Collected Center (DW)
    Due Vs Collected Officer (DW)
    Loan Classification Product (DW)
    Loan Officer Detailed (DW)
    Loan Officer Performance Summary Cumulative (DW)
    Loan Officer Performance Summary Period (DW)

Management
    Aging Summary
    Closed Loans
    Closed Loans Summary per Branch
    Dormant Clients Summary
    Client Exit
    Funds Movement (DW)
    MFI Progress (DW)

Please note that reports with (DW) are reports based on Data Warehouse and ETLReportDWTaskJob batch job should be run first in order to see the changes in the generated report.

Accessing Mifos Business Intelligence Suite Reports

Once Mifos Business Intelligence is installed, follow these instructions to select and run reports:

Log in to your instance of Mifos Business Intelligence Suite in your internet browser.

Switch to the Browser View to access a folder hierarchy listing of reports (this will not displayed the first time you log in). 

Select the Standard Reports folder and list of the available standard reports will be displayed. 

Double-click the title of a report and new tab will open in the Pentaho window.  You are able to load and view multiple reports at once.

Selecting Values for Parameters of Each Report

Each report has a different number of parameters which can be selected to filter the data displayed in the report.  These filters and parameters were created when building the original report and can only be customized through the Pentaho Report Designer. 

Filters: these parameters correspond to different fields in Mifos. Some drop-downs will be dynamically populated based on the chosen value for the previous drop-down.

To not filter the data based on a parameter, leave the value set as ALL or Any. 

Note: if your data set is large, for some reports when you leave the parameter at ALL or Any, the report will take a while to generate because of the large amount of data. 

Dates: Date values can be entered freehand or selected via the Calendar picker. 

For reports that provide a snapshot overview of data at a point-in-time, you can select a date via the As On Date field.

For reports that compare or show data over a range of time, you select the date range via fields stating Start Date and End Date or in some cases From Date and To Date

Output Type: Reports can be generated in three formats - PDF, Excel, or HTML.

We will go through several reports to show an example of creating a report in each of the different formats. 

Generating a Report in PDF format

PDF format is good when you simply need to view the data of the report or share it with an external audience and do no further data manipulation.

This example will show how to generate a PDF of the Balance Outstanding by Source of Funds report, showing balance outstanding and other figures per source of funds in Mifos.

Double-click the Balance Outstanding by Source of Funds from lefthand folder repository.

For Office, select which office to run the report for, I've chosen office-2.

For Source of Funds, select which Source of Funds to sort the report by. In this example, I've left it all.

Choose date in  As On Date. I've left it as today - 2011-05-09. 

For Output Type, select PDF. 

Click Run Report.

PDF will be generated in the same tab. Pressing Clear Report will clear out the report and allow you to generate it once more with different parameters in the same tab.

*Note: When attempting to save the report, some browsers like Chrome might not display the full Adobe Reader toolbar and you may need to right-click the report itself to bring up the "Save As" option. 

Generating a Report in Excel format

Running a report in Excel format is good for sets of data that you need to sort, manipulate, or analyze further.  

This example will show to how generate an Excel spreadsheet of the Mifos Transactions - Detail Report, a report can be run at the end of day to display all transactions made in Mifos that day.  This report shows each detailed transaction.  This report is useful for reconciliation with accounting and a good example of a report to be generated in Excel. 

This report displays every transaction in Mifos; if a small date range or applicable filters or not selected, it can be a very lengthy report. 

Double-click  Mifos Transactions - Detail from lefthand folder repository.

Select a date range to display the transactions. I will select a small time frame, choosing 2010-03-02 for the From Date and 2010-03-05 for the To Date.

For Branch Office, I selected office-2. 

Based on my Branch Office selection, the Personnel field will be populated with staff from office-2. I chose user-10 for this example.

For Transaction Type, I can select a single value for any type of transaction processed by Mifos or I can leave it ALL. For this example, I selected ALL.

For Mode of Payment, I can choose from Cash, Cheque, Voucher (whatever the payment types are that you've configured in Mifos). I selected Cash. 

Choose EXCEL for Output Type.

Click Run Report.

Depending on your internet browser, your Excel file will be generated and downloaded locally to your machine.  

Generating a Report in HTML format

Running a report in HTML format is good for viewing or embedding the report in another web page or web application.

This example will show how to generate an HTML version of the MFI Progress report which shows a comparison of 2 months specified by the user of the MFI's metrics, arrears, loan balances, etc.   This report is useful in providing information on progress at the MFI - for example, if they are expanding their outreach at a certain pace, or if their PAR has increased or decreased.

Double-click MFI Progress from lefthand folder repository.

For Office, I selected office-2.

Select two months for comparison. For Month 1, I chose Mar 2011. For Month 2, I chose April 2011.

Choose  HTML for Output Type.

Click Run Report.

Report will be generated in the same tab. You can right click to open it in a new tab or frame and then can click right click to save the page as an HTML file.  

How to manage and run BIRT reports

How to upload new report templates

How to view report templates

How to change report templates

How to define a new report category

How to create a report

How to run reports

Mifos ships with a large set of standard reports. The majority of these are written in Pentaho and part of the Mifos Business Intelligence Suite.  A limited number (which are being phased out) are written in BIRT and directly embedded in the Mifos User Interface. This section applies to those.

Accessing and using these reports does not require that you install BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools, a free, open-source application from Eclipse). However, if you want to customize the reports, you must install BIRT. You can also create your own reports using BIRT.

The three reports are as follows:

Collection Sheet Report: Helps Loan Officers organize and prepare for their repayment collection meetings with clients and groups. See “How to enter Collection Sheet data” for information on how to collect the data that will appear in this report.

Branch Cash Confirmation Report: Assists management and accounting in tracking daily cash inflows and outflows.

Branch Progress Report: Helps management monitor office progress.

You generate reports from the Reports tab. To change how the reports appear on the Reports tab or to edit the appearance of the reports themselves (by editing or creating your own reports templates), click Admin > View report templates and Admin > Upload report templates.

For complete information on the current state and usage of Mifos reports, see the reports guide.

You can also create and manage BIRT-created administrative documents such a receipt forms, and you can decide when these forms are available during procedures (such as loan account applications).  See How to manage administrative documents for more details.

How to upload new report templates

You can upload new report templates from the View Reports page, or you can click Admin > Upload Reports Templates. Note: All templates must be BIRT files with the .rptdesign format.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Upload Reports Template. The following screen appears: 

Mifos Report Template

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

 Field

 Description

 Report Title

 Title for the report.

 Report Category

The kind of report this is (use the categories that you or your administrator set up during configuration).

 Select Report Template

Click Choose File, browse your computer to find the report template file, and double-click it.

The filename now appears in this section. If you have chosen a non-BIRT file, you will see the following error message: "Please choose a Birt report to upload>>"

Click Preview to review your work and (if you like) render the actual report template.

If you want to make changes, click the Edit button, make changes, and click Preview again. To change report information, see the "How to change report templates" procedure below.

When you are satisfied with the template, click Submit.

How to view report templates

Mifos includes three standard reports that are already uploaded into BIRT, the standard reporting tool for Mifos. To see other report templates, click Admin > View Reports Templates. The list of templates might look like the following:

How to change report templates

 You can change certain things about existing uploaded report templates within Mifos:

Title

Category

Report Status (active or inactive: inactive reports do not appear on the Report page)

Template

Follow these instructions:

From the list of report templates, click the Edit button next to the report template.
A screen like the following appears:

Mifos Edit Report Template

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

 Field
 Description

 Report Title

 Change the title here.

 Report Category

 Change the category here.

 Report Status

 Active or Inactive.

 Select Report Template

 Click Choose File, browse your computer for a BIRT file, and double-click it. The new filename appears.

Click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes, click the Edit button, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with your changes, click Submit.

If you want to make further changes to the reports, you need to download them (click the Download button), make changes within BIRT, and upload them again.

How to define a new report category

 You can divide the reports available in Mifos into categories. Default categories are as follows:

 Report Category

 Examples

 Client detail
 Collection Sheet report, General ledger, Membership IDs

 Performance
 Financial indicators, Program performance indicators

 Center
 Daily Activity Summary

 Loan Product Detail
 Loan Disbursement

 Status
 Loan portfolio aging

 Analysis
 Branch cash confirmation report, Branch progress report

 Miscellaneous

These categories can be edited.

Follow these instructions:

Click Admin > Define New Report Category. The following screen appears:

Mifos Report Category

In the Category Name box, type the name you want for this category and click Preview to review your work.

If you want to make changes, click Edit Category Information, make changes, and click Preview again.

When you are satisfied with the category, click Submit.
The category now appears when you click Admin > View Reports Category. It also appears when you click the Reports tab to see all available reports.

How to create a report

You can design and build your own report templates using either Java or SQL. First, however, you need to download the BIRT software. For step-by-step instructions on how to build a report template in BIRT, see http://mifos.org/documentation/reporting/building-your-own-reports-0. 

How to run reports

Follow these instructions:

Click Reports and then click any of the report links.
If you clicked Branch Progress Report, for example, you might see a screen like this:
mifosreportcash

All reports ask for different information. For this report, follow the next steps:

In the Select Branch list, click the branch whose progress you want to see a summary of.

In the Enter Date box, type the day (XX), month (XX), and year (XXXX) that you want the report to give information for.

Click OK.
The report appears in PDF form. You can then download it and print it.
mifosreports

How to manage administrative documents

How to upload administrative documents

How to view and edit administrative documents

How to upload administrative documents

Click Admin > Upload admin documents.
This screen appears:
mifosuploadadmin

Enter information using the descriptions in the following table:

Field

Description

Example

Administrative Document title

The title for this document

Voucher receipt

Account Type

Savings or Loan

Savings

Show When Status

The status during which this document will be available to the user to print. Click the status and click Add>>. The document can be available in more than one status.

Active

Select Administrative Document

Click Choose File, browse your computer for a BIRT-created administrative document, and double-click it. Its name appears next to the box.

Click Preview to review your choices.

If you want to make changes, click Edit document information, make changes, and click Submit again.

When you are satisfied with your choices, click Submit.

How to view and edit administrative documents

To view the entire list of administrative documents that have already been uploaded, click View admin documents.You will see following site.

If you want to edit the basic fields of the document, as in the table above, click Edit, make changes, and click Preview and then Submit. If you want to change the layout or the data fields, click Download, make changes in BIRT, and upload the document to Mifos again.

How to attach administrative documents

MFIs can use Pentaho Report Designer, the same reporting tool used to create reports at the head office level, to create a set of administrative documents that can be attached to specific loan and savings accounts and printed as needed. The following might be available as administrative documents: a voucher, payment book, disbursal receipt, and payment receipt.

How to generate/print administrative documents

There is possible to generate/print receipts or voucher in the following cases:
1. Loan Agreement for each loan
2. Details of the account
3. Apply Payment

If you want to be able to attach and print ‘Administrative documents’ you have to upload them first (see: How to upload administrative documents).

Note: During uploading administrative document chose appropriate ‘Type’ and ‘Show when Status’ because it will have influence, where documents will be displayed and available to download.

Loan Agreement for each loan

If you want to download/print Loan Agreement, you need to first upload previously prepared (in Pentaho Report Designer) document as an administrative document. You can also use sample file which can be downloaded from here.

Loan Agreement is displayed while status of Loan is changed to Application Approved, so on ‘Upload Administrative documents’ page, from the box ‘Show when status’, you need to select ‘Application pending approval’ status and type: ‘Loan Administrative Document’.

Once document is uploaded, you will see the Loan Agreement every time when you change status of Loan from Pending Approval to Application Approved, as it is shown below:

Details of the account

If you want to download/print the details of the Loan/Savings account then you need to first upload previously prepared (in Pentaho Report Designer) document as an administrative document. You can also use sample file which can be downloaded from here for Savings and for here Loans.

Loan/Savings Details document is displayed on Loan/Savings details page depending on the status of the Loan/Savings. During document upload you need to select from the box ‘Show when status’, in which Loan/Savings statuses this document should be displayed and also you need to select type: ‘Loan Administrative Document’ / ‘Savings Administrative Document’.

Once document is uploaded, you will see this document on every Loan/Savings details page which has status selected during upload.

Payment Receipt

If you want to generate and print payment receipt during apply payment, you need to first upload previously prepared (in Pentaho Report Designer) document as an administrative document. You can also use sample file which can be downloaded from here.

Payment receipt is available to download/print after you apply payment. So, during document upload you need to select type: ‘Payment Receipts’ and from ‘Show when status’ box you need to select ‘Loan Repayment’.

Once document is successfully uploaded, you will see additional checkbox ‘Check to print payment receipt’ option on ‘Apply payment’ page, as it is shown below:

Complete all mandatory fields and click on Review transaction and then Submit.
If payment is done correctly, you will see additional page which allow you to download receipt in PDF format and print it.

Click on document link (in this case: “Repayment receipt”) to download and print receipt.

Introduction to Question Groups

Question Groups provide a means for collecting information about a user or a group that can then be used, for example, when assessing loan applications, poverty levels, and for measuring impact and creating exit and collateral surveys.  MFIs create a common set of  questions. Users can then choose from these questions when defining new question groups. Question Groups can be attached to entities or workflows.  The same question group can be attached multiple times to the same entity to track historical changes over time.  Question Groups replace both Additional Field and Survey functionality in Mifos 1.6.x and lower.

How to view and edit a question

To view a question:

On the Admin tab, click View Questions under "Manage Questions." 

The “View Questions” page opens and displays a list of the questions. (Note: No other information except the question title can be seen on the "View Questions" page.)

Click on the desired question to display the question, answer type, and the answer choices associated with the question.

To edit a question:

Click Edit on the “View Questions” page.

In the “Edit Question” page that displays, the user may:

Change the status.

Revise the question.

Enter a new answer choice.

Notes:

A note is displayed on the Edit Question page at all points of time which says : "Significant modification of questions could affect reporting."

To change the status, click on the corresponding radio button. By default, the status of the question is set to "Active."

While editing a question for single select/ multi select / smart select / smart select:

Additional answer choices can be added.

Only newly added answer choices can be removed.

Existing answer choices are visible but cannot be edited or removed.

For smart select, tags can be added to existing as well as new choices. Tags can be removed for existing answer choices as well.

Both minimum and maximum values are editable for questions with numeric answer types.

The system prompts the user with a validation message if mandatory fields are not filled before submitting.

Click Add to post the answer choice. (Click Remove to remove the new answer choice.)

Click Submit to save the changes or Cancel to discard the changes.

If Submit is selected, the changes are saved and the user returns to the "View Question" details page. The changes are reflected on that page.

If Cancel is selected, the changes are discarded and the user returns to the "View Question" details page. None of the changes made are saved.

How to add a new question

Questions

Question Group questions are defined from the Add New Question link on the Admin tab, or during creation of a Question Group. For each question, the user specifies the question, the answer type and the possible answers. (Note: Once a question has been created, it can never be deleted. It can only be set as inactive.)

Details on the attributes of each question can be found in the Question Group functional specification.

To add a question:

On the Admin tab, click Add New Question under "Manage Questions."

In the “Add Questions” page that displays:

Enter a question.

Select the answer type from the drop-down menu:

Free text - Any type of text can be entered as part of response for this type of question including special characters.

Number - Maximum and minimum values of the number can be entered.

Multi Select / Single Select - This answer type should be used for questions that the user should choose one or multiple choices for answers.

Any number of answer choices can be added.

The answer choices added do not have to be unique.

Each choice can be removed by using the associated Remove link before adding the question.

Tagging is not available for this answer type.

If applicable, enter an answer choice and click Add to post the answer choice.

Multi Smart Select / Single Smart Select - This answer type can be used for questions that have categories and for which the client should see the answer choices and their respective tags when entering answers. For example, the user may want to ask a client what his or her business activity is, and have categories of business activity. Answer choices could be entered as Cow Purchase, Pig Purchase, etc. A tag can be added to these answer choices as "Animal Husbandry." Then, when the Loan Officer is entering the answer for this client's business activity, Animal Husbandry can be entered to see the detailed choices.

For Multi Smart Select option there is no limit to the number of answer choices that can be selected.

For Single Smart Select option only one choice from the list of added answers can be selected.

A maximum of five tags can be added per answer choice to give the client an idea of what the answer choices incorporate.

Tags can be a maximum of 50 characters.

A tag can be removed by clicking the cross beside it.

There is a remove link for each answer choice. Clicking on this link removes the choice along with its tags.

Both the answer choices and the associated tags are stored as responses.

Tags cannot contain special characters (including white space); only alphanumeric characters are allowed.

Tags are not arranged in alphabetical order.

The user cannot view the tags associated with an answer choice on the "Add Question" page once a question has been added to preview.

Click Add Question to post the question.

After the question is completed, the user may: 

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 2.1-2.3.

Click Submit to save the changes and return to the "Administrative tasks" page. The changes are reflected on the "View Questions" page.

Click Cancel to discard the changes and return to the "Administrative tasks" page. None of the changes made are saved.

How to view and edit question groups

View Question Groups lists all question groups created with the workflow to which it is applied. Because a question group can be applied to multiple workflows, a question group may be listed multiple times.

To view a question group:

On the Admin tab, click View Question Groups under "Manage Questions."

In the "View Question Groups" page that displays, click on a question group to view.

The question group page opens and displays the following:

The question group name

The applicable workflow(s) to which it belongs

Whether or not the response is editable

Questions within the question group, whether or not the question is mandatory, and the status of the question (active or inactive).

Note: To view a question, click on the question. To edit a question, refer to "How to view and edit a question."

To edit a question group:

Click Edit on the page for the displayed question group.

In the "Edit Question Group" page that displays, the user may: 

Change the question group status.

Edit the question group title.

Specify the workflow to which the question group applies

Specify whether or not the question group responses will be editable.

Add a new section to the question group.

Add an existing and/or new question to an existing or new section.

Specify a question as mandatory or not mandatory.

Change the order of questions.

Remove a question.

Notes:

To change the status, click on the corresponding radio button. By default, the status of the question is set to "Active."

If the section heading is left blank, questions that are added are posted under the "Misc" section.

Section headings cannot be edited.

Within a question group, a question cannot be a part of more than one section.

To mark a question as mandatory, click the "Mandatory" checkbox.

To change the order of a question, click the up or down arrow beside the question.

To select an existing question, click Select from list of existing questions:

Type the question name in the "Selected Questions" text box. When the desired name displays, click the checkbox beside the name.

Use the scroll bar or the up and down arrows on the question name menu box to locate the desired name. When the name displays, click the checkbox beside the name.

To add a new question, click Add new question. (Refer to "How to add a new question.")

To add a new section heading:

Enter the new section title in the "Section Heading" text box.

Click Select from list of existing questions and select a question (or questions) from the "Select Questions" menu; click Add new question to create a new question.

Click Add Questions to post the new section heading and questions.

The following graphic depicts the "Edit Question Groups" page with a new section title and two existing questions selected.

The following graphic depicts the "Edit Question Groups" page with the new section title and two existing questions posted.

To remove a section heading or a question, click Remove. (Clicking Remove at the section heading level, removes the entire section including questions)

Make the desired changes.

Click Submit to save the changes or Cancel to discard the changes.

If Submit is selected, the changes are saved and the user returns to the selected question group's details page. The changes are reflected on that page. If the status is changed to inactive, the status is displayed on the "View Question Group" page.

If Cancel is selected, the changes are discarded and the user returns to the selected question group's details page. None of the changes made are saved.

How to manage role based permissions for Question Groups

User has ability to manage role based permission after creating a new Question Group. The additional permission for new Question Group is automatically created, so there is a possibility to grant access to this Question Group only to certain users.

To manage Question Group permissions follow those steps:

1. Once the new Question Group is created (in this case "QGTest"), click on ‘Admin’ tab.
2. Click on ‘Roles and permissions’ under Manage organization section.
3. Choose a role, which you want to edit.
4. Under Configuration Management section there is 'Can Edit question groups' checkbox.

5. Under this checkbox there is a list of available Question Groups.
6. Check checkbox next to the Question Group, if this QG should be available to edit by this role.
7. If you uncheck checkbox, then user with this role will be unable to edit this Question Group and he will see 'Access Denied' page.

How to add a question group

Question Groups

A new question group is defined by clicking the Add New Question Group link on the Admin tab or the define a new question group link on the "View Question Groups" page. The user names the question group, specifies the workflow or entity to which the question group applies, and adds questions to the question group.

To add  a question group:

On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions."

In the “Add Question Group” page that displays:

Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.

In the "Applies To" text box, select the workflow or entity to which the new question group applies.

If the response will be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response will not be editable. 

Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

Check the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question will be added to the section.

Click Add Questions to post the question.

After the question is completed, the user may:

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 4-6.

Make the desired changes.

Click Submit to save the changes or Cancel to discard the changes.

If Submit is selected, the changes are saved and the user returns to the "Administrative tasks" page. The changes are reflected on the "View Question Groups" page.

If Cancel is selected, the changes are discarded and the user returns to the "Administrative tasks" page. None of the changes are saved.

The following figure depicts the "Add Question Group" page with a new section title and two existing questions posted.

Notes:

Hold down the Ctrl key to select more than one workflow.

To add a new section heading:

Enter the new section title in the "Section Heading" text box.

Click Select from list of existing questions and select a question (or questions) from the "Select Questions" menu; click Add new question to create a new question.

Adding questions:

Questions can be added to the question group from the question bank or the user can add new questions while creating the question group.

The new question will be automatically added to the question bank.

The user can select multiple questions from the question bank to be added to the survey.

If a question has already been selected for the question group, it cannot be added again.

Within a question group, a question cannot be a part of more than one section.

To select an existing question, click Select from list of existing questions:

Type the question name in the "Selected Questions" text box. When the desired name displays, click the checkbox beside the name.

Use the scroll bar or the up and down arrows on the question name menu box to locate the desired name. When the name displays, click the checkbox beside the name.

To add a new question, click Add new question. (Refer to "How to add a new question.")

To change the order of a section and/or question, click the up or down arrow beside the section and/or question to be moved.

The user can mark each question as mandatory. To mark a question as mandatory, click the "Mandatory" checkbox. By default, each question added is mandatory.

To remove a section and/or question, click the Remove link.

Progress out of Poverty Index

Introduction to the PPI

The Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) Survey is a country-specific question group that is used to determine the likelihood of a client belonging to a specific poverty level. A MFI uses this information on a portfolio level to calculate overall poverty rates. At the client level, the information is used to determine which products to offer a client or to track loan repayments/retention/recruitment rates of clients falling into each of the poverty buckets.

The surveys for each country include 10 questions. For each question, points are associated with each possible answer. The total number of points for a completed survey is called the poverty index score. For each country, a poverty likelihood chart is defined that maps the poverty index score to a percentage that indicates the percentage likelihoods of poverty for the client.

How to add PPI Question Groups into Mifos

How to activate a question group

To activate PPI for a specific country:

On the Admin tab, click Activate Question Group under "Manage Questions."

In the “Activate Question Group” page that displays, click the down arrow beside the "Select Question Group" menu selection box.

Use the scroll bar or the up and down arrows to locate the desired question group (country). Highlight the question qroup and click to select it.

Click Submit to save the selected question group or Cancel to return to the "Administrative tasks" page. If Submit is selected, the question group is added to the "Create Client" workflow and the user returns to the "Administrative tasks" page. The changes are reflected on the "View Question Groups" page.

On the Admin tab, click View Question Groups under "Manage Questions."

In the "View Question Groups" page that displays, click the newly added question group.

In the question group page that displays are the following:

The question group name

The workflow to which it applies

Whether or not the response is editable (Yes or No)

The survey question names

Whether or not the question is mandatory (Yes or No)

The status of the question (Active or Inactive)

The "Edit Question Group" option.

Click on a question name to display information about that question; click Edit to edit the question group; or click on a tab to exit the screen.

How to attach a question group

One of the definitive features of Question Groups is that they can be attached at any stage of the workflow in Mifos. Previously you could only attach surveys to different records with no control over the workflow stage they get displayed at.

In this section, we demonstrate the previously-existing capability to attach question groups to various records. In the next section, we'll demonstrate attaching to stages of the workflow (i.e. Create, Approve, View)  

Attaching a Question Group at the View Client Stage

To attach a question group (or survey):

Click the Clients and Account" tab.

In the page that displays, perform one of the following actions:

Enter a name, system ID, phone number or account number for which to search.

Select a branch office for which to search.

To search by name, system ID, phone number or account number:

Enter the search criteria in the "Search for:" text box.

Select a specific branch office in which to search (if desired) or keep the default ("All Branch offices").

Click Search.

In the page that displays, click the desired client name.

In the client page that displays, click Attach a Survey on the right side of the page under "Surveys."

In the client's attach survey page:

Click the down arrow on the "Select a Question Group" menu box.

Select the desired question group. (Note: The question group must be "Active" to display in the selection menu.)

Click Continue.

Enter the requested data in the text box and click Submit to save the entry (entries) Cancel to discard the entry.

If Submit is selected, the entry is saved and the user is returned to the client page.

If Cancel is selected, the entry is discarded and the user is returned to the client page.

Attaching a Question Group at the View Center stage

To search by branch office:

Click the scroll bar or the up and down arrows to move to the desired branch office.

Click the branch office.

In the branch office page that displays, perform one of the following actions:

Enter a Client, Group, Center, name, system ID, phone number or account number in the "Search for:" text box and click Search.

Select a loan officer and then select a center.

In the center account information page that displays, click Attach a Survey on the right side of the page under "Surveys."

In the center's attach survey page:

Click the down arrow on the "Select a Question Group" menu box.

Select the desired question group. (Note: The question group must be "Active" to display in the selection menu.)

Click Continue.

Enter the requested data in the text box and click Submit to save the entry (entries) Cancel to discard the entry.

If Submit is selected, the entry is saved and the user is returned to the center page.

If Cancel is selected, the entry is discarded and the user is returned to the center page.

How to assign a question group to a different stage of a workflow

Part of the power of the new question groups data collection tool is the ability to embed these question groups at any stage of a workflow. A question group can be created for any of the following workflows:

Create Client

View Client

Close Client

Create Group

View Group

Create Office

Create Personnel

Create Center

View Center

Create Savings

View Savings

Create Loan

View Loan

Disburse Loan

Approve Loan.

Associating question groups to "Create" workflows

To associate a question group with a "Create" workflow, perform the following actions:

On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions."

In the “Add Question Group” page that displays:

Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.

In the "Applies To" text box, select a "Create" workflow.

If the response will be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response will not be editable.

Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

Check the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question will be added to the section.

Select the desired question or create a new question.

Click Add Questions to post the question.

After the question is completed, the user may:

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 4-6.

Make the desired changes.

Click Submit to save the changes or Cancel to discard the changes.

If Submit is selected, the changes are saved and the user returns to the "Administrative tasks" page. The changes are reflected on the "View Question Groups" page.

If Cancel is selected, the changes are discarded and the user returns to the "Administrative tasks" page. None of the changes are saved.

Notes:

When a question group is created that applies to a "Create" flow, the sections and questions within it can be viewed on the second page of the workflow questions during that entity's creation. The user is expected to respond to the questions on this page. The user will not be allowed to proceed to the next page if the questions have been marked mandatory in the question group definition.

The question group name is not visible on the capture response page. Only the section headings and the associated questions are visible.

The sections and questions that belong to that question group are also visible on the "Review and submit" page during client creation. The responses to the questions are also visible here.

The "Edit additional information" button on the "Review and submit" page lets the user edit the response to the questions that belong to the question group.

The questions and the associated responses can be viewed by clicking the "View Additional Information" link on the client details page.

The responses can be edited if the "is response editable" field was set to "yes" in the question group definition. The responses edited and saved are versioned.

For the "Create Loan" workflow, the loan product has this question group applied for it to be available.

Associating question groups to "View" workflows

To associate a question group with a "View" workflow, perform the following actions:

On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions."

In the “Add Question Group” page that displays:

Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.

In the "Applies To" text box, select a "View" workflow.

If the response will be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response will not be editable.

Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

Check the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question will be added to the section.

Select the desired question or create a new question.

Click Add Questions to post the question.

After the question is completed:

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 4-6.

Click Submit to save the changes.

Associating question groups to "Approve loan" workflow

To associate a question group with the "Approve loan" workflow, perform the following actions:

On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions."

In the “Add Question Group” page that displays:

Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.

In the "Applies To" text box, select Approve Loan workflow.

If the response will be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response will not be editable.

Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

Check the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question will be added to the section.

Select the desired question or create a new question.

Click Add Questions to post the question.

After the question is completed:

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 4-6.

Click Submit to save the changes.

Click the Clients & Admin tab.

Enter a Client or Group name and click Search.

In the "Results" page, select the desired client.

Under "Account Information," select Loans next to "Open new account:"

In the "Loan account information" page, select a loan instance name in the text box menu and click Continue.

In the page that displays, complete the necessary fields and select Preview.

Review the payment schedule in the "Review installments" page and click Preview.

In the "Preview loan account information" page that displays, review the loan information and select Submit for approval.

In the confirmation page that displays, click View Loan accounts now.

Click Edit account status.

In the account status page that displays:

Select Application Approved.

Enter a note in the "Note" text box.

Click Preview.

Complete the survey that displays and select Continue.

In the "Confirm status change" page, check the "Client has completed loan survey" checkbox and select Submit.

Associating question groups to "Close" workflows

To associate a question group with a "Close" workflow, perform the following actions:

1. On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions".

2. In the “Add Question Group” page that displays:

  3. Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.
4. In the "Applies To" text box, select a "Close" workflow.
5. If the response should be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response should not be editable.
6. Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

5. Check the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question should be added to the section.
6. Select the desired question or create a new question.
7. Click Add Questions to add a new question. Below you will see a list of questions which you added.
8. After the question is completed, the user may:
Remove the question by clicking the Remove link on the question list.
Add another question by following steps 6-8.
If you completed with all questions, click Submit to save changes and add Question Group to “Close” workflow.

Associating question groups to "Disburse Loan" workflows

To associate a question group with a "Disburse" workflow, perform the following actions:

1. On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions".

2. In the “Add Question Group” page that displays:

3. Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.
4. In the "Applies To" text box, select a "Disburse" workflow.
5. If the response should be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response should not be editable.
6. Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

6. Check the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question should be added to the section.
7. Select the desired question or create a new question.
8. Click Add Questions to post the question.
9. After the question is completed, user may:

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 4-6.

Click Submit to save the changes.

Click the Clients & Admin tab.

Enter a Client or Group name and click Search.

In the "Results" page, select the desired client.

Choose a loan with Application Approved status.

In Transactions section click on Disburse loan link.

In the page that displays, complete the necessary fields and click on Review Transaction button.

 You will see a Question Group, which you previously added to Disburse flow.

Complete all necessary information and click Continue and  Submit.

Associating question groups to multiple workflows

You may add a new Question Group to multiple flows ant one time. To do it, follow instructions below:

1. On the Admin tab, click Add New Question Group under "Manage Questions".

1. Enter a question group title in the "Question Group Title" text box.
2. In the “Add Question Group” mark all items in Applies to field.

Note: If you mark Create Loan, then an additional checkbox will appear. Click on checkbox if you want to add question group automatically to all loan products. If you don't select this checkbox, then you need to associate Question Group manually during every Loan Product creation or edition.

3. If the response should be editable, indicate this by clicking on the checkbox. Leave it unchecked if the response should not be editable.
4. Keep the default section heading that is displayed in the text box or enter a new section heading.

5. Select the appropriate radio button to indicate whether an existing and/or new question should be added to the section.
6. Select the desired question or create a new question.
7. Click Add Questions to post the question.
8. After the question is completed, the user may:

Remove the question by clicking the Remove link.

Add another question by following steps 4-6.

How to link questions

It is possible to connect separate questions, so the question may be dependent on different one. If questions are linked, some of them may not be displayed if there is no such need.

To link questions, there is a need to specify following parameters:

Field
Value

Source question

Link type 
Not equals / equals

Value

Alphanumeric, drop down

(depends on question type)

Applies to
Question / Section

Affected question

Follow instructions below to link questions:

Go to Admin page and click on Add question group link.

Select existing questions or add new ones that you want to have in your question group.

Now you can link questions. Question links section looks like following:

Specify Source question - it is the question, that linked ones will depend on. In drop box there is a list of questions that you may choose.

Choose Link type. You may choose option "Equal" or "Not equal". The result of taking Equal will be displaying a question linked to source question, only if answer will be positive.

Type/choose value. It should be answer on the question. If for example, answer type will be "Select", than you will see drop box instead of text box.

Mark Applies to field. You may choose "Question", than you will link just one separate question or you can choose "Section", than you will link whole section, where may be a couple of questions. Section must be previously created.

Affected question is a question that will be linked to source question. If answer value is not positive, than this question will not be displayed.

Mifos Android Client

We have developed an Android application to run Mifos on your smartphone.  You can freely download the Mifos Android client from the Google Play store. View the Mifos Android Client User Manual to use the Mifos mobile app. 

Mobile Browser Interface

How to open Mifos on mobile device

Currently mobile-optimized pages

How to change site type

How to change site type temporarily

How to change site type permanently

Mifos is a system which can be opened not only on computer, but also on mobile devices. You may use specially prepared mobile options, which help you to see Mifos pages optimized for your device. Based on the device you're logging into Mifos with (PC or mobile phone), Mifos will automatically display the version of the UI that is optimal for your screen. Depending on your needs, you can set the site type permanently or temporarily.

You have also an alternate way to access Mifos by using Mifos Android Client which is mobile version of Mifos. Mobile client allows user to view the most important information about the customers and accounts and to perform the basic financial operations. To see more information click <LINK>

Currently mobile-optimized pages:

Currently you can view the mobile optimized interface for the following sections of the Mifos application:

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Home page

Selected date option

Borrowers & Accounts page

Client and accounts pages

View center details

View group details

View client details

View account details

Search results

In the future it will be updated, so more pages will provide mobile options.

How to change site type

Mifos is by default set to automatically render pages based on device type. If you run Mifos on mobile device (i.e. smartphone, feature phone, etc.), then mobile version of web page is automatically loaded. But if you prefer to view Mifos pages in standard way then you can use 'Switch site type' link (this option does not cause permanent changes and after next launch system you will see website as it was set in Your settings) or set different site type permanently in Your settings area.

How to change site type temporarily

1.                  Click the Switch site type link on the top of the page.

2.                  Page will be loaded in mobile version as shown below: 

How to change site type permanently

1. In the upper right corner of the Mifos screen, click Your settings. A list of all current settings appears. 

2.                  Click Edit information link.

3.                  Select desired option from the Site Type Preferred dropdown list (AUTO, MOBILE, NORMAL).

You have three site type preferred options to choose form the drop down list:

AUTO – dynamically selects which pages to render based on device type (i.e. smartphone, feature phone, PC, etc)

MOBILE – force mobile options and display web site in smaller size regardless of kind of device

NORMAL – force normal size of displayed web size regardless of kind of device

4.                  After selecting desired site type, click Preview to review the list.

5.                  When you are satisfied with the site type, click Submit. (or click Cancel if you decide not to change site type at this time).

Rules for how to reschedule repayment

If the client did not make the payment for an installment:

For flat-interest loans, in next installment, "Penalty + Payment1 + Payment2"

For declining-balance loans, the next installment will be recalculated to include the missed installment. (There is no concept of payment 1 and payment 2 in this case.)

If the repayment day falls on a holiday and repayment is set to the next repayment, the client must pay two installments on the next repayment day. No penalty will be calculated for that period.

A penalty for failing to pay an installment is calculated only for the affected installment period.  The same approach is applied to subsequent installments.

The grace period can be modified:

For a loan account whose grace period has not ended.

Only for future installments if the grace period has ended.

If client does not have any meeting date, then repayment start date is the actual disbursement date + repayment frequency + grace period.

How to calculate the EMI

EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) is the amount payable to the lending institution every month, till the loan is paid back in full. It consists of a portion of the interest as well as the principal.  This is what is due at each installment of a loan.

Declining Balance Interest (EMI of Principal and Interest)

Declining Balance Interest with equal principal installment

Flat Interest Rate

Definition

Interest is computed at periodic intervals on the amount of the original principal that has not yet been repaid. Since the borrower only pays interest on that amount of original principal that has not yet been repaid, interest paid will be smaller every period.

The exception from the EMI computed in the first column is that interest is calculated using equal principal installments. The client pays equal installments of principal for the duration of the loan, and the interest is calculated on principal that has not been paid for the loan period.

Flat interest refers to charging interest on the full original loan amount, rather than on the declining balance.

This is the most common calculation used in Grameen Style MFIs (most MFIs).

Formula

EMI = i*P / [1- (1+i)^-n]

Where,

P = Loan amount

r = Rate of interest per year

n = Term of the loan in periods

l = Length of a period (fraction of a year, i.e., 1/12 = 1 month, 14/360 = bi-weekly.)

i = Interest rate per period (r*l)

Formula Interest = (P-Pp) * r * n

Where,

P = loan amount

Pp= Principal paid

r = rate of interest

n = term of loan

Interest = P*r*n

Where

P = loan amount- Initial amount

r = rate of interest

n = term of the loan

Examples

P=1000, r = 5/100, l = 6/12 n = 2, i = 0.025

EMI = 0.025 * 1000 / [1-(1+0.025)^-2]

EMI = $518.83

The way to apply payments is as follows:

Calculate interest in the principal due: If balance = $1000, and i = 0.025, interest is $25

Calculate the amount to principal which is the monthly payment minus the interest due: $518.83 - $25 = $493.83

Calculate the principal remaining, which is the previous principal remaining minus the amount applied to principal: $1000 - $493.83 = $506.17 (remaining balance)

Once next payment is received, repeat steps 1 to 3.

Note: Due to rounding of computed values, it could potentially be off by a maximum of N number of pennies after the full term of the loan. It will never be short if we round up, rather, principal could end up with a few more pennies.

Principal = 15,000

Int. Rate = 25 %

No of payments = 25

Payment schedule (Every 2 weeks) = 14 days

Principal = 15,000/25 = 600

For Installment 1:

Total due = Principal + Interest = 600 + 143.83 = 743.83

For Installment 2:

Interest = (15000-600)*.25*14/365 = 140

Total due = 600 + 140 = 740

Continue calculating for remaining installments

P=100, r = 3/100 per month, n = 4

Interest = 100 *(3/100) * 4 = 12

Monthly payments of 112 / 4 = 84

Tips and techniques

Printing reports with a dot-matrix printer

Problem

BIRT reports do not print out clearly on a dot matrix printer.

Solution

Use the Arial font or another sans-serif font. These fonts print better on dot matrix printers, which have lower print resolution than inkjet or laser printers.

Calculating flat interest rates

Problem

You may have a loan product with a flat interest rate, but Mifos requires you to enter the interest rates as APR.

Solution

Use the following formula. It will calculate the value you need to enter for the loan repayment schedule.

Formula

To calculate the yearly APR, use the following formula:

APR = (Interest Amount * Period of Calculation [360 or 365]) / (Principal * Number of Weeks * 7)

Here is an example, using the following values:

Calculation period = 365 days

Interest amount = 40%

Principal = $200

Number of weeks = 24

APR = (40 * 365) / (200 * 24 * 7) = .43452 (43.452%)

Notes

You can schedule meetings every month or every two weeks. If you schedule meetings every two weeks, there may be some months that have three meetings and three payments.

For accuracy, you must configure Mifos for at least three extra decimal places of precision. See the accounting settings in the configuration guide.

Glossary

Accepted Payment Types. [HowToDefineAcceptedPaymentTypes] Forms of payment accepted by an MFI. The default choices are cash, check/cheque, and voucher.

Account Status History. The account history shows listing of loan status changes with the first entry being the first status assigned to the loan when it was created. The information can be used to track the progress of the loan, the efficiency of the loan officer or MFI approval process. [not found]

Account. [Howtocreateanewloanaccount][WhatIsASavingsAccount] Savings account or loan account with an individual client or group.

Activity. A function provided in the Mifos software that a user can perform.

Adjustments. [HowToViewAndWorkWithGroupDetails] Changes made to an account other than normal disbursements and payments. This can include rescheduling missed installments and ??

Administrative Document. A document that can be attached to a specific loan or savings account and printed as needed. The administrative documents that ship with Mifos include a voucher, payment book, disbursal receipt, and payment receipt.

Administrator. A user role giving permission to view and modify the structure of the MFI, product definitions, and other internal settings.

Attributes. [HowToSetProductRulesAndAttributes] The attributes of a product include currency, interest rate, and repayment schedule.

BIRT. [HowToCreateReports] (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) is Free/Libre/Open Source Software for generating reports. See http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/.

Blacklist. A list of people that have been barred from getting loans.

Branch or  Branch Office. The level at which all client interactions take place.

Bulk Loan, Bulk Loan Approval, Bulk Loan Creation. A bulk loan is several loans that can be created or approved all at once.

Category. [HowToSetProductRulesAndAttributes] A named group of products.

Center or Kendra. [CentersGroupsAndClientsOverview][HowToCreateANewCenter] In an MFI hierarchy, a collection of multiple groups. In India, this is called a Kendra.

Change Log. [Common tasks]
The changes made to any of the following items on the accounts page will be logged in the change log:

Account information changes

Addition/removal of fee types

Addition of notes and change in collateral notes

Status changes: includes changes that were made by the user and the system.

Checklist. [HowToWorkWithUserChecklists] Checklists specify what steps must be completed before changing the status of accounts or customer records can proceed. Each time a user attempts to change the status of an account or customer record, the Checklist defined for that state change is shown to the user. The user can read through the checklist and make sure all the requirements are met. These checklists will be associated with all workflows for accounts and client records but are not automated. Checklist types include Center, Group, Client, Loan, Savings.

Client. [Common tasks] To create a client you need to choose to attach a client to a branch or group and enter the client details. The following steps provide more details on the how to create a client. The individual client can have savings accounts and borrow money according to the rules of your MFI. [HowToCreateANewClient]

Collection Sheet, Collection Sheet Report. [HowToEnterCollectionSheetData] The collection sheet Web form shows all payments expected on that day, and situations requiring attention, including missed payments and missed meetings.

Dashboard. [HowToViewPerformanceHistory] Information page in Mifos for centers, groups, and clients.

Details Page. [HowToViewPerformanceHistory] Information page in Mifos for centers, groups, and clients.

Disbursal/Disbursement. Paying out a loan. [Commontasks]

Dormancy. [Common tasks] How long, after a period of no activity (dormancy) in a savings account, to mark the account as "On hold." The default is 30 days. [HowToSetProductRulesAndAttributes]

EMI. Equated Monthly Installment: this is the amount payable to the MFI every month until the loan is paid back in full. it consists of a portion of the interest as well as the principal. See the Appendix for a discussion of how to compute this installment. [HowToCalculateTheEMI]

Fee Types. [HowToSetUpYourOrganizationPreferences] Different fee types can be defined at the head office by authorized users. The user must have Can define fee type permission in order to define a fee type.

Fees or Charges. MFIs can charge their customer fee for the various services offered. Reasons for charging a fee can vary from one MFI to another. Mifos system gives the flexibility to MFIs and branches to define fee types to meet their requirements. Examples of fee types can be client creation fee, training fee, or account creation fee. [HowToSetUpYourOrganizationPreferences]

Fund Code. [HowToWorkWithFunds] A predefined numeric code for identifying funds.

Fund Type. [Common tasks] Name for group of sources of funds

Fund. [HowToWorkWithFunds] A source of money used to make loans or carry out other MFI functions. Examples are donor funds and deposits. Mifos provides a set of fund codes that Administrators can name as appropriate.

Gl Code. [HowToDefineNewLoanProducts] General Ledger code

GLIM. Group loans, individual monitoring. In a GLIM loan, all transactions (disbursals, payments, adjustments, bulk entry, and so forth) take place at the group level. The only major difference between GLIM and the usual group loans is that the initial loan account creation specifies the amounts given to each individual, the purposes for these amounts, and the way these loans affect the calculation of individual performance metrics. See also: Group loan.

Group. A collection of clients working together, that is assigned to a center or a branch. The group can act together to borrow money and hold a savings account. [HowToCreateANewGroup]

Group Loan . [Common tasks] Loan to a member of a group, where the entire group takes responsibility for managing the loan, and making sure that the borrower repays it.

Group Loan. In a group loan, the group has a single loan account, and the group is the primary unit that the MFI interacts with; a single repayment schedule is maintained for the entire group. The group as a whole is responsible for repayment and fees, and each individual in the group has a designated responsibility to pay their part of the debt. See also: GLIM, Individual lending.

Hierarchy, MFI. The structure of offices in an MFI is an inverted tree, with the central office at the top, and up to four levels below it. The system uses the office hierarchy to structure management, control, and reporting on microfinance transactions. Also called office hierarchy.

HO. Head Office

Holiday. [Common tasks] Periods of time when no payment is due. Each holiday has an associated repayment rule, such as Next Working Day.

Individual Lending. A loan made to an individual person. See also: Group loan.

Kendra. See Center.

Label. [HowToSetRulesForDataDisplay] Variable text in the user interface, changeable by administrators. These are in Unicode, and can be in any language.

Lateness. [Common tasks] An attribute of a loan product, specifying how long to wait after nonpayment of a loan before the account is marked "In arrears". [HowToSetProductRulesAndAttributes]

Loan Account. [Howtocreateanewloanaccount] Account with an individual or group to take out and repay a loan.

Loan Cycle Counter. A count of how many times a new loan account has been opened for the client.  Rescheduling or writing-off a loan decrements the loan cycle count.

Loan Cycle. A client's loan cycle begins when a new loan account is opened. It closes when the loan is fully repaid.

Loan Officer. User role for personnel permitted to act on client loan accounts.

Lookup Options. [HowToSetUpAnMFI] In the mifos UI, a dropdown list of items to choose from.

LSIM. [Howtocreateanewloanaccount] Loan schedule independent of meeting: allows loan payments to be collected on nonmeeting days.

Management Information System (MIS). Software for aggregating and analyzing information from a business, designed to answer essential management questions. [Welcome]

MFI Hierarchy. See hierarchy, MFI

MFI Principles. [HowToCreateANewClient] The essential information that clients should know about the purposes and practices of a microfinance institution.

Microfinance Institution (MFI). Bank or NGO engaged in microfinance. [Welcome]

Microfinance. Making small loans to poor people without collateral, based on their ability to repay from a new or expanded business. Begun by Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. [Welcome]

Mifos. Microfinance Open Source software. Web-based software for microfinance institutions. [Welcome]

Minimum Balance. The required minimum amount of money that must be kept at all times in a savings account.

National ID . [HowToWorkWithRolesPermissionsAndSystemUsers] Government ID, national ID, or social security number. Also called UID.

NGO. A nonprofit corporation or other organization for some public good, which is not an agency of a government or a treaty organization (such as the UN), or a for-profit business. The legal basis for such organizations differs significantly in various countries.  [not found]

Notes. The following section of the loan account dashboard shows the Recent Notes of a loan account. It shows various notes that have been appended to the loan account. The loan dashboard shows the 3 most recent notes. A note must be added when the user is changing the status of the account. The user can also add a note when need arises by using the Add note link. [Commontasks]

Office. [HowToCreateAndorViewTheOfficeStructure] Any part of an MFI hierarchy In Mifos, typically based on a geographic area or functional division, with users and clients assigned to it. An MFI can have five levels of offices:

Area office, an optional level of office, used if subregions must be further subdivided. The Mifos structure does not support further divisions.

Branch office, the level at which all client interactions take place. At least one branch office must be defined.

Head office, the mandatory main or parent office for an MFI. Head offices do not offer client services directly, but can do so through a virtual branch office.

Regional office, an optional level of office, used if the MFI covers a wide area that must be divided into smaller parts.

Subregional office, an optional level of office, used if regions must be further subdivided.

On-The-Fly. [not found] Calculations that can be performed at any time, without waiting for any batch process to complete. In particular, calculations made and displayed immediately on a Web form from entered data.

Performance History. [Common tasks] A summary of essential information on centers, groups, or clients.

Personnel Hierarchy. [HowToWorkWithRolesPermissionsAndSystemUsers] Loan officers, with restricted permissions, and Others, with unlimited permissions within their offices.

PPI . [Common tasks] [HowToSetUpYourOrganizationPreferences] The Progress Out Of Poverty Index is used in India, to measure the financial improvement of a country's population.

Product. An MFI product is a type of loan or savings account, with an individual name and with various defined rules and attributes.

Redo Disbursal. [Common tasks] When a payment has been recorded and then reversed, this function allows it to be recorded again.

Repayment Rule. [HowToSetUpYourOrganizationPreferences] For a loan product, the way to generate a repayment schedule, and the requirements on borrowers in order to receive that type of loan.

Repayment Schedule. [Common tasks] For any loan, the dates and amounts of money to be repaid.

Reporting Engine. [not found] Software for generating reports from a description of the data required and the calculations to be performed. In Mifos, this is the BIRT engine.

Role. [Common tasks] A named set of permissions enabling users to perform a set of activities. Examples are Administrator (able to reconfigure a Mifos installation and define or redefine products) or Loan Officer (with full control over the accounts of their own clients, and the ability to view but not modify other accounts), Data Entry (able to enter transactions, but not otherwise modify client accounts).

Savings Account. An individual deposit account.

Survey. [Common tasks] Surveys are ways for loan officers and others working in the center to collect information about groups and clients for analysis and reporting. [HowToViewAndWorkWithCenterDetails]

System User. A person who works with clients, such as a Loan Officer.

User. A person authorized to use Mifos. Users are limited to performing the activities that are associated with a defined role.

Virtual Branch Office. [HowToCreateAndorViewTheOfficeStructure] A branch office defined within the head office, if that head office is to offer services directly to clients.

License

All chapters copyright of the authors (see below). Unless otherwise stated all chapters in this manual licensed with GNU General Public License version 2

This documentation is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this documentation; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

Authors

Centers, groups, and clients overview
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

Credits
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010

Data entry
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Kris Mani 2010

Glossary
© Edward Cherlin 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Mike Dash 2010

How to apply fees/charges
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Van Mittal-Henkle 2010

How to approve multiple loans (bulk loan approval)
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to attach administrative documents
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to attach and collect surveys
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Mike Dash 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to calculate the EMI
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to change the status of (approve/close) loan accounts
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to change your password
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Kris Mani 2010

How to change the status of centers, groups, and clients
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010

How to create a new center
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to create a new client
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Mike Dash 2010

How to create a new group
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to create a new savings account
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Edward Cherlin 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to create and view the office structure
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010

How to create multiple loans (bulk loan creation)
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to define accepted payment types
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to define, change, apply fees
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to define new and change existing loan products
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to define and change new savings products
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to attach and collect surveys
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to disburse (pay out) a loan
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to enter Collection Sheet data
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to import transactions
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Mike Dash 2010

How to log in and log out
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Edward Cherlin 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Kris Mani 2010

How to make transactions for a loan account
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to manage loan account details
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to manage the product mix
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Van Mittal-Henkle 2010

How to navigate within Mifos
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010

How to run reports
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010

How to set product rules and attributes
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to set rules for data display
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Van Mittal-Henkle 2010

How to set up MFI operations: Overview
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Kris Mani 2010

How to set up Mifos overview
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Kris Mani 2010

How to view organization settings
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to track loan account history
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
anita Anderson 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to track savings account history
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010

How to manage administrative documents
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to use this manual
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Kris Mani 2010

How to view and change details of centers, groups, and clients
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to view performance history
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010

How to view system information and manage a Mifos shut down
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to work with funds (define, view, assign)
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to work with offices
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to work with roles, permissions and system users
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to work with user checklists
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kris Mani 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to change a meeting schedule for a center
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Sonia Lyris 2010

How to change the status of a savings account
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to create a new loan account
© anita Anderson 2010
Modifications:
Adam Feuer 2010
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010

How to make transactions for a savings account
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to manage savings account details
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to manage reports
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ajay Kumar 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010

How to view and create surveys
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

How to work with holidays
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Forest Monsen 2010
Kr Pierce 2010

How to manage collection of PPI data (India only)
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Tracy Mehoke 2010

Introduction to loan accounts
© Adam Monsen 2010
Modifications:
anita Anderson 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Ed Cable 2010

Introduction to savings accounts
© Ed Cable 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Mike Dash 2010

Rules for how to reschedule payment
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
anita Anderson 2010
Clytie Siddall 2010
Kay Chau 2010

Tips and Techniques
© Mike Dash 2010

Welcome to Mifos
© Mike Dash 2010
Modifications:
Adam Monsen 2010
Ed Cable 2010
Edward Cherlin 2010
Kay Chau 2010
Kris Mani 2010

Free manuals for free software

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New Group Loan Account (New GLIM)

Introduction

Since Mifos 2.6.1 version it is possible to create three kinds of loan accounts:

group loan without specifying members (GLIM off)

group loan with monitoring of every member (GLIM on)

group loan with individual member accounts (new GLIM on)

In previous Mifos versions individual member accounts were only for information purposes, so they had only little connection to group account (e.g. after closing client, he was still visible on the Group account). There was also no possibility to repay individual member account because there was no access to those accounts and as a result, payments could be only applied to the whole group loan account. So, in general, there was a Group loan account and individual member accounts only for information purposes.

In new Group Loan (new GLIM) there is a new approach of Group Loan account. There are individual member accounts and Group loan account for information purposes. During the Group loan creation, also individual accounts are created for every member of group loan. Group loan account is a sum of member's accounts. It is possible to access every individual member loan account, so is a possibility to repay every individual account or close it, and information about that is immediately visible on Group loan account. While applying payment to the entire Group loan, amount will be divided automatically into Group Loan account members but there will be also possible to modify exact payment amount of every member. This new approach is more flexible than previous version.

How to enable new a GLIM option

To enable new Group Loan Account creation (new GLIM), there is a need to setup in configuration file following line:
AccountingRules.GroupLoanWithMembers=true

Note: If you had previously enabled old GLIM - Group loan with individual monitoring (GLIM): Yes, than you should disable this option. To disable old GLIM use following instructions:

Login to MySQL.

Type: config_key_value set configuration_value = 0 where configuration_key = 'loanIndividualMonitoringIsEnabled';

You can check status of old GLIM in Admin Tab > View organization settings link.

How to create loan product for new GLIM

Loan process creation with new GLIM enabled, is almost the same as for old GLIM.To be able to create new loan account,there is a need to have appropriate permissions ('Can define new loan product instance' should be marked).

On group details page, click on Loan link.

Select previously created Loan Product (to see how to create Loan product check this chapter: How to define new loan products).

Fill all necessary gabs.

Click on Preview and Save for approval.

Group loan details page with new GLIM enabled looks the same as loan details page with old GLIM. The only difference are links ('Show') near to the clients.

Note: During Loan account creation not only group account is created, but also loan accounts for every selected individual members in group. 