[Mifos-users] New to Mifos, a few questions...

[Olivier Dalang]

Hi,

I am currently testing Mifos to see whether we could use it for a microcredit project in Senegal. I managed to install it locally on a virtual machine, and it works very well.

First of all : thanks for the awsome work !! It works very well, and was surprisingly easy to install.

I already tested the system a bit, and have a few questions to help my understand how Mifos works and to help me evaluate how well Mifos would fit our needs.

The questions are below, please feel free to answer only to some of them.

Best regards and thanks in advance,

Olivier Dalang

t: +41 78 758 49 75
m: olivier...@urbamonde.org

Association urbaMonde

rue des Savoises 15
1205 Genève

Switzerland

---------------------------

## 1. Transaction reciepts

On the transaction tab of the loan details page, there is a "view reciept" button next to each transaction, but I never saw a "upload reciept"... field when disbursing a loan or making repayments.

How does this work ? Is there a suggested strategy to keep evidence about transactions ?

(By the way, when I click on "view reciept", I get an error "{"developerMessage":"The request caused a data integrity issue to be fired by the...}", see questions 4. below)

## 2. Translation

I'll be using Mifos in French. It's great to have an existing translation, but it is incomplete and contains some mistakes. I'm willing to contribute to translation, and I saw it's easy using translatewiki.net.

Is it possible to use the new contributed translation directly in my in-production system ? (or can I download translatewiki.net's translation as locale-fr.json easily ?)

Alternatively, is it possible to edit locale-fr.json directly, and still upstream my modifications ? (through pull request)

## 3. Fees for the group

In our setup, we have a fee/interest (5% flat) that is payed from the client to the group (a percentage of the amount). That fee stays in the group's savings, which is in most of the cases not managed by us (but rather in the group's already existing saving accounts).

Still, it would be nice if this fee could be included in the repayment schedule.

Is there a way to do this ?

I tried to create a fee (per installment, 5% flat). It works, but its payment is not separated from the principal payment, while it should go to a separate account.

## 4. Javascript errors

I noticed some javascript errors and UI malfunctions (for instance date widgets not working, some UI elements like "Interest method" in "Create Loan Product" not appearing, "create payment type" missing the submit button, date appearing as NaN undefined 0NaN in certain navigators, submit button ...).

Even if it is the same version, those error appear on my local installation, but not on the online demo. Any idea why ?

It also seems some errors are navigator-dependant, is there a recommended navigator to use Mifos ?

It also seems some date formats and/or languages trigger errors...

Should I report all those errors directly on github's issue tracker ?

## 5. Roles

Are there some typical roles permissions examples ? We'll be needing roles like "manager" (who can approve loans and clients...), "agent" (who can prepare new clients and loans, who can register payments etc.). I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the checkboxes at this point.

Also, am I right understanding Mifos user's capability is limited to his Office ?

[Vishwas Babu]

Hi Oliver,

>>  It works very well, and was surprisingly easy to install.

Good to know :)

>>## 1. Transaction reciepts

While making a payment, you have a section called "Show Payment Details" where you can enter payment details like Bank account number, routing code, receipt number, notes etc. The Payment receipt is a report generated by Mifos based on these details.

To view this report, you would have to copy over the pentahoReports folder shipped with the release to a folder named ".mifosx" in the home directory of the user starting tomcat (Ex: C:\Users\vishwas\.mifosx\pentahoReports )

If you are looking to upload and view your own receipts, you can do so under the loan documents section (currently mifos supports attaching documents directly for a loan, not against individual payments)

>>## 2. Translation

The preferred approach is to make the changes in translate wiki. The folks at transalatewiki send pull requests for all translations changes on a regular basis. 

The translation files are present at https://github.com/openMF/community-app/tree/develop/app/global-translations if you want to edit and view the same locally. However, the format for uploading to transalate wiki is different ( see https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:Offline )

>>## 4. Javascript errors

The app is tested on Firefox and Chrome. You would see date related errors etc on IE / Safari.

>>Even if it is the same version, those error appear on my local installation, but not on the online demo. Any idea why ?

Are you accessing the the app from the local file system (that would cause issues on Chrome etc), if you are deploying the app

on  a server (or using grunt serve) , you should not be seeing any issues. Maybe try clearing your cache ?

>>Should I report all those errors directly on github's issue tracker ?

Jira issue tracker is preferred (https://mifosforge.jira.com/secure/Dashboard.jspa) . You could also follow up on them on the developer mailing list with the corresponding Jira id

>>Also, am I right understanding Mifos user's capability is limited to his Office ?

That is correct

Regards,

Vishwas

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[Ed Cable]

Hi Olivier. Glad to be in touch after Cyril made the introduction a little while back. It's good to know that the install process was smooth and painless for you. We would gladly welcome a new user in Senegal as we don't currently have customers on Mifos X from there! 

Please see my responses inline (to the best of my knowledge). If you need to set up a direct call, please let me know and we can arrange a Skype call. 

Vishwas responded as I was so I'll see where I can add any additional value :)

## 1. Transaction reciepts

On the transaction tab of the loan details page, there is a "view reciept" button next to each transaction, but I never saw a "upload reciept"... field when disbursing a loan or making repayments.

How does this work ? Is there a suggested strategy to keep evidence about transactions ?

(By the way, when I click on "view reciept", I get an error "{"developerMessage":"The request caused a data integrity issue to be fired by the...}", see questions 4. below)

## 2. Translation

I'll be using Mifos in French. It's great to have an existing translation, but it is incomplete and contains some mistakes. I'm willing to contribute to translation, and I saw it's easy using translatewiki.net.

Is it possible to use the new contributed translation directly in my in-production system ? (or can I download translatewiki.net's translation as locale-fr.json easily ?)

Alternatively, is it possible to edit locale-fr.json directly, and still upstream my modifications ? (through pull request)

Thanks for your willingness to contribute the translation. From translate wiki.net is it it possible down the translations file for local offline translations using a tool like PoEdit. It can then be uploaded back into translatewiki.net. If done directly via the online interface for TWN, that gets synced regularly with our codebase but you'd have to wait till the next time the sync occurs. It has been a little while since changes were last merged so that should be happening soon.  

## 3. Fees for the group

In our setup, we have a fee/interest (5% flat) that is payed from the client to the group (a percentage of the amount). That fee stays in the group's savings, which is in most of the cases not managed by us (but rather in the group's already existing saving accounts).

Still, it would be nice if this fee could be included in the repayment schedule.

Is there a way to do this ?

I tried to create a fee (per installment, 5% flat). It works, but its payment is not separated from the principal payment, while it should go to a separate account.

One of our functional experts can likely provide a better reply.  At the general ledger level, If you're assessing the fee at the loan level per installment, you could configure it via an advanced accounting rule, such that the fee is being mapped to a specific income account. But if you're looking to have the fee end up in a different portfolio account, you could configure a standing instruction to then transfer money from the client savings account to the group savings account.

We are also now adding support for client-level fees and will soon be adding percentage based-ones - currently it's simply a flat fee that can be collected up front at a point in time.

## 4. Javascript errors

I noticed some javascript errors and UI malfunctions (for instance date widgets not working, some UI elements like "Interest method" in "Create Loan Product" not appearing, "create payment type" missing the submit button, date appearing as NaN undefined 0NaN in certain navigators, submit button ...).

Even if it is the same version, those error appear on my local installation, but not on the online demo. Any idea why ?

It also seems some errors are navigator-dependant, is there a recommended navigator to use Mifos ?

It also seems some date formats and/or languages trigger errors...

Should I report all those errors directly on github's issue tracker ?

As Vishwas said, please do so on JIRA in Mifosforge.  

## 5. Roles

Are there some typical roles permissions examples ? We'll be needing roles like "manager" (who can approve loans and clients...), "agent" (who can prepare new clients and loans, who can register payments etc.). I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the checkboxes at this point.

This is an often requested feature (predefined roles that can be modified and adjusted) so we'll make sure it gets prioritized accordingly on our roadmap as it's in high demand.. The Mifos X 15.09 release coming out in several days has some optimizations to the UI for the permissions page so it's not quite as overwhelming with all the checkboxes. Have you been reading the user documentation and API documentation to understand the permissions. Our pre-configuration questionnaire is also helpful in setting up and thinking about the roles - https://mifosforge.jira.com/wiki/download/attachments/52035605/Pre%20Configuration%20Plan.docx?version=1&modificationDate=1396545486654&api=v2

Also, am I right understanding Mifos user's capability is limited to his Office ?

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--

Ed Cable

Director of Community Programs, Mifos Initiative

edc...@mifos.org | Skype: edcable | Mobile: +1.484.477.8649

Collectively Creating a World of 3 Billion Maries | http://mifos.org  

[Olivier Dalang]

Before the first anser, a question #6 :

Is it possible to use Mifos with Postgres instead of mysql ?

Thanks !

Olivier

[Markus Geiß]

nope, currently we only support MySQL/MariaDB.

[Olivier Dalang]

Hi,

Thanks for all your answers. (I didn't get notified by email so I didn't see you answered so quickly !)


## 1. Transaction reciepts

I copied the folder as you said (to /home/tomcat7/.mifosx), and restarted the server. but still get the following error when I click on "View reciept" :

{"developerMessage":"The request caused a data integrity issue to be fired by the database.","httpStatusCode":"403","defaultUserMessage":"Unable to create key: No loader was able to handle the given key data: /usr/share/tomcat7/.mifosx/pentahoReports/Loan Transaction Receipt.prpt","userMessageGlobalisationCode":"error.msg.reporting.error","errors":[{"developerMessage":"Unable to create key: No loader was able to handle the given key data: /usr/share/tomcat7/.mifosx/pentahoReports/Loan Transaction Receipt.prpt","defaultUserMessage":"Unable to create key: No loader was able to handle the given key data: /usr/share/tomcat7/.mifosx/pentahoReports/Loan Transaction Receipt.prpt","userMessageGlobalisationCode":"error.msg.reporting.error","parameterName":null,"value":null,"args":[]}]}

## 3. Fees for the group

I need some help on this. On the saving product page, I can indeed assign the fee to a specific income account. It seems I can set this both under the "income from fees" dropdown from the "income" section and under "Map Fees to Income Accounts" from the "
Advanced Accounting Rule" section. What is the difference ?

## 4. Javascript errors

Among the errors I get, two 404 happen at initial loading :
- https://127.0.0.1:8443/community-app/scripts/config/UIconfig.json
- https://127.0.0.1:8443/community-app/angular/i18n/angular-locale_en.js

May this indicate an installation problem ? I have some other bugs too, for instance I can't add a new payment type (error seems server-side though). I'll report in detail once I try to install to our production server.



Best regards !


Olivier Dalang

[vishwa...@gmail.com]

Hi Oliver,

Copying the reports to the location at which they are being searched for ie /usr/share/tomcat7/.mifosx/pentahoReports should fix the first issue

Regarding configuring income accounts for fees, the first section allows you to map all fees linked to the particular savings product to an income or liability account . However, if you want more flexibility , ie mapping specific fees or penalties to specific income or liability accounts (useful when you have a number of fees linked to the product and some fees are pass through etc) , you would make use of the advanced accounting section

You can ignore the missing Uiconfig.json file ( used for customizing the Ui , hiding specific fields , setting default values for drop downs etc )

Regards,

Vishwas

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Olivier Dalang]

Hi,

OK so I'm making progress in understanding how to use Mifos. Thanks a lot for your reactivity !

Still, I didn't manage to make collection sheets work

I tried the following :

- create an employee "employee1"

- create a group "group1"
- assign "employee1" to "group1"
- attach a monthly meeting

- create a client "client1"
- assign "employee1" to "client1"
- create a JLG loan to "client1", and sync the reimbursments with the group meetings
- assign "employee1" to that loan
- disburse the loan

- create a client "client2"
- assign "employee1" to "client2"
- create a JLG loan to "client2", and sync the reimbursments with the group meetings, with disbusment date to next meeting
- assign "employee1" to that loan
- disburse the loan


Then, under "collection sheet", I enter an upcomming meeting date, choose my staff, and click on the "productive collection sheet" button but get an empty result (a table showing only "attendance").
I can't use the "collection sheet" button, since I can't find my group in the drop down menu (probably because the group is not part of a center).

Under "individual collection sheet", no matter what I enter, I always get "No repayments and disbursal are available for selected Group and meeting date".

Am I missing something ? (I'm using Release Version: 15.09.2.RELEASE, since I saw some bug about collection sheet have been fixed).

I'd love to see some demonstration/documentation of this feature (starting from a blank or near blank installation) to understand it fully. Ed Cable made a demonstration installation for us, I'd happily provide credentials in private to anyone willing to enter dummy data to demonstrate it.

Best regards,

Olivier

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[srinivasa Rao Yedida]

Hi

You can try this way

create center

then

Create a Group

then

create a Client

then

and assign meeting to the center

then

Create Loan App sync with repayment

Then productive collection sheet should be work fine

Thanks

Srinivasa rao Yedida

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[Sangamesh Nadagoudar]

Hello Olivier,

Many thanks for trying out by yourself. I would be happy to help you in demonstrating complete process. And also would be able to answer all your queries with respect to Mifos X. Could you please reach me out over skype:mifos.support.

Thanks,
Sangamesh

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[Olivier Dalang]

Dear List and Sangamesh and Srinivasa,

OK indeed it works when the meeting is defined on the center.

I'm not completely sure about what a "center" is. Does Mifos expect every group to be part of a center ? And is it really so that every group of a center must have the same meetings ? (I can't assign a meeting to a group that is part of a center, and I can't add a group that has a meeting to a center).

Here, we have some groups that are federated in what could be called a "center" (but still, each group meets separately), but most groups aren't part of a center. 

So I'm still stuck at using collection sheets...

Also, isn't there some kind of "general" collection sheet, which would show all expected upcomming payements ? To me, it seems very easy to miss payments : If I'm not mistaken, you need to have every client well assigned to its group, every group well assigned to its center, the employee well assigned to the loan, the meeting date well assigned to the group, all of those well assigned to the office, and still select a correct "meeting date" in the "collection sheet" page, which means you have to know the upcomming meeting dates. 

Thanks a lot for your support !

Olivier

[Sangamesh Nadagoudar]

Hello Olivier, 

I'm not completely sure about what a "center" is. 

>> Center can be a meeting place. In Mifos, Center is at higher level >> then followed by Group which can be associated to Center>> then followed by clients which can be associated to Group. 

Does Mifos expect every group to be part of a center ?

>> No, You can also only create group without creating center & associating to them. 

And is it really so that every group of a center must have the same meetings?

>> Yes, When you attach Meeting to a Center, associated group automatically inherit Center's meeting date. 

(I can't assign a meeting to a group that is part of a center, and I can't add a group that has a meeting to a center).

>> If the Group is associated with Center, You cant attach meeting from group level/page. If you are seeing the attach meeting drop-down in group page then it should be a bug. If you are using latest Mifos X version 15.09.2, it shouldn't showing.  

Here, we have some groups that are federated in what could be called a "center" (but still, each group meets separately), but most groups aren't part of a center. 

>> Since the meetings doesn't take place on same meeting date for all the groups. I could suggest not use Center, so that you could create Group's separately with different meeting date.  

Also, isn't there some kind of "general" collection sheet, which would show all expected upcoming payments ?

>> Collection sheet should be able to meet your mentioned requirements. 

I would be happy to demonstrate a complete Collection sheet process, if you could come on skype. 

Thanks,

Sangamesh