ISF project for the administration of microcredit will start in the month of February in Fianarantsoa (Madagascar)

[Aldo Ceccarelli]

From ISF (www.informaticisenzafrontiere.org Italian NGO made up of about 100 CIOs delivering ICT projects on pro-bono volunteer basis)

 

 

The idea came from friendship of Marcello Gribaudo (ISF microcredit project manager) among the staff of O.P.G. company and Averiko volunteers engaged in Madagascar in a series of important projects of international cooperation.

Averiko needs, given the growing number of customers seeking access to credit, was to abandon the current automation project, carried out through a series of spreadsheets self, to apply to a specific software.

 
With this aim we analyzed the main Open Source software dedicated to the management of MFI size medium / small. The choice fell on the Octopus, a system based on the "open" environment for the development of Microsoft (Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions and SqlExpress).

 

Thanks to the generous cooperation received from Octo heads and the community of Octopus developers, OPG and employees of Averiko, we could gradually take note of the features of the system and then made the changes it deemed necessary to meet the special needs of the reality of Madagascar.

ISF has finally located and configured the necessary hardware, which in the coming month of February, will be installed in the country of destination, giving the green light to the project.

 
It is still early to speak about conclusions, but as hot considerations we are fully satisfied with the commitment and collaboration among the various components of the ISF (and committee members) who have contributed to the laying of a major new stone of the town.

 
A beautiful experience, a new responsibility that will be resumed in future. We share hereinafter an outline of the project.

 

Looking forward to receive your experiences, comments and suggestion: feel free to email us at intern...@informaticisenzafrontiere.org

 

[Wifak]

Hi,
I am amazed to hear of such straightforward adoption of Octo in ISF.
Generally, MFIs involve in OSS implementation through partnerships
that most of the time are time consuming and bear a cost for the MFI.
This is indeed the first account I hear that sounded simple and
effective.
It has been a while that I am particularly interested in the the
emergence of OSS in microfinance, tracing the experiences of MFIs who
were enough courageous to take on this alternative. Reading your
story, I was enchanted to see a concrete evidence that OSS can be the
right alternative to go for, especially for small and fast growing
MFIs such as ISF.
Because I find your experience noteworthy, I would like to ask why
OSS? what did decide you to go for it when an increasing choice of on-
the-shelf-MIS is offered in the market. Also, by common sense MFIs
with little MIS knowledge should give priority to commercial packages
as they rely on the experience and the technical support that IT
vendors guarantee. Can you please provide me with more details on the
context of this project and the motives of this selection?
Also, I wanted to ask if you heard about Mifos (see www.mifos.org).
Was it an explicit decision to go for OCTO rather than Mifos in your
case and why?

I hope you will not find my questions indiscreet :)

Cheers

Wifak


On 21 Gen, 15:04, Aldo Ceccarelli <ceccarelli.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
> From ISF (www.informaticisenzafrontiere.orgItalian NGO made up of about 100

> CIOs delivering ICT projects on pro-bono volunteer basis)
>
> The idea came from friendship of Marcello Gribaudo (ISF microcredit project

> manager) among the staff of O.P.G. <http://www.opigi.com/> company and
> Averiko <http://www.averiko.com/> volunteers engaged in Madagascar in a

> series of important projects of international cooperation.
>
> Averiko needs, given the growing number of customers seeking access to
> credit, was to abandon the current automation project, carried out through a
> series of spreadsheets self, to apply to a specific software.
>
> With this aim we analyzed the main Open Source software dedicated to the
> management of MFI size medium / small. The choice fell on the

> Octopus<http://www.octopusnetwork.org/default.aspx>,

> a system based on the "open" environment for the development of Microsoft
> (Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions and SqlExpress).
>
> Thanks to the generous cooperation received from Octo heads and the

> community of Octopus developers <http://community.octopusnetwork.org/>, OPG

> and employees of Averiko, we could gradually take note of the features of
> the system and then made the changes it deemed necessary to meet the special
> needs of the reality of Madagascar.
>
> ISF has finally located and configured the necessary hardware, which in the
> coming month of February, will be installed in the country of destination,
> giving the green light to the project.
>
> It is still early to speak about conclusions, but as hot considerations we
> are fully satisfied with the commitment and collaboration among the various
> components of the ISF (and committee members) who have contributed to the
> laying of a major new stone of the town.
>
> A beautiful experience, a new responsibility that will be resumed in future.
> We share hereinafter an outline of the project.
>
> Looking forward to receive your experiences, comments and suggestion: feel

> free to email us at internatio...@informaticisenzafrontiere.org
>
>  ISF - Madagascar microcredit project outline and status.pdf
> 143KVisualizzaScarica

[ISF (Computer Scientists without Frontiers, Italy)]

Hi Mifak,
first of all thanks for your comment that I have shared in ISF blog
too so to let you have I hope a direct and better explanation from our
project expert as soon as possible.

I'd like to anticipate the very little I know from a technical point
of view about selection of Octo option.

At the beginning a selction was started from "Microfinance gateway"
website at http://www.microfinancegateway.org/resource_centers/technology
where orientation among already available technology and solutions
could start.

Then a parallel evaluation of both Mifos and Octo has been performed
by two separated people sharing ideas and results. Then major
availability of Octo expert to work on it, the extreme cooperation of
Octo community and our expert's technical background did the rest, and
I can remember also some urls he visited while busy with his
evaluations:

http://www.octopusnetwork.org/pdf/Octopus_MIS_Upgrade_Methodology.pdf

http://octopusfit.octo.com/FitNesse.OctoPus

http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=how-to+migrate+excel+octopus+micro&btnG=Cerca&meta=

http://www.mfntsummit2008.org/MIS%2021Oct%20Pierre%20Pezziardi%20Octopus.ppt

http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=microfinance+octopus+from+excel+migration&meta=

Hoping that this can give you initial flavour about, I remain waiting
for a better answer to share and wish you a good week.

WKR,
Aldo

> > From ISF (www.informaticisenzafrontiere.orgItalianNGO made up of about 100

> > 143KVisualizzaScarica- Nascondi testo citato
>
> - Mostra testo citato -

[Wifak]

Hi Aldo,

Many thanks for your prompt reply and for the links you shared. I hope
all the best for the team when launching OCTO in February.
The choice of the right MIS for a young MFI is always a delicate
matter. I am quite confident you are in a good track. Having got
acquainted to OCTO's representative before, I have no doubts on the
serious and the commitment of the team members.
Good luck and please do keep me updated on the progress of the
implementation.

Wifak


On Jan 26, 6:16 am, "ISF (Computer Scientists without Frontiers,

Italy)" <ceccarelli.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Mifak,
> first of all thanks for your comment that I have shared in ISF blog
> too so to let you have I hope a direct and better explanation from our
> project expert as soon as possible.
>
> I'd like to anticipate the very little I know from a technical point
> of view about selection of Octo option.
>
> At the beginning a selction was started from "Microfinance gateway"

> website athttp://www.microfinancegateway.org/resource_centers/technology

> where orientation among already available technology and solutions
> could start.
>
> Then a parallel evaluation of both Mifos and Octo has been performed
> by two separated people sharing ideas and results. Then major
> availability of Octo expert to work on it, the extreme cooperation of
> Octo community and our expert's technical background did the rest, and
> I can remember also some urls he visited while busy with his
> evaluations:
>
> http://www.octopusnetwork.org/pdf/Octopus_MIS_Upgrade_Methodology.pdf
>
> http://octopusfit.octo.com/FitNesse.OctoPus
>

> http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=how-to+migrate+excel+octopus+micr...
>
> http://www.mfntsummit2008.org/MIS%2021Oct%20Pierre%20Pezziardi%20Octo...
>
> http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=microfinance+octopus+from+excel+m...

> > > From ISF (www.informaticisenzafrontiere.orgItalianNGOmade up of about 100

[ISF (Computer Scientists without Frontiers, Italy)]

Hi Wifak, still one more technical comment from Marcello (ISF Project
manager)

# Marcello Gribaudo scrive:
26 gennaio 2009 at 15:40 modifica

Hi Wifak,
As directly involved in the project, I can maybe give you some more
details on the reasons of Octopus choice.
First, as you know, my experience in MSI is limited the Madagascar
project, so my words must be “parameterized” with my “short time”
knowlege of this problem.

First, OSS is an easiest choice for ISF because of the technical
knowlwdge of the concerning problem.
Then, generally, OSS have at the back a developpers community or a
commercial society that can give support, some time in a better manner
then prprietary software. This is the case of Octopus and, I think,
also of Mifos.

Why Octopus?
Before choising Octopus whe also had a look on Mifos and Microfin
(http://www.microfin.com/).
We, at once, discarded Microfin because of the preferece of a database
oriented application rather than a spreadsheet.
After a short internal discussion bewteen the remaing choices, we
decided for Octupos for the following reasons :
- I think, this is my pesonal opinion, that is more apt for little
MFI’s (simple in use and configure, fast installation and upgrade, no
need of a web server, …).
- direct access to Octo developpers for support
- finally,last but not least, I was expert in sofware languages and
database management used by Octopus and

Sorry for my English

Marcello

> > > > From ISF (www.informaticisenzafrontiere.orgItalianNGOmadeup of about 100