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Most microfinance organizations use paper and pencil in the field to record transactions. Unlike a bank, this means that data must be recorded after the fact. Usually this is done as part of the workflow of the field officer (loan officer) who comes to the office to deposit the cash and make entries into a computerized system. Moreover, in order to keep things simple with thousands of transactions per loan officer per week, MFIs have typically choosen to not accept partial payments and to require certain amounts of savings (when allowed by law). This leads to a set of Expected Transactions that can be calculated based on the loan schedule and the mandatory savings amounts.
Both of these dynamics introduce a new requirement beyond what is found in typical banking applications, namely that a bulk-entry form is created to allow the loan officer to quickly reconcile paper records (which can also be pre-printed from the MIS in advance of the meetings) with the system's records. Because it is important that a system be based on transactions (not balances of accounts), the idea becomes that there is a set of expected transactions that are then sent to the transaction engine and recorded in the system. This is a kind of two-stage transaction record, something recommended in system design of this type.
Here are some graphical representations of how these screens may look with notations explaining some functionality.
- screen one:
- screen two:
-- JamesDailey - 09 Jan 2004
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