The following is our first "Technical Topic", a regular series of guest posts from developers in our community exploring some of the projects they're working on. Lukasz Chudy serves up a closer look at REST APIs.
The latest version of Mifos brings the new, exciting functionality - REST API module. Why is it so interesting?
Integrated REST API module allows one to execute numerous Mifos transactions with independence from the application User Interface. It means that you can disburse loans or apply deposits to a particular account via a simple URL link without using Mifos web interface. This simplicity gives you variety of possibilities.
By making Mifos “talk nicely” and interact with other applications, the extensibility of Mifos goes far beyond just a web-based MIS to manage the loan portfolio. These APIs are a big leap forward in enabling you the community to shape Mifos to meet your needs. You can for example create your own scripts for managing customers and accounts or develop fully functional mobile application. Let’s put some light on the key functionalities included in the REST Api module.
REST API module provides a large set of methods which are responsible for variety of operations in Mifos.
For the month of January 2012, we're showcasing Lukasz Chudy, one of the many Lukasz' at SolDevelo. Lukasz has stepped up to lead QA in the community during the recent transition of Mifos. You can find Lukasz on JIRA helping to orchestrate many a smooth release and strengthening the quality of Mifos so it MFIs can better serve the poor.
Each month we honor one of our top volunteer contributors from around the world. With all the transition going on with Mifos and the community, our Star Contributor recognition has been on a slight hiatus. It's now back and we'll be recognizing a volunteer each month. Keep contributing so we can shine the spotlight on you!
SolDevelo released Mifos 2.2.3 on January 4, 2012. This is the last maintenance release before on the Marie G branch before Release H. It contains more than 67 resolved tickets including numerous fixes to the user interface, various fixes to improve stability of embedded BIRT reports, and the completion of APIs to apply transactions to Mifos. You can see these new APIs in action in version 1.2 of the Mifos Android Client which SolDevelo launched on December 23.
SolDevelo released Mifos 2.2.2 on November 30, 2011. This release contains more than 20 bug fixes, a new German translation, support for adding question groups to the close savings/loan account workflow, and completion of the first set of APIs for Mifos.
SolDevelo's inclusion of these additional APIs completes the REST API Module for all read/view functionality. This means that you can now build an external client/app/module that calls and reads anything from Mifos (i.e. viewing clients, groups, centers, accounts, repayment schedules). SolDevelo used these APIs as the foundation for the first version of their Mifos Android Client which is available for download in the Android Market. Conflux Technologies and Udai Gupta are also using these APIs as they proceed on their offline client which is being developed as a Chrome Browser Extension.
The community continues to respond to the need of its users as the questions group feature was requested by Grameen Koota to ease their process of upgrading to the latest Mifos codebase.
Grameen Foundation is pleased to announce the release of Mifos 2.2.1 which has been fully developed and supported by the SolDevelo team, Udai Gupta, and other members of the community. Major enhancements include the first API module in Mifos, the ability to attach client photos, the flexibility to edit client date of birth and center, a new Telugu translation, and numerous bug fixes. Beyond the new functionality and the API module that's been launched, what's most important is this is the first Mifos release that's been purely supported and developed by the community independent of Grameen Foundation.
We are thrilled by the community support for this release. This is a significant release functionally and architecturally and marks a major step in the transition of Mifos from Grameen Foundation to the community.
Rather than simply list off features let's look at what this release means for the community.
Moving Forward
Back in June when Grameen Foundation announced the Mifos transition, Mifos 2.2 was issued as a release candidate and put out there in the community for anyone to use. SolDevelo rose up to the calling and took leadership over maintaining the current branch of Mifos - they've completed a full release cycle on Mifos, fixing nearly two dozen bugs, and building out a variety of functional and architectural enhancements.
Please note the upgrade instructions as well when upgrading to this release.
SolDevelo to Extend Mifos 2.2
SolDevelo, highlighted in this recent newslog post, also announced via the mailing list that they will be supporting and extending the Mifos 2.2 branch. They will be moving Mifos 2.2 from a release candidate to a full production release by fixing any critical bugs and increasing the overall stability of the release.
The Mifos 2.2.1 release is targeted for the beginning of October and will include a new REST API module. This enhancement will make it much easier to integrate Mifos with third party systems and applications including mobile user interfaces, mobile payments, accounting systems, HR systems, and more.
Great news from Mozambique as we have another Mifos deployment live and another Mifos user to welcome to the community. Miguel and Natu from Iniciativa Mifos Moçambique just finished implementing Mifos at Profamilia Moçambique. Miguel is leading efforts to promote and distribute Mifos all throughout Southern Africa - his team has successfully brought the Mifos technology to Associação Progresso in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique and to Kongalend Financial Services in Namibia. Beyond Mozambique, their team is seeking out additional Mifos users to add to the community in Zambia and Cape Verde.
Profamilia Moçambique's microfinance operations serve the province of Inhambane, benefiting the populations of the districts of Inhambane, Zavala, Inharime, Morrumbene through the provision of more inclusive financial services. They target their solidarity group loans at low income customers, particularly women.
The Mifos Data migration toolkit developed by the SunGard Mifos team is now available as a Beta release. The Mifos data migration toolkit can be used to migrate legacy system data into Mifos for MFIs running a Windows environment.
This tool will help Mifos Specialists reduced the time to deploy Mifos. Through the convenient upload of an Excel spreadsheet via the data migration tool, they can more efficiently migrate historical loan and client data. The tool will map the data according to your general ledger accounts and specified Mifos configuration. Currently the Data Migration Toolkit has been tested for Mifos version 2.1 and covers the following functions:
Report examining the technology return on investment (ROI) realized by deploying Mifos® including a hands-on ROI tool and three in-depth case studies documenting technology ROI at four MFIs.
Technology is critical in building strong organizations that can respond nimbly to changes. It is especially important in the microfinance industry, which has grown rapidly over the past decade to serve more than 190 million people globally. This series, undertaken through a partnership between The MasterCard Foundation and Grameen Foundation, examines the cost benefits realized by deploying Mifos® at four microfinance institutions and is a step in advancing knowledge about deploying a management information system at microfinance institutions using diverse operating models.
The report provides an actionable ROI model which any MFI can use to measure the financial benefits of their technology investment in Mifos along with three case studies in which the ROI framework was fully carried out to document the value generated by Mifos technology investment.
Great news from Mozambique as we have another Mifos deployment live and another Mifos user to welcome to the community. Miguel and Natu from Iniciativa Mifos Moçambique just finished implementing Mifos at Profamilia Moçambique. Miguel is leading efforts to promote and distribute Mifos all throughout Southern Africa - his team has successfully brought the Mifos technology to
