Customer Classes

Contains the Customer Classes for Mifos such as Customer, Client, Group, and Center. Also the Master Data related to Customers.

Customer Classes — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Class diagram of the Customer related classes. This includes: Customer - abstract calss Client, Group and Center are based on. Client- type of Customer representing an individual Group - type of Customer representing a collection of Clients Center - type of Customer representing a collection of Groups Customer Level - level in a Customer hierarchy Customer Master data reference values related to Customer.

Customer Class Diagram — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Customer is an abstract class that contains the common elements of the three customer levels: Client, Group, and Center. This diagram is the first page of the class diagram showing the major relationships with external classes.

Customer Class Diagram (internal view) — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

View of the Customer class showing the internal subordinate classes.

Client Class Diagram — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Client represents a type of Customer that is an individual. Clients are typically recruited by and managed by a Loan Officer and assigned to a particular Office. Clients need to apply, be approved, and perhaps trained before they are eligible for a loan.

Group Class Diagram — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Groups are at the heart of the microfinance methodology. A group can have one or more clients or no clients. In some MFI methodologies, groups are the primary units the MFIs interact with; groups maintain a single group savings account and receive a single group loan from the MFI. In other cases, all MFI loans are provided directly to the clients and groups are simply a collection of individual clients. The benefits of the group include: By vouching for other members of the group, the group provides due diligence of creditworthiness. By co-signing the loan, the group provides insurance of payment by individuals. The group provides reinforcement, esprit de’ corps, encouragement. By aggregating loans and accounts, operations can be more efficient.

Center Class Diagram — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Center is a type of Customer representing a collection of Groups. It is the top level of a Customer hierarchy. In the same way that there are groups of borrowers, there are “groups” of groups of borrowers, called centers. The Head Office can choose not to include the center hierarchy level for their MFI. But if center hierarchy is included, all groups must belong to a center. Clients cannot belong to a center directly without belonging to a group.

Customer Master Data Classes. — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Shows the master data classes related to Customers. These include: Position - role a Client plays. Members of the group can be assigned to different Positions. One member can hold more than one Position. But, one Position cannot be held by more than one member. Customers (clients and groups) and accounts (loan accounts and savings accounts) of an MFI, each have a defined state flow diagram. That is, from creation, each of these entities passes through various states or statuses. Flags are associated with some states to provide additional information on the states. In other words, flags provide predefined reasons or explanations for the states. In version 1.0, only Closed and Cancelled states have flags associated with them. Also, the flags associated with each one of these states are predefined by the system.

Customer Level,State and Flag — by Kevin Shea — last modified 2008-03-01 10:50

Represents a level in the Customer hierarchy. A set of Customer States can be defined for each Customer Level. Customers (clients and groups) and accounts (loan accounts and savings accounts) of an MFI, each have a defined state flow diagram. That is, from creation, each of these entities passes through various states or statuses. Flags are associated with some states to provide additional information on the states. In other words, flags provide predefined reasons or explanations for the states. In version 1.0, only Closed and Cancelled states have flags associated with them. Also, the flags associated with each one of these states are predefined by the system.