Grameen Foundation today announced that Mifos®, its open source technology solution, has earned high marks in its first rating on the Microfinance Software Listings and Reviews published by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). The leading resource for information on microfinance software products, it gave Mifos maximum points for technical capabilities and for its suite of professional services. The reviews are conducted by independent evaluators with feedback from users.

Launched in 2006, Mifos provides microfinance institutions (MFIs) with both a centralized, web-enabled platform and an online hosted model (“Mifos Cloud”).  Its high-level security features, connectivity, flexibility and overall architecture earned Mifos the highest marks for technical capabilities.  Additionally, it received 4 out of 4 stars for the comprehensive implementation, training and support provided by Grameen Foundation and its specialists in the various regions.

Visit the Grameen Foundation pressroom to read the full press release.  See below for full details of the review.

Review Process

The reviews are a product of CGAP’s Information Systems Program, a joint initiative of CGAP and the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme.  Every few years, CGAP conducts this formal review process. Mifos was part of the second round of the 2009-2010 Reviews.  The other software reviews can be found in the CGAP Technology Resource Center. Grameen Foundation is proud to have participated in this review and pleased with the positive feedback our software has received.

Independent consultants from Horus Development Finance  in coordination with CGAP, conducted a thorough and exhaustive review of our software including information provided by us, the vendor, analysis of a series of test cases performed during a product demonstration, and user feedback from at least 3 MFIs.  For full details on CGAP’s Review Methodology, click here.

The various portions of the review are linked to below:

• Mifos Profile on CGAP Software Listings
• CGAP Review (.pdf) | French version (.pdf)
• Completed Mifos Request for Information (RFI) (.pdf)
• Grameen Foundation Published Response to Review (.pdf)

Using Mifos? Rate our Software

Let the rest of the community know you are using Mifos.  Share your feedback on the Mifos product through our CGAP Software Listing.  Click here to submit your rating.

Excerpts from the Review

Perfect Score of 4 Stars on Implementation/Training/Support

Strong user feedback showed our comprehensive approach to technology implementation including business consulting, process optimization, and effective change management. Our open source community and online resources provide a readily available source of support for users worldwide.

“Surveyed users reported Mifos as Good to Excellent on implementation and training and support services provided by the Mifos team and their partners.

The Mifos implementation methodology is based on a thorough process and includes business process optimization of the MFI with the new technology. Mifos provides training sessions, including a Train-the-Trainers module for key staff to replicate their know-how throughout the MFI. Consistent with the open–source approach, the methodology can be adopted by any MFI which prefers to implement the solution on its own.

Grameen Foundation has alliances with 6 partners (in South and East Asia and East Africa) for installation, training, and support services.

A community web portal allows users to have access to technical documentation, guides, best practices, and support resources. The web portal also provides a platform for knowledge sharing between the community members and contributors who continuously improve Mifos with customization and new features.

Grameen Foundation also offers “Mifos Cloud,” a “software-as-a-service” model hosted in Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing environment. In this model, users pay Grameen annual fees per client to maintain their database off-site rather than at the MFI. Users access the solution over the internet.

It should be noted that all Mifos services are, for the present time, delivered only in English.”

Perfect Score of 4 Stars on Technical Capabilities

This score captures the flexibility and scalability of Mifos as a highly secure web-based platform offering real-time access to data through easy delivery mechanisms like the Cloud:

“Mifos is a centralized, web-enabled application based on open-source development model and can be hosted in any open source OS or Windows Server 2003. It can be accessed from workstations with a web browser connected to a LAN or the Internet. It can also be installed and run on a stand-alone PC. The application supports the open MySQL 5.0x database.

 

The solution integrates a high-level security for user identification, access to the database, and data exchange with the server.

At the logical level, users are granted with granular, role-based permission facilities which manage hierarchy, task assignments, and data scope. Comprehensive audit trails capture all system changes except for product parameterization.

 

The “Mifos Cloud” version offers top-tier security and disaster recovery and secures data from corruption.”