Octopus Microfinance Suite

Octopus Newsletter – April 2009 News from the garage   A new version is available (released on the 3rd of April) – Download it now ! Octopus now supports accrual accounting methodology and village banking (Grameen model) The development of the ... [More] savings module is going on: you can now manage current accounts in the software Discover also a new custom report module and the ‘contract accounting contribution’ window..   Roadmap for the next months: Improvement of the savings module, new consolidation process, money transfer between branches, … Any idea or suggestion: post on the forum!     News from the field & the community   India With the latest improvements in the software (non-solidary group and savings), Octopus is now ready to be used in India. After an 2-months assessment period, two MFIs in Delhi and Kolkata have decided to start implementing Octopus in their organization. The challenge is now to set a framework that will ensure a sustainable support in those MFIs. The Octopus team is also discussing with IT companies interested in joining the Octopus community to propose Octopus to their clients, and to contribute in the development in order to improve our MIS according to Indian needs…   Afghanistan Last month, 4 MFIs, 3 of which are not currently using any software, have decided to consider Octopus as a serious alternative solution to manage their data. Parwaz, Madrac and Mofad agreed on working together in order to rationalize their efforts and build in few months an IT platform in Kabul that will ensure a sustainable support.   Central Asia The Octopus team in Kyrgyzstan has visited a dozen of MFIs to gather feedbacks about the latest features of Octopus. The best ideas met on the field will be included in the software by the Bishkek development team in the next iteration.     Join the Community !   Read the Octopus manifesto, and join the already 85 supporters of the project.   Send us your comments or support messages ! Contribute to the project by sharing your thoughts on the forum, and on the wiki. Today, Octopus is the common work of 15 contributors, located in Kyrgyzstan, India, Italy and France. Octopus is operational in 11 MFIs (monitored) and in test in 12 other ones in the world.     Octopus Microfinance is looking for social investors or foundation that could be interested in the project. For more information, contact us.     --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- [Less]

Octopus Newsletter – April 2009  News from the garage  A new version is available (released on the 3rd of April) – Download it now ! Octopus now supports accrual accounting methodology and village ... [More] banking (Grameen model) The development of the savings module is going on: you can now manage current accounts in the software Discover also a new custom report module and the ‘contract accounting contribution’ window..   Roadmap for the next months: Improvement of the savings module, new consolidation process, money transfer between branches, … Any idea or suggestion: post on the forum!     News from the field & the community   India With the latest improvements in the software (non-solidary group and savings), Octopus is now ready to be used in India. After an 2-months assessment period, two MFIs in Delhi and Kolkata have decided to start implementing Octopus in their organization. The challenge is now to set a framework that will ensure a sustainable support in those MFIs. The Octopus team is also discussing with IT companies interested in joining the Octopus community to propose Octopus to their clients, and to contribute in the development in order to improve our MIS according to Indian needs…   Afghanistan Last month, 4 MFIs, 3 of which are not currently using any software, have decided to consider Octopus as a serious alternative solution to manage their data. Parwaz, Madrac and Mofad agreed on working together in order to rationalize their efforts and build in few months an IT platform in Kabul that will ensure a sustainable support.   Central Asia The Octopus team in Kyrgyzstan has visited a dozen of MFIs to gather feedbacks about the latest features of Octopus. The best ideas met on the field will be included in the software by the Bishkek development team in the next iteration.     Join the Community !   Read the Octopus manifesto, and join the already 85 supporters of the project.   Send us your comments or support messages ! Contribute to the project by sharing your thoughts on the forum, and on the wiki. Today, Octopus is the common work of 15 contributors, located in Kyrgyzstan, India, Italy and France. Octopus is operational in 11 MFIs (monitored) and in test in 12 other ones in the world.     Octopus Microfinance is looking for social investors or foundation that could be interested in the project. For more information, contact us.     [Less]

Remember Delhi's conference insights : ... that means educating and strengthening human resources on the technology front by either bringing in an expert consultant, or as Mr. Pezziardi from Octopus said, “Beefing up the MFI staff in house.” ? Every ... [More] story on the field reminds us this point. You can have the smartest technologies, if you don't manage to train a MIS expert and obtain his loyalty, your MIS will be more alienating than empowering. Imagine this situation : you want to improve something in your MFI's operations or reporting, but you can not ! Just wait for the next release in one year perhaps ...We are really focused on finding the best approaches to create capacity on the field, Octopus Universities are one of this means, the WikiPus another : it is as easy to use it than to contribute to it (remember Wikipedia ?). We realize that efficient MIS professionals not only know about technology, but are also skilled in Micro Finance .. this is a unique challenge we are facing, and we like that. Please share with us your best ideas about co-learning environments ! [Less]

 Remember Delhi's conference insights : ".. that means educating and strengthening human resources on the technology front by either bringing in an expert consultant, or as Mr. Pezziardi from Octopus said, “Beefing up the MFI staff in house.” ? Every ... [More] story on the field reminds us this point. You can have the smartest technologies, if you don't manage to train a MIS expert and obtain his loyalty, your MIS will be more alienating than empowering. Imagine this situation : you want to improve something in your MFI's operations or reporting, but you can not ! Just wait for the next release in one year perhaps ...We are really focused on finding the best approaches to create capacity on the field, Octopus Universities are one of this means, the WikiPus another : it is as easy to use it than to contribute to it (remember Wikipedia ?). We realize that efficient MIS professionals not only know about technology, but are also skilled in Micro Finance .. this is a unique challenge we are facing, and we like that. Please share with us your best ideas about co-learning environments ! [Less]

 Remember Delhi's conference insights : ".. that means educating and strengthening human resources on the technology front by either bringing in an expert consultant, or as Mr. Pezziardi from Octopus said, “Beefing up the MFI staff in house.” ? Every ... [More] story on the field reminds us this point. You can have the smartest technologies, if you don't manage to train a MIS expert and obtain his loyalty, your MIS will be more alienating than empowering. Imagine this situation : you want to improve something in your MFI's operations or reporting, but you can not ! Just wait for the next release in one year perhaps ...We are really focused on finding the best approaches to create capacity on the field, Octopus Universities are one of this means, the WikiPus another : it is as easy to use it than to contribute to it (remember Wikipedia ?). We realize that efficient MIS professionals not only know about technology, but are also skilled in Micro Finance .. this is a unique challenge we are facing, and we like that. Please share with us your best ideas about co-learning environments ! [Less]

 Remember Delhi's conference insights : ".. that means educating and strengthening human resources on the technology front by either bringing in an expert consultant, or as Mr. Pezziardi from Octopus said, “Beefing up the MFI staff in house.” ? Every ... [More] story on the field reminds us this point. You can have the smartest technologies, if you don't manage to train a MIS expert and obtain his loyalty, your MIS will be more alienating than empowering. Imagine this situation : you want to improve something in your MFI's operations or reporting, but you can not ! Just wait for the next release in one year perhaps ...We are really focused on finding the best approaches to create capacity on the field, Octopus Universities are one of this means, the WikiPus another : it is as easy to use it than to contribute to it (remember Wikipedia ?). We realize that efficient MIS professionals not only know about technology, but are also skilled in Micro Finance .. this is a unique challenge we are facing, and we like that. Please share with us your best ideas about co-learning environments ! [Less]

 Remember Delhi's conference insights : ".. that means educating and strengthening human resources on the technology front by either bringing in an expert consultant, or as Mr. Pezziardi from Octopus said, “Beefing up the MFI staff in house.” ? Every ... [More] story on the field reminds us this point. You can have the smartest technologies, if you don't manage to train a MIS expert and obtain his loyalty, your MIS will be more alienating than empowering. Imagine this situation : you want to improve something in your MFI's operations or reporting, but you can not ! Just wait for the next release in one year perhaps ...We are really focused on finding the best approaches to create capacity on the field, Octopus Universities are one of this means, the WikiPus another : it is as easy to use it than to contribute to it (remember Wikipedia ?). We realize that efficient MIS professionals not only know about technology, but are also skilled in Micro Finance .. this is a unique challenge we are facing, and we like that. Please share with us your best ideas about co-learning environments ! [Less]

 Remember Delhi's conference insights : ".. that means educating and strengthening human resources on the technology front by either bringing in an expert consultant, or as Mr. Pezziardi from Octopus said, “Beefing up the MFI staff in house.” ? Every ... [More] story on the field reminds us this point. You can have the smartest technologies, if you don't manage to train a MIS expert and obtain his loyalty, your MIS will be more alienating than empowering. Imagine this situation : you want to improve something in your MFI's operations or reporting, but you can not ! Just wait for the next release in one year perhaps ...We are really focused on finding the best approaches to create capacity on the field, Octopus Universities are one of this means, the WikiPus another : it is as easy to use it than to contribute to it (remember Wikipedia ?). We realize that efficient MIS professionals not only know about technology, but are also skilled in Micro Finance .. this is a unique challenge we are facing, and we like that. Please share with us your best ideas about co-learning environments ! [Less]

Une vidéo présentant le challenge Octopus ...Le 4 avril, lors de la Table Ronde à 20h30, nous évoquerons  les questions de valeur, d'impact social, comparées au classique monde des coûts. Wikipedia dépense une vingtaine de salaires par an, c'est une ... [More] PME minable (!), son impact est pourtant énorme. De même, qui est la "première" ONG française ? Celle qui dépense le plus ...? [Less]

Une vidéo présentant le challenge Octopus ...