Snowwood Infocom Technologies Pvt Ltd

Transcription

1 PRODUCT NAME VENDOR NAME MFASYS (Mobile Enabled Micro Finance Accounting System) Snowwood Infocom Technologies Pvt Ltd 2010 Review* June 2010 Previous Reviews Not applicable SUMMARY Overall impression MFASYS is an integrated banking and accounting system that handles a wide range of functionality in client, loans, savings and linked insurance accounts for Individual Lending, Self Help (Solidarity) Group and Joint Liability Group models. ERP modules for HR and payroll are also available. It comes in web-based and stand alone versions and is suitable for small, medium and large organizations. Managed services and Software as a Service (SaaS - a hosted model where users pay per account hosted) versions are available. Many value added features are offered. Snowwood operates in India. Pros The popular version has a central server with web browser access. Offline desktop version, SaaS (newly commenced) and managed services are available with flexible licensing scheme. MFASYS offers separate HR and Payroll modules All standard functionality for the Indian market is available Mobile client for loan officers for collection entry and SMS based alerts for delinquencies etc. are standard features. Favourable overall feedback from current users Cons User interface and reports generation could be improved The vendor has been operating for 3 years old and has 6 clients. A few product features are not very mature since these products are not used by Indian MFIs. The India focus implies that additional customization may be required for international deployments. Functionality suited for global markets such as Till, Multicurrency, Budget, Teller, Treasury, Shares, and Customer Relationship features are not available IT expertise required If the MFI hosts the server application, it needs an MS SQL Server administrator and basic systems administrator. No additional IT expertise is needed if administration is managed by Snowwood. *Please consider the profile of a typical user when reading this review. Evaluations are conducted based on how well the product performs for the type of user indicated in the client profile section. 1

2 CLIENTS Size ( clients) Small (less than 5,000) Medium (5,000-25,000) Medium-Large (25,000-50,000) with SQL version Large (more than 50,000) Other (specify) Type of institution Commercial Bank Microfinance Bank Community Bank Finance Companies Savings and Credit Associations Cooperatives and Credit Unions Non-profit Organizations User feedback (Sample of users) See User Surveys for detailed ratings. Overall Rating (Excellent, Good, Average, or Poor) Good Excellent Average Name of User Belstar Investment & Finance Private Limited (India) Anonymous (India) Samasta Microfinance Ltd. (India) Installation by region See RFI for installations by country. Total Number of Clients (MFI) Europe and Central Asia 0 Sub Saharan Africa 0 East Asia and the Pacific 0 South Asia 6 Middle East and North Africa 0 Latin America and the Caribbean 0 Comments: All 6 clients located in India. RATINGS: * poor ** fair *** good ****excellent Functionality *** MFASYS supports a range of functionality including savings, individual, joint liability group (JLG) and self help group (SHG) lending models, and linked insurance. MFASYS also offers separate HR and Payroll modules well suited for the Indian market. These modules contain built-in approval checks to decrease fraud. The solution integrates an accounting system with user definable GL codes and code mapping for generated accounting transactions. It also integrates assets and cost. Additional features include mandatory client demographic details for impact assessment, transfer of members between branches, division of larger centers, securitization and credit bureau reporting. Credit scoring and check modules can be customized on request. Mobile client for loan officers for collection entry and SMS based alerts for delinquencies etc. are standard features. Users have given a rating on average of above Good for Functionality. 2

3 Budget, Teller and Treasury, Shares, Collateral and Customer Relationship features are not available. Further, cards and foreign exchange features are not offered. Ease of use ** MFASYS has an uncomplicated User Interface. It provides the ability to do bulk entry and approval of member registration and loan applications and approvals with default values provided. Though the functionality exists, there is scope for improvement in terms of navigating the User Interface to reduce the number of clicks needed to do certain operations. User Interface could be improved, for example, to find a specific client s details quickly through ID rather than the top-down approach from the Division Level. There could be tighter options for GL heads in the Accounts package for entry of Vouchers. Context sensitive help is not available. Currently only English language is supported. Users have given a rating, on average, of close to Excellent, for Ease of Use. Management reporting *** All the reports required by the Indian Regulator are provided in addition to standard Accounting, MIS and Financial reports in lightweight HTML format as well as pdf, Excel and Word. SMS alerts for Management are provided. The reports however are not designed for international regulatory standards. These can be customized upon specific customer request. However, while the content and information exists, the reports could be more user-friendly and easier to read and analyze. Users have given a rating on average of Good for Management Reporting. Implementation/ Training/ Support **** Snowwood has a well defined implementation methodology encompassing specifications, customization and parametrization, user tests, migration, piloting, phased roll-out and support services. Snowwood s implementations at the users site have gone according to schedule which is a strong plus. Users have rated implementation, training and support consistently as Good. Customer support is consistently rated Excellent. Technical capabilities **** MFASYS is built on the Microsoft ASP.Net platform (using C#) and MS SQL Server 2008 database. Software can be accessed through a web browser on any computer over LAN, WAN or broadband connectivity. It also features a standalone desktop with offline mode option. Reports are generated in HTML using Business Objects and all other formats like excel and pdf are supported using Crystal reports. Standard back-up and recovery procedures are in place. Security in the form of SSL encryption, granular user access privileges, designation and data scope is provided. 3

4 High-end Server hardware is required to support 15,000 50,000 Clients: Windows Server 2008, IBM 3650 (2U) XEON Intel Xeon Quad Core Processor 2 GHz, 8 GB RAM. Users given a rating from Fair to Excellent on technical capabilities. COST SUMMARY Range of user budgets (See User Surveys for detailed budget) The three surveyed users invested in software licenses and annual maintenance totalling $77,820, $44,000, and $64,110 (total of $100,000 including server and connectivity) respectively. Hardware and other IT costs were not provided by the first 2 MFIs. Standard costs Unit Comments License One time license fee $43,500, for large customers Per branch SaaS model per active client Additional modules $550 per branch $0.022 per active client per month (no active customers yet) $20,000 per additional module Implementation fees Parameterization, installation and data migration Client specific customization is charged at $15 per man hour Installation including simple migration is done free of charge, while more complex data migration is charged for at $15 per man hour. Training Per man hour $12 per hour per technician. Typically totals $720 based on 3 trainers for 2 days, 10 hours each. Onsite user training of users in English and local language is provided Maintenance % of license fee 15% of application software license per year Pricing Cases (details in RFI) Clients Users Branches % Urban/ % Rural Price Case 1: MFI with Loan, Deposit, Domestic Transfer Products 100, /50 $146,220 Case 2: MFI with Group and Individual Loan Products 40, /80 $74,220 Case 3: MFI with Individual Loan and Deposit Products 15, /20 $29,820 Comments: Offer desktop model, SaaS model, and managed services with different pricing schemes. 4

5 DELIVERY CHANNELS FRONT OFFICE Functionality Map of MFASYS CLIENTS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Teller mgmt Loans Savings Transfers Others ATM POS Mobile Banking PDA Client information Potential client information Customer Relationship Mgmt (CRM) Individual loans Solidarity groups with individual loans Solidarity groups with group loans Collateral mgmt Guarantor mgmt Credit Scoring Savings account Current account Overdraft account Term deposit Planned savings Group savings Interbranch Interbank International Batch Payment card Check mgmt Foreign exchange Insurance LEGEND Function not covered BACK OFFICE NETWORK Function covered at less than 50% Function covered between 50 and 75% Function covered at more than 75% Function covered by additional module Function covered by partner software ADMINI- STRATION HR administration Payroll Share mgmt FINANCE & ACCOUNTING Finance Budget mgmt Treasury mgmt Asset mgmt Accounting Chart of accounts mgmt Sub-ledger updates Accounting GL REPORTING Operational reporting Regulatory authorities reporting Financial reporting Management reporting PC stand alone On line (WAN) Centralized LAN Decentralized with consolidation of Database transfer With off line option Incremental data transfer 5