Hi Friends, As a Techpreneur and Contributor to Mifos[1], I've been watching this thread with unabated excitement! First off, thanks to Markus who's been working his socks off on this Mifos [r]evolution. Indeed, we're glad to witness so much interest in the Fineract Proposal and adoption as an Apache project. For a Mifos family that's spread across multiple timezones co-ordinating our efforts for the past few years managing volunteer contributions, practising development methodology and making innovations on the way, it's wonderful to see the project evolving into the Apache umbrella and we believe this will go a long way into shaping Mifos as a leading Open Source project.
Though I was in Santa Clara this time last year on a brief project, my heart has always been here in India and I returned to continue the work we started. My firm SanJose Solutions, started in 2014 summer, is a Bangalore based startup and up-and-coming Mifos partner. It is here that our mission of fighting poverty through technology has taken shape and root. Mifos is actually an entire eco-system of (mostly) Open Source software and products with the project at https://github.com/openMF/mifosx <https://github.com/openMF/mifosx/graphs/contributors> at the base of the platform. There are multiple front-ends on top of the Mifos Platform, including the Community App[2], the Mifos Android Client and Musoni System[3]. My own startup built MifosX Messenger[4] (GPLv3) with Ruby-Sinatra, to enable Mifos partners around the world to provide bulk SMS to Financial Institutions. Going forward, we want to provide this to the bottom of pyramid users and organizations. We also packaged Mifos as a Debian package, setup and hosted the repo and simplified the installation process[5]. We built Mifos Developer Vagrant box to help accelerate development of Mifos[6]. The point I'm making is that each of these are notable Open Source projects in their own right and we are at a time in our evolution when we are well positioned as a partner in the Apache Ecosystem to cross-pollinate other projects as well. Currently we at SanJose Solutions are working with Kifiya Financial Technologies[7] to Digitize their Financial Services platform to be launched next spring/summer in Ethiopia. Like the other partners we are thankful for all your support voiced on this thread and once again it's a dream taking shape here. Please keep the interest and fuel our community with your passion and enthusiasm! Indeed as a firm carrying the Partner carrying the Mifos banner in my part of the world, I want to +1 my support for the Apache licensing. Cheers All! [1] http://mifos.org/blog/star-contributor-terence-monteiro/ [2] https://github.com/openMF/CommunityApp [3] http://musonisystem.com/ [4] https://github.com/SanjoseSolutions/mifosx-messenger [5] https://mifosforge.jira.com/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=85622932 [6] https://mifosforge.jira.com/wiki/display/MDZ/Quick+Developer+Box+VM+Setup [7] www.kifiya.com -- Best Regards, Terence Monteiro, www.sanjosesolutions.in On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 5:59 PM, John D. Ament <john.d.am...@gmail.com> wrote: > This looks like a great proposal. I see you have two mentors listed, I'd > be willing to help out as a third mentor. > > A couple of notes: > > - You're changing license from MPL to AL. I'm assuming everyone is ok with > that change? > - Looking at your contributors list > https://github.com/openMF/mifosx/graphs/contributors > Keith Woodlock is currently your largest contributor but is not listed as > an initial committer. I'm assuming he has left the project or some other > arrangement and thus will not be continuing on, but will he be willing to > provide an SGA? If he made those contributions as a part of his > employment, it may be ok for his employer at the time to provide that SGA > (I'll let others comment). This is possibly the same for "John Woodlock" > > John > > > On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 2:32 AM Markus Geiß <mge...@mifos.org> wrote: > > > Hey all, > > > > hope this finds you well. > > > > We, the Mifos community, want to propose our project for incubation. > > > > Please find the proposal below. > > > > = Fineract Proposal = > > > > == Abstract == > > > > Fineract (\’fīn-,ə-ˌrakt\: A hypercube for digital financial services) is > > an open source system for core banking as a platform. Fineract provides a > > reliable, robust, and affordable solution for entrepreneurs, financial > > institutions, and service providers to offer financial services to the > > world’s 2 billion under and unbanked. > > > > == Proposal == > > > > The aim of this proposal is to bring the Mifos X codebase and community > > under the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) umbrella in order to help > > coordinate the development effort of the growing number of organizations > > which contribute to it, and give it the confidence of the neutral, > > transparent, and open source governance policy of the ASF. > > > > The name Mifos X will remain the property of the Mifos Initiative (a US > > based 501(c)(3)) and will be used for a specific distribution of the > > Fineract code. All development efforts of the Mifos Initiative will be > > transferred to the Fineract project. > > > > == Background == > > > > Mifos X is a mature and robust platform that provides loan, savings, and > > business management functionality based on market proofed requirements. > The > > project was started in 2006 at the Grameen Foundation, initially creating > > the Generation One solutions of Mifos 1 and Mifos 2, the industry’s > first > > open source and web-based MIS, to support the Joint Liability Group (JLG) > > lending methodology created by Mohammed Yunus, which gained him and the > > Grameen Bank the Nobel Peace Prize for his financial work in 2006. > > > > In 2011 the independent Mifos Initiative, a 501(c)(3), was founded with > two > > goals: > > 1. Create the Generation Two solution Mifos X, an extensible API-driven > > platform purpose built for Financial Inclusion > > 2. Build and govern an open source community of users, developers, and > > service providers committed to using Mifos X for Financial Inclusion. > > > > Since then a worldwide community of users, partners, and volunteers has > > grown that utilizes, develops, and supports Mifos X. More than 40 > partners > > from Africa, India, China, South-East Asia and Latin America, with over > 120 > > deployments and 3.5 million clients, have enhanced the platform based on > > regional requirements and national regulatories. > > > > == Rationale == > > > > Financial Inclusion - providing financial services to the world’s 2 > billion > > under and unbanked, enabling them to become a part of the global economy > - > > requires an affordable, reliable, scalable, and robust solution. > > > > The adoption of mobile solutions and digital financial services is > > increasing at an incredible pace and has led to an influx of new > > innovators, financial institutions, and service providers into the > > Financial Inclusion space and into the Mifos community which is growing > at > > an accelerating rate year-over-year since 2012. > > > > Our rationale for joining the ASF is that as an Apache project we can > > better manage the growth and governance of our community and provide the > > community the confidence of sustainable long-term open source management, > > which strengthens their commitment and continues the growth of our > vibrant, > > diverse community, collectively innovating around a single codebase, > > sharing the social mission to eliminate poverty. > > > > == Initial Goals == > > > > The initial goals of the Fineract transition under the ASF umbrella are > to > > establish a new home for an already fully functioning project, and also > > make sure that the entire development community governs itself in the > > Apache Way. > > > > In addition, we will ensure: > > 1. All dependencies are compliant with the Apache License and the ASFs > > licensing policies. > > a. To become compliant a refactoring of the reporting module is > > necessary to be able to swap out the Pentaho Reporting Engine. This work > > will be undertaken during incubation. > > 2. Ongoing development based on our collaboratively established 2016 > > roadmap, and bring the process into the Apache Way. > > 3. Creating releases per Apache guidelines. > > > > == Current Status == > > > > === Meritocracy === > > > > We already have attributes of meritocracy embedded in our community. > > * We have a developer email list which identifies active community > members > > who then become committers . > > * On the user email list new features are introduced and discussed, > > forming the product roadmap, and prioritization is based on merit and > need. > > * We have successfully graduated 13 Google Summer of Code interns, many > of > > whom have become long-term committers and developers to the project. > > > > === Community === > > > > There are more than a hundred developers within an active developer > mailing > > list. We have a large and growing installed base of users (financial > > institutions) and a diverse eco-system of regional service partners who > > support and deploy Mifos in their communities, and solution partners who > > have built financial inclusion solutions on top of Mifos. The community > has > > held three annual conferences (2012, 2013, and 2015) where the community > > gathers to connect implementers with developers, sharing their knowledge > > to collaboratively build innovative solutions. > > > > If Fineract is accepted by the Incubator, transitioning the community to > > embrace the Apache Way of governance would be a primary initial goal. We > > will solicit major existing developers to become committers on the > project > > from the beginning. > > > > === Core Developers === > > > > The core developers are a diverse group of individuals already very > > experienced in open source development. > > > > Edward Cable is a co-founder of the Mifos Initiative, and has established > > the current community and governance model, Sander van der Heijden is the > > CTO of Musoni Services, one of the first companies to create a commercial > > product on top of the platform, that is completely mobile-based, and > Markus > > Geiss started as a volunteer and was appointed Chief Architect this year. > > > > A broad base of committers around the Mifos developer team from Conflux > > Technologies is made up of volunteers (e.g. Michael Vorburger, Product > > Manager Design Studio at Temenos AG, Ishan Khanna a graduate student at > > Bhagwan Parshuram Institute of Technology, or Terence Monteiro, Founder & > > Director of SanJose Foundation) supporting and guiding contributors, and > > governing the code base. > > > > === Alignment === > > > > Transition to ASF is a natural progression towards collaborative software > > development and commercial-friendly standard licensing. Brian Behlendorf > > and Zaheda Bhorat, both open source community leaders, in their role as > > advisors for the Mifos Initiative, helped us to establish a community > that > > shares a vision based on a philosophy that is well aligned with the > Apache > > Way. > > > > == Known Risks == > > > > === Orphaned products === > > > > The community proposing Fineract for incubation is a strong and vibrant > > open source project with a large installed base of users that is growing > at > > an increasing rate year-over-year from 2011 through 2015. In addition to > > the commitment from the non-profit Mifos Initiative to move its > development > > efforts to the Fineract project, the size and diversity of the community > is > > a guarantee against the project being orphaned. > > > > === Inexperience with Open Source === > > > > We have managed Mifos as an open source project since inception. Every > > release has been open source. We have open source community processes, > such > > as a developer mailing list, community conference calls, a collaborative > > and transparent product roadmap, and an annual developer conference open > to > > all. > > > > Our leadership has extensive open source experience. Our chairman, Paul > > Maritz, was CEO of VMWare and CEO of Pivotal where he lead open source > > initiatives at both companies. At Pivotal, he championed the Spring open > > source framework and directed 3 Pivotal projects into Apache projects, > > including Geode, HAWQ, and MADlib. > > > > Our board member Dave Neary has spent 4 years with Red Hat, building > their > > open source developer community, and is a member of the GNOME Foundation > > since 2004. > > > > === Homogenous Developers === > > > > The initial group of committers is heterogeneous when it comes to > corporate > > affiliations. The community is extremely diverse in terms of geography, > the > > backgrounds of developers, and the diversity of roles they play in the > > community, such as users, regional support partners, and solution > partners. > > Since its inception, the entire community has contributed to the software > > across a distributed and transparent infrastructure and environment. > > > > === Reliance on Salaried Developers === > > > > Our developer community consists of a mix of salaried developers who are > > committed to the code base and volunteers. > > > > The salaried developers work for (i) the Mifos Initiative, a 501(c)(3) > > non-profit; (ii) financial institutions that use Mifos X; (iii) regional > > service providers committed to financial inclusion that deploy and > support > > Mifos X in their communities; or (iv) solution partners that build and > > distribute custom solutions on top of Mifos X. > > > > We also have pure volunteers who contribute, often through hackathons and > > corporate social responsibility programs such as Benetech’s Social > Coding 4 > > Good, LinkedIn’s Day for Good, Google’s GoogleServe, ThoughtWorks Social > > Impact Program, and VMware Take 3 Sabbatical program. > > > > This diversity of roles and developers adds to the sustainability of the > > project. > > > > === Relationships with Other Apache Products === > > > > Currently we are utilizing some Apache projects, like Tomcat, POI, > > commons-lang, or HttpComponents, there are no additional relationships > > right now. In 2016 further Apache projects, like Apache OpenJPA, and > Apache > > Geode, will be introduced to the project. > > > > The platform is built on top of the Spring Framework, utilizing multiple > > modules, like Spring Data, Spring Web, or Spring Security. > > > > === An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand === > > > > While we respect the reputation of the Apache brand we see a benefit for > > both sides. We bring a stable and mature community with a deep rooted > > social mission and are able to give Fineract a solid home as an open > source > > project following an established development model. > > > > == Documentation == > > > > Information about Mifos X can be found at > > https://mifosforge.jira.com/wiki/display/MIFOSX/Welcome+to+Mifos+X. > > > > == Initial Source == > > > > Initial source is available on GitHub under the MPLv2 at > > https://github.com/openMF/mifosx. > > > > == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == > > > > The Mifos Initiative owns all copyright to all contributions and has the > > legal right to sign the ASF Software Grant Agreement. As soon as Fineract > > is approved to join Apache Incubator, the source code will be > transitioned > > via the Software Grant Agreement onto ASF infrastructure and in turn made > > available under the Apache License, version 2.0. > > > > == External Dependencies == > > > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Vendor | Library | License | > > Compatible | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Amazon.com, Inc. | AWS Java SDK | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Apache Software Foundation | Commons | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Apache Software Foundation | Tomcat | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Apache Software Foundation | POI | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Apache Software Foundation | HTTPClient | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Ben Fortuna | iCal4j | BSD 3-clause | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Boxfuse GmbH | Flyway DB | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Bruce Dunwiddie^1^ | JavaCSV | LGPL v2.1 | no > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Google, Inc. | gson | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Google, Inc. | guava | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | iText Group NV | iText | MPL v1.1 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Jayway | JsonPath | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Jayway | RESTassured | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | JUnit | JUnit | EPL v1 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Michael Vorburger | MariaDB4J | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Oracle, Corp. | JAX-RS | CDDL v1 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Oracle, Corp. | Jersey | CDDL v1.1 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Oracle, Corp.^2^ | MySQL Connector/J | GPL v2 | no > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Pentaho, Corp.^3^ | Reporting Engine | LGPL v2.1 | no > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Pentaho, Corp.^3^ | Reporting Library | LGPL v2.1 | no > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Pivotal Software, Inc. | Spring Boot | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Pivotal Software, Inc. | Spring Framework | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Pivotal Software, Inc. | Spring Security | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Sam Pullar | Mustache | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Square, Inc. | retrofit | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Square, Inc. | okhttp | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Stephen Colebourne | Joda-Time | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Szczepan Faber | Mockito | MIT | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Terracotta, Inc | Quartz | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > | Terracotta, Inc | Ehache | AL v2 | yes > > | > > > > > +----------------------------+-------------------+--------------+------------+ > > * ^1^ = can be removed > > * ^2^ = can be replaced > > * ^3^ = need an abstraction on our side to become replaceable > > > > == Cryptography == > > > > The only cryptography included by the project will be via library > > inclusion, and will be used to encrypt stored user data on mobile devices > > and in cloud storages. > > > > == Required Resources == > > > > === Mailing lists === > > > > * priv...@fineract.incubator.apache.org (moderated subscriptions) > > * comm...@fineract.incubator.apache.org > > * d...@fineract.incubator.apache.org > > * u...@fineract.incubator.apache.org > > > > === Git Repository === > > > > https://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator-fineract.git > > > > === Issue Tracking === > > > > JIRA Project Fineract (FINERACT) > > > > === Other Resources === > > > > * Project website (http://fineract.incubator.apache.org) > > * Fineract Wiki pages ( > > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT > > ) > > > > == Initial Committers == > > > > The following list comprises the current long term committers and does > not > > contain occasional developers. > > > > * Vishwas Babu AJ (vishwas at confluxtechnologies dot com) > > * Edward Cable (edcable at mifos dot org) > > * Andrew Dzakpasu (andrewdzakpasu at musoni dot eu) > > * Markus Geiss (mgeiss at mifos dot org) > > * Sander van der Heijden (sander at musoni dot eu) > > * Ishan Khanna (ishan1604 at gmail dot com) > > * Myrle Krantz (mkrantz at mifos dot org) > > * Terence Monteiro (terence at sanjosesolutions dot in) > > * Adi Nayaran Raju (adi dot raju at confluxtechnologies dot com) > > * Gaurav Saini (gsaini at apache dot org) > > * Nazeer Hussain Shaik (nazeer dot shaik at confluxtechnologies dot com) > > * Michael Vorburger (mike at vorburger dot ch) > > > > == Affiliations == > > > > * Vishwas Babu AJ (Conflux Technologies) > > * Ed Cable (The Mifos Initiative) > > * Andrew Dzakpasu (Musoni Systems) > > * Markus Geiss (The Mifos Initiative) > > * Sander van der Heijden (Musoni Systems) > > * Myrle Krantz (The Mifos Initiative) > > * Terence Monteiro (SanJose Foundation) > > * Adi Nayaran Raju (Conflux Technologies) > > * Nazeer Hussain Shaik (Conflux Technologies) > > > > == Sponsors == > > > > === Champion === > > > > Ross Gardler > > > > === Nominated Mentors === > > * Ross Gardler > > * Roman Shaposhnik > > > > === Sponsoring Entity === > > Incubator PMC > > > > Cheers > > > > > > *Markus Geiss* > > Chief Architect > > RADAR, The Mifos Initiative > > mge...@mifos.org | Skype: mgeiss.mifos.org | Mobil: +49.152.295.05306 | > > http://mifos.org <http://facebook.com/mifos> > > <http://www.twitter.com/mifos> > > >
