https://github.com/apache/fineract/commit/c4301843bd36c7b50b5be9c0f5dd6129a050964d
On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 9:04 AM Awasum Yannick <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks very much James. > > This FAQ will help enable new contributors and make their lives easier as > they get started. > > On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 7:57 AM Sendoro Juma <[email protected]> wrote: > >> +1 >> >> >> On May 14, 2019 at 11:16 PM James Dailey <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi all - Please note recent changes and updates to the project FAQ. >> If you see any issues with this, please let me know, make a comment on >> that page: >> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ >> >> I'm including it here in the hopes it gets a few more reads. >> >> Thanks >> @jdailey67 >> >> Fineract FAQ <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ> >> >> >> >> >> >> - What is this project about? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-Whatisthisprojectabout?> >> - Is this Mifos? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-IsthisMifos?> >> - What is the difference between Fineract and Fineract-CN? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-WhatisthedifferencebetweenFineractandFineract-CN?> >> - Do I have to get the code to use the solution? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-DoIhavetogetthecodetousethesolution?> >> - What is the process for getting the code and setting up a >> development environment? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-Whatistheprocessforgettingthecodeandsettingupadevelopmentenvironment?> >> - How do I get up to speed on development tasks? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-HowdoIgetuptospeedondevelopmenttasks?> >> - What is our Consensus approach? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-WhatisourConsensusapproach?> >> - I'm new to Open Source, what is this all about? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-I'mnewtoOpenSource,whatisthisallabout?> >> - Where do I find .... >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-WheredoIfind....> >> - Where do I get the Pentaho Reports? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-WheredoIgetthePentahoReports?> >> - How do I set this up on my machine? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-HowdoIsetthisuponmymachine?> >> - How do I get something changed in the code? How do I get a feature >> added? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-HowdoIgetsomethingchangedinthecode?HowdoIgetafeatureadded?> >> - I have a great idea for a collaboration tool for the community, how >> do I make that happen? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-Ihaveagreatideaforacollaborationtoolforthecommunity,howdoImakethathappen?> >> - I represent a Company and want to contribute, how do I do that? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-IrepresentaCompanyandwanttocontribute,howdoIdothat?> >> - I found a security flaw, where do I report that? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-Ifoundasecurityflaw,wheredoIreportthat?> >> - How do I raise a difficult or sensitive topic? >> >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FAQ#FAQ-HowdoIraiseadifficultorsensitivetopic?> >> >> >> What is this project about? >> >> 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 underbanked and unbanked. >> Fineract is aimed at innovative mobile and cloud-based solutions, and >> enables digital transaction accounts for all. >> >> The domain of fineract includes accounts, held by customers, with >> transactions made to those accounts. The types of accounts include credit >> accounts (e.g. loans to customers) and debit accounts (current accounts and >> savings accounts), and for credit accounts there are different kinds of >> interest rate schemes or shared profit schemes. There is other >> functionality that supports use cases for teller operations, basic treasury >> management, accounting, portfolio management, authentication, account >> opening (including KYC), and similar topics that are common to a retail >> banking operation. >> >> Initially aimed at Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Savings >> Cooperatives, and Credit Unions, the fineract solution is not limited to >> those specific institutions. A number of finTech innovators have used >> fineract as their backend solution for offering "Direct Banking" or >> "Neo-Banking" solutions as well as for "Agent Management" in some contexts. >> The backend account transaction system is a common requirement in many >> systems in financial services. >> >> Fineract was donated by Mifos.org, a US based charity with a financial >> inclusion mission. While many members of the PMC trace their involvement to >> the project to financial inclusion, the intent of the project is to attract >> a range of innovators involved in offering account services to consumers >> everywhere. Financial services should be available to all. >> >> Open source allows for the project to build the needed building blocks >> that all kinds of financial institutions can use but we anticipate an >> ecosystem of providers taking this code and building solutions on top of >> it. We encourage that and fully expect those builders to send their >> development priorities and in-house dev teams to the project. We require >> that virtuous cycle. >> >> We imagine a world where financial services are offered by a wide range >> of providers using *commodity* open source software utilizing the most >> modern approaches. >> >> >> Who is using fineract? >> >> (For clarity, those using the mifos.org released solutions, prior to >> incubation at apache foundation, are not counted in this project.) Fineract >> is used by many small to medium sized financial institutions in dozens of >> countries. Larger institutions are considering the use of fineract >> side-by-side with their existing core banking solution (CBS). The >> side-by-side strategy allows for innovative offerings to be done without >> the licensing costs usually associated with commercial CBS. Fineract has >> also been adopted by finTechs to be the backend transaction account engine, >> and is being used in testing-lab environments to assist with system >> integrations. >> >> With proper hosting and front end dev, Fineract is suitable to Credit >> Unions, Microfinance Institutions, Agent Banking solutions, Savings >> Associations, Building Societies, Cooperatives, small Commercial Banks, >> NeoBanks, and Direct Banking solutions. Our vision is that these >> institutions may download and use directly, but perhaps more likely, to >> hire a provider or integrator to provide the complete solution to them. Our >> users are thus both the institutions where fineract is in place and the >> system integrators and vendors where fineract is a significant part of >> their offering. >> Is this Mifos? >> >> The Mifos Initiative, a 501c3 US Charity, contributed the code and >> remains involved with a wrapper and other systems that run "on top of" >> fineract. Many of the developers are on both listservs. However, if you >> are looking for information on the latest mifos release, please proceed to: >> https://mifos.org/take-action/get-mifos/#download. Please understand >> that devs at fineract may not respond to questions about mifos code. >> What is the difference between Fineract and Fineract-CN? >> >> Fineract 1.x is a mature platform with open APIs, while Fineract CN is a >> cloud native, microservice architecture also supporting open banking APIs. >> >> Fineract1.x is a completely different code project from fineract-CN. In >> terms of github repositories, fineract1.x is contained in one repo, while >> fineract-CN is held in dozens of separate github repos - one for each >> microservice. In Fineract1.x the packages encapsulate the different >> functional blocks - e.g. accounts vs transactions, while in Fineract-CN >> these are separate microservices. >> >> Fineract1.x, prior to its donation to Apache was called mifosX, and >> by-design consists of a "headless" solution. That is, fineract1.x is all >> about the APIs. Front end applications can be developed separately and >> connected to fineract1.x (For clarity, Mifos at >> https://github.com/openmf has a number of front ends to illustrate >> available functionality; these are not maintained by fineract, and devs on >> fineract will not respond to issues related to the front ends there.) >> >> *Fineract CN* operates on the principle that financial services are an >> innovative space and so each fineract microservice encapsulates a domain >> that can be combined with other microservices to create new platform >> offerings. Fineract CN microservices can be combined to create new software >> platforms for digital financial service providers. Fineract CN is still in >> its early days, but preliminary tests have shown that a simple >> single-instance laptop deployment of Fineract CN can process over 1000 >> transactions/second. Fineract CN also includes a fully Apache-licensed >> backoffice UI. >> Do I have to get the code to use the solution? >> >> If all you want is to use the solution, or to demo it, we recommend you >> use one of the available builds rather than setting up a development >> environment yourself. The builds, found at http://fineract.apache.org/ >> (Downloads) >> are provided for convenience and should not be used in a production >> environment without fully working out details of operations (e.g. data >> backup) and security. Also, Mifos volunteers continue to post builds for >> specific hosting solutions at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mifos_X >> (e.g. Azure and AWS). >> What is the process for getting the code and setting up a development >> environment? >> >> Please see Contributor's Zone >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Contributor%27s+Zone>, >> essentially you need to get your environment ready, then download from the >> github source and use one of the common IDEs. >> >> In general we ask that you take the time to read the instructions and >> familiarize yourself with the listserv before posting questions about >> building the solution. You can search the listserv archives at >> https://lists.apache.org/list.html?fineract.apache.org . If you find >> something missing from the instructions, we welcome contributions of that >> sort as well. Note that the listserv search is time delimited, so that for >> example this search gets 24 months: >> https://lists.apache.org/[email protected]:lte=24M:pentaho >> (see >> lte=24M) where search term is "pentaho". >> How do I get up to speed on development tasks? >> >> Please see Contributor's Zone >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Contributor%27s+Zone> >> >> >> There are two issue trackers. >> >> - fineract1.x at >> https://issues.apache.org/jira/projects/FINERACT/summary >> - fineract-CN at >> >> https://issues.apache.org/jira/projects/FINCN/issues/FINCN-26?filter=allopenissues >> >> >> A good thing to do is to review an open ticket, especially one with back >> and forth between devs on the listserv or one that is scheduled for an >> upcoming release. It is also useful to review existing pull requests (PRs). >> Pull Requests (PRs) are found here → >> https://github.com/apache/fineract/pulls >> What is our Consensus approach? >> >> Every open source project has to adopt some way to come to agreement on >> new features, new code enhancements, new project directions and fineract >> now uses a lazy consensus approach. In this approach, the changes and >> issues are raised and people are given time to reject or discuss the >> changes, and we rely on contributors to fully vett changes in an >> appropriate way and have their code reviewed. >> >> This is documented at Committer's Zone >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Committer%27s+Zone> >> and Changing Processes >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Changing+Processes> . >> Please note that we expect discussion on the listserv to be the >> primary mode of communication. "If it didn't happen on the list, it didn't >> happen." >> I'm new to Open Source, what is this all about? >> >> Welcome. You may want to first read something about how open source >> projects function (like this >> <https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source>) and in particular >> how the Apache Foundation works. >> https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html. If you are >> interested in contributing to the project, a good way to get started is to >> subscribe to the listserv, review the functional specs on this wiki, browse >> the issue tickets, and start to play around with a build of the software. >> Open source can be a great way to find your community, contribute and get >> feedback, and put your work into public view. This is true for both code >> and the variety of other content needed. >> Where do I find .... >> >> We get a lot of questions about where to find documentation or the answer >> to a specific thing. We do appreciate when people take the time to try to >> find the answer before asking. Once you have new content to propose, a >> ticket or an improvement to documentation, we encourage you to get involved >> on that. Not all contributions are code, take, for example, this FAQ. >> Where do I get the Pentaho Reports? >> >> Fineract does not ship Pentaho reports or the related libraries, due to >> compliance issues with Apache licence. Please head over to the Mifos >> community <https://github.com/openmf> who maintains distributions of >> Fineract that include pentaho. >> How do I set this up on my machine? >> >> First, are you a developer? If you are not, then you may not want to run >> fineract on your local machine. Instead you may want to find one of the >> demo environments already established or make use of one of the existing >> cloud deployments. Also, fineract does not come with a native front end >> UX. The UX is part of the distributions that are provided by third >> parties, including the aforementioned Mifos Community. >> >> If you are a developer, then please see how to set up sections on the >> wiki. >> >> Fineract1.x Fineract User Zone >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Fineract+User+Zone> >> >> >> FneractCN FINERACT CN >> <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/FINERACT+CN> >> How do I get something changed in the code? How do I get a feature >> added? >> >> The project is always interested in ideas about features. That said, we >> notice some people expect that a feature requested is automatically >> developed and incorporated. That is not the case. If you have code to >> suggest, first discuss on the list, add an issue to the issue tracker, and >> then find someone to help you contribute that feature. You are still not >> guaranteed that your feature will make it in, because it must also be >> accepted by the community. >> I have a great idea for a collaboration tool for the community, how do I >> make that happen? >> >> We know there are lots of great collaboration tools. To keep things >> consistent across Apache, there is a philosophy of using current tools >> rather than cutting edge, while acknowledging there's always something new >> and cool. We use email listservs for their backwards compatibility, >> searchability, and simplicity. This wiki has hooks to the issue >> tracker (JIRA) and github commit entries hook to the same JIRA tickets for >> all Pull Requests (PRs). A good flow is: >> >> email discourse >> wiki entry |or| issue (JIRA) >> >> development sprint >> Pull Request >> email list for review and >> confirmation >> I represent a Company and want to contribute, how do I do that? >> >> As stated on http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html, "companies >> and individuals can donate resources and be assured that those resources >> will be used for the public benefit". If you have developers working at >> your company, you may encourage them to work on the project, but note that >> "All of the ASF including the board, the other officers, the committers, >> and the members, are participating as individuals." and further "the ASF >> does not allow corporations to participate directly in Apache project >> management or other governance activities at the ASF; only individuals." >> http://community.apache.org/projectIndependence.html >> I found a security flaw, where do I report that? >> >> Security is a mandatory feature in Apache projects. Please report your >> bug to security AT fineract.apache.org. >> How do I raise a difficult or sensitive topic? >> >> In general, you are invited to discuss problems you see with the Fineract >> project >> openly, on the [email protected] list. In some limited cases, >> please send an email to private @ fineract.apache.org >> <[email protected]>. Addressing problems early and openly will >> keep most problems from becoming too large to handle. A good rule of thumb >> is to compose and then wait overnight before firing off that flame. >> >> >> >> >
