[ajug-members] Micro-lending Web Site

[Dean Wagner]

Not sure I know what to ask.

MySQL comes free with most hosting.  Is it adequate? Or, at what point would we need to look for something else?

There's been a lot of discussion about other frameworks, Groovy, JRuby etc...  If I start out with plain vanilla AJAX,
javascript, PHP and MySql, will we quickly outgrow that technology and/or will it be difficult to switch to a different technology later?  For
instance, swapping out the PHP with servlets.  (javaFx for cell phones?)

The number of images will escalate quickly.  Should I just put them into folders and save a reference in the database or is there a more elegant way 
to manage them?  

Long term the site will be managed by UGA students, so low-end solutions may have the advantage of being understandable and maintainable, by tech-friendly but non-CS students who have a lot of enthusiasm.

I guess I'll try to put up a simple AJAX version in the next couple of weeks.  That will allow some testing of the SQL queries.  

All corrections, comments or suggestions are welcome.


On Friday, February 13, 2009, at 09:06PM, "Tim Watts" <timtw at earthlink.net> wrote:
>Interesting. You've identified some personas and use cases. What is it you 
>specifically want advice on?
>
>
>On Friday 13 February 2009 3:14 pm, Dean Wagner wrote:
>> I have a development project from a non-profit (them and me) that I
>> need advice on.  I've agreed to do it, Pro Bono, but I'm afraid they
>> may get what they paid for (as I am a novice).
>>
>> They do community development work throughout Africa.  Over the next
>> 6 months they want to set up a web ?service? ?application? for micro
>> lending.  My daughter spent the summer driving around the bush and
>> working in the villages for this group.  I'm a business consultant
>> who enjoys Java and has been coming and going from AJUG meetings.  I
>> made a very primitive  AJAX test database which was literally an
>> adaptation of the PHP CRUD tutorial from NetBeans, which worked!  Now
>> talk has gotten serious and I would like advice on the correct
>> architecture/technology/framework and also the content repository.
>>
>> What they imagine is something like kiva.org, a very successful
>> site.  What the site does is act as a broker between Micro-Finance-
>> Institutions (MFI) and individuals (Social Investors, SI) who would
>> like to loan  the small amount of money needed to start a business or
>> whatever in a third world country.  The typical loan is about $500.
>> The typical contribution is about $25.  Many SIs will contribute to
>> the same  micro loan.  When/if  the money is returned (about 90%) ,
>> their portion goes back into an account and can be re-lent by the
>> social investor to another project.  It is called a ?high-touch?
>> charity because the giver gets to see pictures and get reports of
>> success for their contribution.  This means a lot of images, and if
>> possible a little video.
>>
>> Kiva.org has about 100 MFIs, 60,000 active loans and 300,000 social
>> investors.  They claim a new loan is posted every 20 seconds.
>> They've been on Oprah.  This site would be considerably smaller, but
>> should be scalable.  Even though the money is legally given away, I'm
>> sure the Social investors would be pretty angry if their balance got
>> screwed up.
>>
>>
>> =========
>> MFIs have multiple projects
>> projects have multiple donors and donors have multiple projects
>> donations and re-payments are used to calculate net monthly payments
>> to/from MFIs
>>
>> Users
>> =========
>> curious public ? gets to search the database of projects past and
>> present, retrieving images and journal entries,  browse MFI profiles,
>> register as new investors, give donations, shop at the gift shop, etc...
>>
>> Social investors ? donate to loan projects, establish user profiles,
>> view transaction history, check loan status, etc...
>>
>> MFI Contact ?  edit profile, upload new loan information, summit
>> payment information, etc...
>>
>> Account manager ? Audit and monitor MFI activity, reconcile monthly
>> payments, etc...
>>
>> Any and all advice will be appreciated.  thanks
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>
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