Automation of SACCOS: Assessment of Potential Solutions
This project report describes an automation project of the Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), commissioned by Financial Sector Deepening (FSD), Kenya. The project aimed to identify viable automation solutions for SACCOs in the face of upcoming regulation. It focused on midsized to large SACCOs with front office savings activities.
The automation solutions needed to meet the SACCOs’ business and technical requirements consider the constraints faced by SACCOs and improve the quality and timeliness of their management information. Project steps included:
- Examining SACCOs’ business processes and translating them into system requirements;
- Visiting five SACCOs and capturing requirements of the SACCO operating model;
- Analyzing the impact of the anticipated regulatory requirements on potential systems;
- Producing a list of 190 functional and technical requirements;
- Identifying automation solutions available in the market and assessing their suitability;
- Short-listing six vendors;
- Evaluating these six solutions on the basis of fulfilment of requirements, cost, and application maintenance;
- Finalizing vendors on the basis of price-performance ratio, functionality and local presence.
The project recommended that in order to build a basis for automation, SACCOs should assess their ability to acquire, implement and manage the application, and their ability to realize organisational change to utilize the system.
