Designing a secure system for customer information and portfolio tracking in microfinance institutions: the case of Selected SACCOS in Moshi, Tanzania

Microfinance institutions, especially the Savings and Credits Cooperative Societies (SACCOS), have been established to improve people’s livelihood through provision of collateral-free loans. However, there are various constraints related to their operations. Preliminary findings of this study uncovered a no use of ICTs in some of the surveyed SACCOS as one serious constraint, and for those few with computerized systems it was discovered that most of the systems in use had poor design, were insecure, and had limited accessibility for remote users. Besides, it was realized that exposing information systems to the internet cloud could invite many security threats such as denial-of-service attack, man-in-the-middle attack, and unauthorized access via password guessing or theft. It was found that SACCOS’ operational constraints lead to many problems related to customer information management and portfolio tracking. This research study therefore focused on determining staff and members’ information needs to design a secure system for customer information and portfolio tracking. Different methods and techniques have been adopted for data collection and presentation. These include interviews and direct system observations. Diagrams, charts and screenshots have been used to demonstrate the results. A web-based system model was developed as a remote-user accessibility solution. Effectiveness of the developed system was assessed in terms of its effectiveness in customer information management and portfolio tracking. More than 75% (on average) of all users who participated in evaluating the system said that it is user friendly, secure and appropriate for SACCOS needs. Secure passwords and Web VPN through SSL protocol was deployed to enhance system sec