A web based saving and credit management system for SILC Group in Nakaseke District

Abstract

SILC groups are growing in most parts of Uganda. Members of different groups have been coming together to support each other financially through saving and incidental access to loans. A good example of such SILC groups is Akwaata Empola SILC Group Bulwadda. One of the key challenges that most of these communities’ face in their day-to-day administration is the use of manual techniques for management of group records. Akwaata Empola SILC Group Bulwadda is used as the case study in this research. The group is registered by government of Uganda and is operating in Nakaseke District. The concept of web application has been variously applied in most computing field. This involves utilization of global network (internet) or computing devices to undertake the task that are being handled by people. Financial transactions through manual system are prone to errors and unimagined complexities, making it so difficult a task maintaining all entries of users account, search records of activities, handle loan deduction errors and generate reports. Computers running automated systems are targeted towards eradicating the menace hence making the underlying activities efficient and providing the fast response needed. This underscores my interest in deploying a dynamic system that will effectively manage saving and credit(loan) activities of the named group. The system essentially manages both savings and short-term loans, and keeps track of cash inflow and outflow of a SILC group among others. It utilized SQL Server database architecture at the back end with PHP, CSS and HTML at the front end. This makes it user friendly and highly interactive. Interactions with operators and stakeholders and through observation of records of activities/events of time, aided the gathering of the required information. Automatic saving and credit management system is an innovation, which is bound to bring swift changes in routine cultural saving and loan practices of SILC groups as it promotes efficiency and productivity. A pragmatic system bundles with several competent capabilities to eliminate data inconsistency and redundancy as well as ensuring data integrity and security, with guaranteed fast retrieval response time