Triple Jump news - Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Advisory Services: Regional Training
January 2011 - In Q4 2010 Triple Jump Advisory Services offered a regional course for anglophone Africa and another course in Mexico. Annually, Triple Jump Advisory Services organises and delivers regional trainings specifically designed for MIS managers or administrators of MFIs to give them the skills to create their own tailored reports from their MIS databases.
Helping MFIs select and implement a well-adapted management information system (MIS), or optimizing the use of an MIS already in place, is one of the core service areas of Triple Jump Advisory Services, since an MIS is a key component of efficient operations, risk management and timely reporting. Once their MIS is in place, however, MFIs still struggle to extract the information they need in a usable format from their system because it offers a limited number of built-in reports and reporting needs tend to evolve over time. MFIs often either have to pay the MIS developer to create new report templates for them or try to create such reports manually.
Commercial solutions do exist that can significantly reduce the cost and time it takes to create tailor-made reports but few MIS managers hired by MFIs have significant experience with them, have the skills to extract information from their databases or know how to interact with financial and operational managers to understand their reporting needs.
In November, 14 participants successfully completed the MIS Reports Course that Triple Jump Advisory Services organized in Mexico City in partnership with the local MFI network Prodesarrollo.
IT staff of member organizations were trained in a 5-day hands-on course to use the Crystal Reports application to produce tailored MIS reports. It will allow their MFIs to improve their transparency and performance management by better exploiting the wealth of information their MIS contain.
Similar courses of Triple Jump Advisory Services were organized in Latin America in Nicaragua and Guatemala in previous years. This year’s course exercises focused on the reporting requirements of the local network Prodesarrollo to improve the transparency of the sector as a whole.
The two Triple Jump Advisory Services facilitators, Marcelo Rosen (IT expert) and Martin Detours (Process and microfinance expert), have a hands-on approach that focuses on best practices recognized in the microfinance sector. The training was appreciated and ranked with a 4.5 out of 5 and all participants indicated to be interested in further training on themes such as database management, programming, KPI development, but also in softer skills like IT department management.
In anglophone Africa, Triple Jump Advisory Services organized a course, entitled ‘’Business Analysis and SQL Data Extraction: Tapping the wealth of information stored in your MIS ‘’ for MFI managers of 9 different MFIs representing 5 countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda) in Accra, Ghana in early December 2010. This year’s course was an intermediate level course that built on the 2009 MIS training course on the same topic.
Based on feedback received from the 2009 course participants, the 2010 course focused more specifically on SQL extraction skills and on the business analysis and processes involved in developing a report in real life environment, as well as on typical reports that are required from MFIs. Each participant practiced on his or her own database to extract information for reporting SEEP ratios, common social performance management indicators and client risk scoring.
Some highlights from the Ghana course:
-- Overall, participants at the training rated the course 4.7 out of 5 and all indicated their interest in attending future MIS-related courses by Triple Jump Advisory Services. Many would like not only to continue to improve their technical skills but also learn about softer skills like running an MIS department.
-- For some participants, the course offered their first opportunity to look inside their database structure and to understand how different tables relate to one another.
-- MIS administrators from different MFIs who use the same MIS software worked together on the practical exercises, enabling them to learn from one another and about each other’s MFIs.
-- Participants in the Accra course were so eager to practice their new skills with the support of the trainers that they worked long after the course hours. The most frequent comment in the evaluations was that they wanted the course to be longer than five days, in order to practice more.
Some participant comments:
” Keep it up, I enjoy your practical teaching, please always come over to educate us.’’
‘’I came to learn how to analyze our business and how to extract data from our database. The expectations have been met.’’
‘’Even more useful than my main course as IT officer.’’
Triple Jump Advisory Services wishes to thank our technical partner Software Group for designing and delivering the course for anglophone Africa and Ghamfin, the Ghanaian network of microfinance institutions, for its excellent support and facilities. Thanks also to Marcelo F. Rosen and Martin Detours for delivering the course in Mexico City, and Prodesarollo, the Mexican MFI network, for its logistical support.
