The Fedha Youth Group System is a computerized information system developed as an assessment project for students taking SCO200 – Object Oriented Programming II in semester I 2024/2025 at Kenyatta University. It is designed to facilitate the operations of the Fedha Youth Group, a hypothetical organization dedicated to empowering youths aged 18 to 35 by providing savings and loan services.
This system aims to streamline the management of member accounts, loan processing, and financial operations, making it easier for members to manage their contributions and access loans. The project's scope has been extended to demonstrate a basic Core Banking System (CBS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) functionality.
- Register and manage members, including their registration fees and share contributions.
- Maintain records of loan types, loans borrowed by members, and the corresponding guarantors.
- Compute:
- Total registration fees
- Total shares
- Maximum loan eligibility
- Interest on loans and fixed deposits
- Monthly loan repayments
- Dividends payable to members
- Guaranteed amounts for loans
- Office expenses retained by the organization
- Generate detailed reports, including:
- Member registration fees
- Share contributions
- Fixed deposits
- Loans borrowed
- Loan repayment schedules
- Balances after repayments
- Dividends payable to members
- Language: Java
- Database: MySQL (using custom utility classes for database operations)
- Design Principles: Object-Oriented Programming, Double-Entry Bookkeeping principles, Modular design
To recreate the exact database schema used in this project (excluding the data), I have developed a package that makes this process automatic and straightforward. For a detailed look at how it works, check out this GitHub repository.
- Clone the repository to your local machine.
- Ensure you have Java and a compatible database setup.
- Update the
config.xmlfile with your configurations. - Compile and run the main application class.
Due to the scope of this academic project and time constraints, the implementation does not include an API layer. Instead, the system's user interface (UI) has been tightly coupled within the same codebase as the core functionalities. This means that both the business logic and the user interface are intertwined in the same application, which simplifies development but may not follow best practices for large-scale software design.
In a production environment, it would be ideal to decouple the GUI from the core logic and introduce a full-fledged API layer. This would allow for better separation of concerns, improved maintainability, and the ability to integrate with other systems, mobile applications, or even to swap out the user interface without impacting the underlying system.
Once the application is running, users can perform various operations via the user interface, and automated tasks for updating account balances and handling dividends are scheduled to run periodically.
This project is a stepping stone towards understanding the complexities of financial systems and demonstrates how technology can enhance the management of Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations. Your contributions and feedback are welcome!