Re: [Mifos-developer] Improvements in Teller Module

[Ed C. <ed...@mi...>]

Hello Jamal,

Thank you for suggesting these improvements. Bharath and myself would be
happy to discuss these further with you as we've had others in the
ecosystem express a willingness to share contributions regarding the teller
module back with the community.

Ed



On Thu, Aug 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM Jamal Inkoom <ji...@gm...> wrote:

> Hello Team,
>
>
>
> I’d like to propose significant improvements to the Teller module in
> alignment with FINERACT-204
> <https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-204>.
>
> While global financial services are increasingly shifting toward cashless
> transactions — with account-to-account transfers becoming the norm — the
> reality remains that branch banking is still widely practiced, especially
> in emerging markets. As such, cash handling and teller operations continue
> to be critical components of day-to-day banking.
>
> Most mature core banking platforms offer robust teller modules that
> support cash management, reconciliation, and audit trails. By strengthening
> Fineract’s teller capabilities, we can:
>
>    - Better support institutions operating in cash-heavy environments
>    - Improve adoption rates by offering parity with commercial systems
>    - Increase conversion from legacy platforms to Fineract
>
> I believe this enhancement aligns with the broader goal of making Fineract
> more versatile and enterprise-ready. If the community supports this
> direction, I’m committed to contributing the necessary improvements to
> deliver a more mature and feature-complete Teller module.
>
>
>
> The following outlines the backend enhancement plan for the Teller Module
>
>
>
>
>
>    1. We maintain the m_tellers entity in the code base and christen it
>    as branch vaults, then modify it to have attached to it a dedicated GL cash
>    account - users can set it up as a multi-branch GL like all other GLs or a
>    dedicated Vault  Cash GL per branch
>    2. We Maintain the m_cashiers entity and christen it as Teller Tills,
>    then modify it to have attached to it dedicated GL cash account - this
>    means that each teller can have a dedicated GL account
>    3. At the moment, there's a setup in the accounting module to link
>    Teller and Cashier to GL accounts but the associated transactions in the
>    journal entries entity cannot be directly linked to cash allocation and
>    settlement transactions performed by cashiers making tracking of branch
>    cash balances and overages/shortages impossible
>    4. The platform also doesn't even provide for other cash transactions
>    other than movement and settlement of cash between cashier and teller.
>    5. We will include the transaction types to enable us to perform cash
>    deposit and cash withdrawal at the branches.
>    6. The m_cashier_transaction entity will be modified to include
>    debit_account and credit_account to capture a cash deposit or withdrawal
>    transaction
>    7. For cash deposit, accounting entry will be - CREDIT the customer
>    account and DEBIT the GL associated with the Till performing the transaction
>    8. For cash withdrawal, the accounting entry will be - DEBIT the
>    customer account and CREDIT the GL associated with the Till performing the
>    transaction
>    9. Each branch will have one vault (which means one GL for the branch
>    vault) but multiple tills can be created and associated with this vault for
>    the branch - this means multiple Cash GLs, one for each cashier in the
>    branch
>    10. A till with its associated GL account can either be for a human
>    teller or an ATM machine
>    11. Cash should be transferred into the tills (the associated GL
>    account should have a positive balance) before withdrawals are performed
>    against the tills - this will be simpler if we maintain balances for these
>    GL accounts (more on balance maintenance in another proposal)
>    12. Balance update for both the tills, vault, customer accounts are
>    going to be online
>    13. Till cash can be transferred back to the vault after the day's
>    transactions
>    14. At any point, the total cash in the branch will reflect the sum of
>    balances on all cashier tills in the branch and the balance on the branch
>    vault account - this is essential to cash position management and therefore
>    risk management at the branches
>    15. Branch cash position management implies we have to introduce the
>    concept of interbranch entries - at any point in time the sum of all inter
>    branch balances must be zero
>    16. We can also enable denomination management to enhance cashier cash
>    balancing procedures for those working with denominations
>    17. There will be overage/shortage accounts in the branch that will
>    hold cash in the branch that would have been recorded in the system but
>    cannot be accounted for
>    18. With this, financial institutions can ensure some controls by
>    requiring that all cashier till balances are zero at the close of each
>    working day
>    19. We will also introduce mandates on accounts. Mandate is a
>    regulatory requirement in many countries. Introduction of mandates will
>    make it easier to support joint accounts
>    20. At the moment, we could use the groups feature to handle joint
>    accounts once mandates are available
>
>
>
>
>
> Front-end Changes
>
>    1. We'll rework the teller management screens within the *Organization*
>    setup menu to reflect the changes
>    2. We'll have a dedicated screen for teller transactions - precisely,
>    cash deposit and cash withdrawal - cheques will come in later
>    3. The dedicated screen will have a lazy list of all accounts with
>    search criteria to enable tellers search for specific accounts
>    4. The details displayed on the account should include the available
>    balance on the account, the status of the account, the last few
>    transactions on the account, and most importantly the mandate on the account
>    5. We will also include an option to verify the identity of the
>    originator of the transaction. In here, we can show the image of the
>    account owner, their signature or do biometric verification if there is an
>    integration into an external verification service or all of the above
>    6. A withdrawal transaction without corresponding balance on the
>    cashier till account will fail
>    7. Each cashier can print their call over report at any point in time
>    8. This dedicated cashier screen will only show up in the menus of  users
>    who have been designated and setup as cashiers
>
>
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> regards,
>
> Jamal
>


-- 
*Ed Cable*
President/CEO, Mifos Initiative
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