Consultant for Review Of Microfinance Operational/Business Processes Using Digital Field Application (DFA) Solution at BRAC

Scope of work for the operational review

• The consultants will conduct a comprehensive review of our ongoing end-to-end field operational processes and practices considering both Digital Field Applications (DFA), Core Banking System (CBS) and manual paper-based procedures. The selected consultants will be required to use diverse methodologies, including in-person focus group discussions, individual staff interviews, and a meticulous examination of existing documents, registers, questionnaires, and data points captured and reflected on DFA. This project will entail active engagement with front-end, middle management, and top management staff across multiple operational regions, spanning rural, peri-urban, and urban settings. The research methodology, including the indicative sample size, will be collaboratively determined in consultation with BIHBV and in-country management.

The specific scope of work for this assignment includes the following:

• Review of existing end-to-end operational processes in Rwanda and Liberia: Review the current MFI’s end-to-end field operational processes, including:
  • Client Onboarding: Review the end-to-end client onboarding processes for group lending and SEP clients on DFA and CBS platforms and recommend any possible areas for streamlining and optimising the workflow. The consultants will also review the questionnaires in use and recommend ways to streamline them, reducing the KYC documents required from clients for speedy onboarding and enhanced client convenience.
  • Loan Origination, Verification, and Disbursement: Assess the entire loan origination and disbursement process to generate direct client and business value through efficiencies in the loan cycle and automated credit decisions at the field level. Recommend optimisations for the entire process and identify areas for improvement to ensure faster loan processing.
  • Savings Collections and Withdrawals: Review the savings deposit and withdrawal process in BRAC Rwanda. Identify any manual processes in practice and recommend optimised processes for improving client convenience in savings deposits and withdrawals. Leverage the use of DFA (and other platforms if needed) to streamline the savings and withdrawal process to reduce TAT and improve customer experience.
  • Payment Reconciliation Processes (Office and Field Level): Assess the existing process of capturing cash payments using DFA and the reconciliation process at the back office. Additionally, review the passbook reconciliation process at the field level. Provide recommendations for areas of improvement to strengthen operational control, enhance transparency, and build client trust.
  • Group meeting management and attendance tracking: Examine the group meeting attendance tracking at the field and available reports on DFA. Identify any manual processes currently in practice and recommend areas for improvement to streamline the data capture and reporting process, ensuring enhanced visibility of client attendance for optimal operational monitoring.
  • Client follow-up/CRM: Review the existing ways of following up on potential clients to increase client base in rural and hard-to-reach areas and recommend areas for improvement through digitisation. This includes providing recommendations on how the process of engaging repeat clients can be improved through digitization to enhance the customer experience.
  • Any other processes along the credit and savings life cycle such as loan recovery, account opening among others which can be optimised through the use of a Digital Field Application solution.

Overall, the review will identify opportunities to improve business process efficiency and effectiveness through digitisation, identify any manual processes that are in practice, and recommend ways to optimise the use of the DFA platform to achieve operational excellence. The review will identify redundant steps and documentation (if any), potential efficiency gains, and an analysis of process gaps. The review will identify how to convert potential efficiency gains into increased staff productivity and how their (field and office-based) roles can be improved.

• Review existing reports and tracking of key business performance indicators: The consultant will assess the need for diverse reports to aid staff in monitoring operational performance and in tracking client-level metrics such as social impact KPIs. The review will include assessing the sufficiency of reports on DFA and other available data analytics and reporting platforms (currently in use) to identify reporting requirements that will enhance data-driven decision-making and inform critical business areas such as staff and branch performance, client and poverty outreach, turnaround time for key processes such as member onboarding, and loan disbursement among others.
• Review the DFA business requirements gathering process and post implementation support processes: Analyse the DFA business requirement gathering process and identify areas to improve the quality and clarity of business requirements gathered and communicated to key stakeholders including system vendors.

Based on the above review, provide Should-Be processes, reporting requirements and recommendations that will enhance operational excellence and efficiency and that can improve critical performance measures such as cost, quality, service, and speed.

Qualification of the Consultant/Firm

• Experience in conducting business process reviews/business process re-engineering including experience in creating and evaluating process flows and identifying areas for improving operational excellence.
• Working knowledge of Digital Field Applications in the Financial Inclusion or Microfinance Context is Preferred
• Experience with working with microfinance institutions and an understanding of the process of digitalization of microfinance processes.
• Preferably have experience in HCD (Human-centred design) approach (or other client-centric methodologies) to understand the needs, behaviours, and motivations for staff and clients.
• Knowledge of regulatory environments of the target markets
• Strong analytical skills and ability to conduct in depth interviews and focus groups with staff and clients
• Proactive project management skills with strong attention to detail.
• Fluency in English required