New versions of Microfin under
development
With
the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
(Sida), we will be developing two new versions of Microfin over the coming 18
months. Microfin 3.5 will be released in July and will incorporate over 40
new features, including:
·
A new “Microfin Lite” version that hides non-essential sections
from view
·
Additional input lines for staffing, operational expenses,
fixed assets, and financing sources
·
Support for up to 20 branches for users of Excel 2002 or XP
·
Interest rates on the automated default loan can be varied
monthly
·
Graph Clipboard is included in Export/Import process
Over the following year, we
will work on Microfin 4, incorporating many more changes, including:
·
Conversion to monthly projections for all five years, to
improve precision of projections
·
An increase in the number of loan products, including new “line
of credit” products
·
Support for clients who “rest” between loan cycles
·
Complete redesign of savings products sections
·
New insurance products
·
Support for new interest calculation methods, additional fees,
and irregular repayment frequencies
·
Enhanced financial management tools, including comparison to
latest Micro Banking Bulletin data
A complete list of all
changes is available for review at: www.microfin.com/microfin4.htm
Sida is also providing
funding for the User's Manual to be updated for the new versions and
translated into French and Spanish. Additionally, they will provide
financial support for maintenance of the Microfin website and provision of
technical assistance to Microfin users.
Multi-media Self-Study Microfin Tools
The Ford Foundation
is funding the development of interactive, multi-media self-study tools for
Microfin users. The self-study tools will guide users through the main
sections of Microfin, explaining how to input data and how each section
relates to other sections of the model.
These self-study tools will be developed concurrently with
Microfin 3.5 and 4.0 and will be released in two stages. These tools will be
produced in English and Spanish and will be available for free download from
our website as well as distributed on CD-ROM.
Upcoming Microfin Training Courses
Washington, DC April
19-23
This course is currently full.
Please contact sheldon@microfin.com
to be placed on the waiting list.
Southern New Hampshire University June
21-25
This course forms part of the
Microenterprise Development Institute. Please contact mdi@snhu.edu for further information, or visit
www.mdi-nh.org
Boulder, Colorado July
19-30
This course runs for two weeks,
as part of the Micro Finance Training Program at Naropa University. Please
visit www.naropa.edu/microfinance/
for further information.
Washington, DC Sep
27 – Oct 1
Please contact waterfield@microfin.com for further
information.
Antigua, Guatemala (in Spanish) November
Planning still in progress.
Please contact waterfield@microfin.com
for further information.
Microfin Helpful Hints: Cut/Copy/Paste
As you may already know, when you try to cut or copy
information within Microfin things may not go as expected. Here is a summary
of the key issues:
Cut-and-Paste
Cut-and-Paste has been disabled in Microfin because in
most cases doing so will permanently damage the formulas in Microfin. If you
paste on top of a cell that is referenced in a formula (and virtually all
input cells in Microfin are referenced in other formulas) those formulas will
be damaged and return a #REF. If you find that you’ve entered a number that
needs to be moved to another cell, use a copy/paste and delete the original
cell.
Copy-and-Paste to the same worksheet
Copy-and-Paste has been slightly modified in Microfin.
The first time you try a copy-and-paste, you will receive notification that
you should be careful about formatting. In Excel, a normal copy-and-paste
carries over the formatting of the original cell. This can cause grey cells
in Microfin to end up blue. To avoid this, you can use the menu to perform
an Edit / Paste Special / Formulas. For convenience, this feature has been
assigned to CTRL-V in Microfin, the key combination that normally does an
Edit /Paste.
Copy-and-Paste to a different worksheet or workbook
You may have found that when you click “copy” and then
move to another worksheet to perform a paste that you can no longer do so.
This is because Excel loses the contents of the temporary clipboard as the
Microfin toolbars are redrawn when you change sheets. There are two options
that you can use to successfully copy and paste:
1) Use Edit
/ Office Clipboard to enable this more comprehensive clipboard. Your
contents will be stored for future use in Excel or other applications
2) Open up
a second copy of Excel. Don’t open a new workbook, but actually use the
Start / Programs menu to open up a second copy of Excel. After copying from
Microfin, you can move to the new workbook in the second copy of Excel and
paste. Note that this will paste the values of the range copied, not
any formulas as would be the case if the paste were within the same copy of
Excel.
By using these techniques, you should be able do
everything you need to with your Microfin data. If you have any questions or
additional ideas, email waterfield@microfin.com.
