IT consulting, software and support · Dhaka
What we see in the sector
Six places the work slows down.
None of these are staff problems. They are all problems of how the information moves.
Field data still comes in on paper
Forms are filled at the union level, carried to the branch, then typed again at head office. By the time a report is ready, the month is over.
The same beneficiary appears in three project lists
Without one central register, nobody can say for certain who is receiving what, from which project, under which donor.
Donor reports are made by hand in Excel
One officer keeps the master file. Every quarter the same figures are copied, reformatted and reconciled, and one small mistake goes into the audit.
Disbursement records do not match the bank
Cash and bKash disbursements are noted in the field register, entered at the branch, and reconciled weeks later against the statement.
NGOAB and audit files are scattered
FD-6, FD-7, project approvals, procurement papers and audit reports sit with different people, in different folders, on different laptops.
Management cannot see a project until it is late
Utilisation, physical progress and field attendance are known at head office only after the monthly meeting, not while there is still time to act.
Where technology actually helps
Eight things worth building first.
Not a full ERP on day one. Usually two or three of these, in order of what is costing you the most.
One beneficiary register
Every person recorded once, with NID or household reference, visible across all projects. Duplication and double-benefit stop at entry.
Offline field data collection
Officers collect on a phone or tablet without network, and it syncs when they reach coverage. No paper, no re-typing.
Project and budget dashboard
Utilisation against budget, activity progress and field attendance, by project and by donor, updated as the data comes in.
Donor reports generated
Built once, then produced from the same data the field already entered. Nobody types it again.
Disbursement and reconciliation
Cash, bank and mobile money disbursements recorded against the beneficiary, then reconciled against the statement automatically.
Compliance document store
NGOAB approvals, FD-6 and FD-7 papers, procurement files and audit reports in one place, with who changed what and when.
Field attendance and monitoring
Where the officer visited, when, and what was recorded, so monitoring does not depend on a self-reported register.
Donor-ready audit trail
Every entry carries who entered it and when. When the auditor asks, the answer takes minutes, not a week.
Six projects, four districts, one register
Case study
Before
Field data on paper, one master Excel file at head office, and a separate beneficiary list for each of the six projects.
What we checked first
We did not start by proposing software. We took the six beneficiary lists and matched them against each other.
What we built
One beneficiary register with household references, offline collection for field officers, and a project dashboard for management and donor reporting.
How we rolled it out
One project, one quarter, running alongside the existing paper system. Only after that quarter closed cleanly did we extend it.
Where it stands now
Field data reaches head office the same day. The quarterly donor report comes out of the system. Audit queries are answered from one place.
What the matching showed
1 in 9
beneficiary records appeared in more than one project list.
Nobody had done anything wrong. There was simply no way to check.
At a glance
Outcomes
What changes in practice
A month to produce a report
Ready the same week
Beneficiary lists kept separately
One register for all projects
Paper forms typed twice
Entered once, in the field
Reconciliation weeks later
Matched as it happens
Audit files collected from everyone
Pulled from one place
Management informed after the fact
Seen while it can still be fixed
Why this sector is different
A development organisation is not a company.
Five constraints that decide whether a system survives its first quarter.
Condition 01
Money is tied to a project
Budget, expenditure and procurement have to stay attributable to one project and one donor, always.
So the system must
Every entry carries its project and donor code from the moment it is made.
Condition 02
Three reporting calendars
Donor quarters, NGOAB submissions and your own board reporting almost never line up.
So the system must
One set of data, three report formats, produced on three different dates.
Condition 03
The field has weak network
Anything that needs live internet at the union level will simply not be used.
So the system must
Collection works fully offline on a phone, and syncs when coverage returns.
Condition 04
Field staff change often
The system has to be learnable in one day, not taught in a three-day workshop.
So the system must
Short forms, plain Bangla labels, and no screen that needs explaining.
Condition 05
Audit cannot be added later
If the trail is not there from day one, no amount of work will produce it afterwards.
So the system must
Who entered what, and when, recorded from the first day of use.
How we start
One project. One quarter.
We do not ask you to move everything at once, and we do not ask you to stop the paper system on day one.
Sit with the programme team
We follow one project from the field form to the donor report.
Pick the costliest part
Usually the beneficiary register or the monthly reporting.
Run it for one quarter
Alongside the existing system, on one project only.
Then extend
Once that quarter closes cleanly, the rest follows.
Get in touch
Tell us how your projects run.
Plot 22, Road 17, Sector 13,
Uttara West, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh