Octopus is client/server software developed using Microsoft technologies: every workstation on which it is deployed connects to a multi-users SQL*Server database.

We explain the choice of Microsoft because of its user-friendly platform well integrated to the windows environment. No licence is required. The use of Octopus is actually free for MicroFinance Institutions (MFIs) worldwide.

The software is divided into 4 parts:

• The graphical user interface (GUI): screen developed using Winforms; statement prints using Crystal Report.
• The core domain : the core of this software, written in C#, obeys to a Plain Old C# Object (POCO) coding style. It means that the core domain doesn’t contain any technical element about database, error handling or transaction management.
• The services : they are in charge of coordinating the core domain and dealing with errors.
• The database managers : they are the link between the database and the core domain.

This seperation helps to reach more modularity for the software.

Octopus’ adaptability is guaranteed by a full code coverage by automated tests : unit tests under NUnit and acceptance tests under Fitnesse.