Financial Assistance Scheme Management System

Overview

This project is a backend implementation for managing financial assistance schemes for needy individuals and families. It includes functionalities for managing applicants, applications, and schemes, along with administrative user roles.

Features

• Applicants Management: Add and view applicants, including their household members.
• Schemes Management: View all available financial assistance schemes.
• Applications Management: Create and view applications for schemes based on applicant eligibility.
• Eligibility Checking: Automatically checks applicant eligibility for schemes based on criteria.
• Authentication: JWT-based authentication for secure access to the API.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Authentication: JWT
• API Documentation & Input Validation: OpenAPI

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20)
• PostgreSQL (v16)
• NPM (v10)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd <repository-directory>

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables: Create a .env file in the root directory with the following content:

   DATABASE_URL=postgres://<username>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<database>
   JWT_SECRET=<your-secret-key>
   PORT=3000
   

4. Setup DB schema:

   • Execute the SQL script located at sql/db_setup.sql to create the necessary database schema.
   • Ensure that your database account has write access to all the tables created by this script.

5. (Optional) Insert Sample Data:

   • You can optionally create a sample scheme and administrator by executing the sql/test_data.sql script.

6. Start the server:

   npm start

API Endpoints

Authentication

• POST /api/mockLogin
  • Mock login to generate JWT token.

Applicants

• GET /api/applicants
  • Retrieve all applicants with pagination.
• POST /api/applicants
  • Create a new applicant.

Schemes

• GET /api/schemes
  • Retrieve all schemes with pagination.
• GET /api/schemes/eligible?applicant={id}
  • Retrieve all schemes that an applicant is eligible to apply for.

Applications

• GET /api/applications
  • Retrieve all applications with pagination.
• POST /api/applications
  • Create a new application.

Database Schema

The system uses the following tables:

• Administrators: Information about users managing the system.
• Applicants: Details of individuals applying for financial assistance.
• HouseholdMembers: Family members staying in the same household as the applicant.
• Schemes: Information about available financial assistance schemes.
• SchemeCriteria: Criteria associated with schemes for eligibility checking.
• Benefits: Benefits associated with each scheme.
• Applications: Records and statuses of applications made by applicants.

License

This project is licensed under the GPL V3 License.