Open Institution → Centers in the sidebar (or press Ctrl+K and type "centers"). You need center-viewing permission — if the menu item is missing, ask your administrator.

The center list

Centers appear in a table showing name, account number, office, status, and staff.

Search by name with the box above the table — results update as you type.
Sort by clicking the Name or Office column headers.
Pages — use the controls under the table; you can show 10, 25, 50, or 100 rows.
Open a center by clicking anywhere on its row.
The address bar always reflects your current view — bookmark or share the URL and it reopens exactly this filtered, sorted page.

Exporting

The Export button downloads the entire filtered list (not just the visible page) as a CSV or Excel file. Searching first narrows what's exported. Exports are recorded for auditing.

Creating a center

Press New center at the top of the center list (you need center-creation permission to see it). One form collects:

Name and office — required. Groups and staff must belong to this office.
Staff — optional. The list is limited to employees at the selected office.
External ID — optional reference from another system.
Submitted on — the registration date; it cannot be in the future.
Activate now — active centers can be used right away. If you leave this off, the center stays pending until you activate it from Actions. Activating now also needs an activation date (not in the future).
Groups — optional. Search for groups and add them before you save. A group cannot already sit in another center.

Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*). After you save, you land on the new center's page.

Center details

Open a center from the list. The page keeps the name, account number, status, office, and staff at the top, then splits into sections:

Overview — office, staff, external ID, and important dates (submitted, activated, closed) plus who recorded them when that is on file.
Groups — groups in the center. Click a name to open that group when you can view groups.
Meetings — the collection calendar groups in this center inherit.
Collection sheet — attendance, repayments, and disbursements for a meeting date across the center's groups.
Accounts — loans and savings on the center and on members of its groups (read-only; open new accounts from a group).
Notes — staff notes on this center.
Extra data — custom fields your institution attached to centers.

On a wide screen the sections sit in a left-hand list. On a tablet they become a row of tabs.

Groups must belong to the same office as the center, and they cannot already belong to another center. Add groups searches for groups and adds them in a docked sidebar. Remove a group from the row — the group itself is not deleted.

You can add or remove groups while the center is pending or active. Closed centers keep their group list but you cannot change it here.

Meetings

A collection meeting is the repeating calendar this center uses for collection sheets. Add meeting collects a short title, start date, and optional repeat rule (weekly needs a weekday; monthly needs which week of the month). The meeting type is always a collection meeting.

Groups in this center inherit this calendar. They cannot edit it on the group — change it here. Delete the meeting when you no longer need it. You cannot generate a collection sheet until another collection meeting exists.

Collection sheet

The sheet table is empty until you generate. Generate opens a sidebar for the meeting date (usually the next eligible date). Submit to load clients, attendance, and amounts. Mark attendance, enter repayment amounts, and enter disbursements when a loan is ready to disburse. Save collection sheet on the results toolbar posts those amounts. You need permission to save the center collection sheet.

If there is no collection meeting yet, add one from Meetings first. The institution-wide collection sheet finds every center meeting that day. Individual (non-JLG) loans use the individual collection sheet.

Accounts

Loans and savings attached to this center, and loans and savings for members of its groups. Use Include closed to show closed accounts. Opening a new loan or savings happens on a group, not from this list.

Notes

Staff notes on this center. Add, edit, or delete a note from this section. Fineract stores center notes with group notes (centers live on the same record as groups), so you need group-note permission to see this section.

Extra data

Custom fields your institution attached to centers. Each table is listed separately. Add or edit in a docked sidebar; delete asks you to confirm. A table that allows more than one row lets you add another. Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*). This section is hidden when no extra tables are available to you.

Editing and status

Edit changes the name, staff, or external ID in a docked sidebar. The office cannot be changed after create.

Actions depend on status and your permissions. Commands that need a date or reason open a docked sidebar; delete asks you to confirm.

Pending — edit, activate, or delete when the center has no groups.
Active — edit, or close (date and reason). Closing is refused while the center has open groups — the message explains why.
Closed — the center is read-only here.

If a command is not allowed, the reason from the core banking system is shown.

Troubleshooting

What you see	What to do
"No centers yet" or "No matching centers"	Create a center, or clear the search box.
"Couldn't load centers"	Press Retry; if it persists, the core banking system may be unreachable — tell your administrator.
Centers menu missing	Your role lacks center-viewing permission.
Close refused	Close or move the center's open groups first, then try again.
Group add refused	The group must belong to the same office and not already sit in a center.

Centers

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