I noticed
a post by one of the Kiva engineers on the build-kiva blog aimed at developers who use the API. I think we've already heard somewhere about enabling half-stars, but apparently there will also be a new rating of "Not Rated" which I hadn't heard about before. Also a different categorization of field partners who don't fit the usual due diligence model.
As part our continuing efforts to provide useful data about our partners, we
are working on some improvements to our risk ratings. While the details of
implementation are not yet set in stone, I thought it best to let you know
that changes are on the way, and give you an opportunity to give us
feedback.
On the kiva site, the five-star scale for displaying risk rating will be
modified to allow half-stars. Also, partners with different business models
that don't fit our risk-assessment model may be shown as "Not Rated".
In the API, we currently provide a number for risk rating. Starting on or
near September 6th, you can expect to see this field change. The current
plan is to show the string "non-rated" for the partners that have no risk
rating. There will also be a new field, tentatively named
"due_diligence_type", that indicates whether the partner is a traditional
MFI to which we can apply our risk assessment model, or some other type of
entity for which the model does not make sense.
If you're supporting an application that uses our API, you may want to check
and make sure the application does not assume a risk rating number will
always be present.
P
