I’m building a credit bureau platform for the South African market entirely from scratch. The core of the application must calculate reliable credit scores, generate detailed credit reports, and exchange data seamlessly with banks and other financial institutions through secure APIs. Three distinct user roles need to be accommodated from day one: • Admin – full system oversight and data-quality controls • Financial-institution representative – bulk data uploads, portfolio queries, and API keys • Individual user – personal credit report access and dispute management Data protection is non-negotiable. Every component has to meet international standards such as GDPR, while also aligning with local POPIA requirements. That means end-to-end encryption, MFA, granular consent management, and audit logging baked into the design—not bolted on later. Acceptance criteria and deliverables 1. High-level architecture diagram, tech stack decision record, and database schema that support future scaling. 2. Credit-scoring engine with transparent, parameterised logic and unit tests. 3. Dynamic credit-report templates (PDF/HTML) branded for South Africa. 4. Secure REST/GraphQL API for data integration, complete with Swagger or equivalent documentation. 5. Role-based web dashboard for admin, institution reps, and individual users, each with tailored workflows. 6. Security implementation proof: penetration-test report, encryption key-management plan, and GDPR/POPIA compliance checklist. 7. Deployment scripts or Docker images so the entire system can be stood up in our AWS or Azure tenant. If you have hands-on experience with similar financial-grade systems and can move quickly while keeping compliance front and centre, let’s talk timelines and milestones.