Salary manager

[bluenova]

Have any of your guys tried EEBA? It works very well for our requirements and seems to fulfil the requirements outlined in the first post.

 

[plaidapplered]

Yes, I tried EEBA. There's no way to track the account you're spending from. Envelope budgeting is basically what I do, but depending on the purchase, a certain account will be used. Like I pay rent with a check. I grocery shop with my credit card (that I pay off every month completely) and all of our bills autopay to a different credit card (that is also paid off). I transfer 10% of our paychecks to our savings every month, and I like to account for every little transaction. If EEBA added the ability to set up accounts, I'd be sold. But tracking expenses really does nothing for me if I'm also not monitoring the balances of my accounts.

 

[DiscGolfer17]

This type of app wont be to much work to get it functioning correctly but for it to be useful it needs to be user friendly which takes a lot of tweaking. Then you have to factor in the different screen sizes and make sure that everything works on all devices you are supporting. The last thing I usually do is have my designer and I go through the app and he creates images and makes it look pretty haha. I would like to say I will have it done within a couple weeks but it will likely be a month or so before I am able to push it out. It's hard getting quality apps done quickly with only one person programming it.

 

[Evolutionnext]

I see... Thanks for the Info...

I guess its just like in any other projects.. the last 20% of effort make all the difference beween a crappy app und an excellent one.

 

[Evolutionnext]

Hey again... I tried EEBA and well... i'm not all too excited about it.

Syncing with a Website and other accounts is nice and so on.. but it is absolutely too complicated for point of sale documentation... from starting the program to having the entry entered it takes me 25 seconds.

This makes the need for a home-screen widget clear again. The system posed by me would require 2 clics (One to go to the widget and one drag on the specific category) and no more than 3 seconds to register a payment.

Also... I am unhappy with the fact that you have to set a budget for a category. I cant budget my gas money, as when I run out of gas I HAVE to refuel my car.. no matter what my budget says. Same with my mobile contract. So Budgets must be an option, not a requirement.

 

[plaidapplered]

Hey again... I tried EEBA and well... i'm not all too excited about it.

Syncing with a Website and other accounts is nice and so on.. but it is absolutely too complicated for point of sale documentation... from starting the program to having the entry entered it takes me 25 seconds.

This makes the need for a home-screen widget clear again. The system posed by me would require 2 clics (One to go to the widget and one drag on the specific category) and no more than 3 seconds to register a payment.

Also... I am unhappy with the fact that you have to set a budget for a category. I cant budget my gas money, as when I run out of gas I HAVE to refuel my car.. no matter what my budget says. Same with my mobile contract. So Budgets must be an option, not a requirement.

With all that in mind, here's what I think: We are looking for the same app to do different things, and I think that's totally possible. I want detail to the extreme, you want quick.
So, let's say one account is required. No problem. You can set up a "transactions" account and dump all your income and expenses into that one account, and you'll easily be able to see where you are financially at any time in the month.
Now, on the other hand, I would set up every single account I have so that I can monitor their balances. Because that aspect is really important to me and is the reason why a lot of apps don't work for me.

As for budgets, there's a simple solution to that. I like detailed category budgets to keep me from spending too much. So I would take the time to set all that up.
You just want to make sure you aren't spending more than you make, so a "One Budget" option would work for you. You could just enter the amount of income you expect to have for the month and claim that as your budget and then all the expenses would just be reflected within that. If you need to go over budget, it will allow you, and from there there would need to be two options. One, budget rollover, so that anything extra you spend is considered already gone when the next month starts. Or two, fixed budgets, so that if you go over, you go over, and it has no effect on your next month's budget.

 

[Evolutionnext]

I agree... two things to be done by one app. Anyhow.. I also don't see a problem. You would just set up several "Incomes" (Bars at the top) and use them to make payments. I would also make 5 or so categories.. some with a spending limit (Leisure).. others with no spending limit (Petrol). The only thing that hasn't been thought through yet (in your case) is how to choose from which Income to pay something from. In my Head.. any payments I am making in any of the categories is automatically deducted from my monthly income. If I were to have 3 accounts.. how does the program know where to take the money from? Maybe you could link categories to a certain account... that would make things detailed (Leisure automatically taken from income, Weborders automatically taken from credit card) and still quick to use.. as no extra selections must be made.

Alternatively.. you could only offer the "what account to take the money from" option only if there are more than 1 account (Account meaning a source of money to spend that is refilled periodically)

What do you think? I also see where having more acconts could come in handy...

 

[plaidapplered]

Did you check out the user's guide for the app that I used to use on the iphone?
http://www.anishu.com/

Both of those situations could work. You could link certain budget categories to specific accounts, or there could be an option to choose your account when recording the transaction. In the app I used on the iphone, it would auto default to the account last used in that category. It worked out nicely because my utilities essentially learned that they were paid with a specific credit card.

 

[Evolutionnext]

I see.. that sounds good.

 

[DiscGolfer17]

Did you check out the user's guide for the app that I used to use on the iphone?
http://www.anishu.com/

Both of those situations could work. You could link certain budget categories to specific accounts, or there could be an option to choose your account when recording the transaction. In the app I used on the iphone, it would auto default to the account last used in that category. It worked out nicely because my utilities essentially learned that they were paid with a specific credit card.

I have been using that website as a reference as I am starting to work on the app. I created the database last night and I created a lot of tables and you should be able to have as many accounts as you want, link expenses and incomes to specific accounts... pay bills...etc. Once i get it functional I will start to optimize it and make it quick and easy to use. Will definitely not be as much work setting it up as I expected.

 

[Evolutionnext]

Cool... nice to hear! *feelingexcited*

Will you include a home-screen widgen option?

 

[plaidapplered]

I'm so looking forward to this. I'm running the trial of EasyMoney right now...I hate it!

 

[DiscGolfer17]

Cool... nice to hear! *feelingexcited*

Will you include a home-screen widgen option?

That is the plan. I will have to play around with that after I finish the app itself but I want to do that so it will be quick and you dont have to worry about opening the app.

 

[Evolutionnext]

Great! Thanks!

 

[nickf77]

I have designed a widget-layout ideas and attached it to this post.

This is totally a side note, but how'd you create your little renderings of what you wanted the app to look like? They look really professional .

 

[Evolutionnext]

Heya...

Well.. that's Easy... Microsoft office 2007 -> Powerpoint

Create a box and use the presets for 3D effects.

One could do much better than what I did.. but I did it quick and dirty.

 

[nickf77]

Heya...

Well.. that's Easy... Microsoft office 2007 -> Powerpoint

Create a box and use the presets for 3D effects.

One could do much better than what I did.. but I did it quick and dirty.

Wow. You learn something new every day I guess....... I thought you were a professional graphic designer or something

 

[Evolutionnext]

I wish I were....

 

[Evolutionnext]

Heya.. any news on the satus?

 

[plaidapplered]

I hope the developer hasn't given up on this!
I ended up buying anMoney this weekend because the month is almost over and I have to have something to track my expenses. I've been emailing the developer a bit and he doesn't really agree with some of the things I'd like to see, so I feel like while it's adequate, it's not really what I'm looking for. Still hoping to see something great!!

 

[Evolutionnext]

hope so too.....

 

[jonbonazza]

If the developer who was working on this has, indeed, given up, then I would be willing to create this for you. If it comes down to it, PM me and we will discuss details and compensation. (P.S. I also have a man dedicated to UI development, so that should speed up the process, as I will not have to take both tasks into my own hands).

 

[Evolutionnext]

Thanks for the offer but I hope the project is still on?
But if not, I'll contact you!