On Bookkeeping
Some people I know are working on things like group calendars, group to-do’s, or group task tracking system. One common theme (use case actually) in those applications, and one that you also find in big boy apps like Google Calendar, is that you can “dump” things quickly. In Google Calednar you can click on any day and type “15:00 Meet-up with Taipei.js people” and Google knows you want to set up a calendar item beginning from 15:00 that day. Keyboard is still the fastest input device, and by allowing people to “dump” their thoughts, to-do or calendar items, you’re giving your users a big favor.
Now I wonder if we should really have something like that in bookkeeping. Done wite the days when we row-and-column Excel spreadsheets. In a messy situation such as when travelling aboard with an unfamiliar currency, something we just want to “dump” the expense record we have, and let the system do the rest of the calculation (and slip keeping). For example, “200 Yen a can of tea at Narita Airport” and “USD 20 subway prepaid card at the exit of JFK Airport”, then the service should be able to tell you that you spent 60 NTD at Narita and 660 NTD at JFK, using that day’s rates.
Of course by its nature a bookkeeping service needs to work both online and offline. Sync, security and multiple report-generation options are needed. If the service can keep track with daily currency rates or even your portfolio, so much the better.
lukhnos :: Dec.10.2006 :: tekhnologia :: No Comments »