UW Credit Union - Source Code

Updates Coming to Money Management Tools

Members are loving Money Management Tools and we are just on version 1.0. As you'd expect, we have plans to continue to enhance the system over the course of this year and beyond.

Here is a summary of just some of the things we are working on. Most of these will be available over the course of the next 2-6 months.

1. Pending debit transactions--we'll show debit card purchases you've made but haven't cleared your account in your history so you'll have a better sense of your real balance.
2. Splitting transactions into multiple categories--we realize that for many stores, you buy groceries, household items, automotive items, etc. all in one transaction. We'll allow you to break up the purchase into multiple sub transactions so you can assign individual categories to each type of spending.
3. More flexible category customization options--you'll be able to add (and hide!) top level categories as well as subcategories. You'll be able to customize as much as you want to fit your needs (keep in mind that for auto-categorization to work well, you should try to use as many standard categories as possible).
4. Budgets and goals--all the data is great, but today you have to do most of the work to take that data and make it actionable. You'll be able to set savings goals and spending budgets to keep better track of areas you want to monitor.

We'll have more details on these specific features as they become available.

Labels: money management, new features, Web Branch

Money Management Tools are Live!

Money Management Tools are now available in the history section of Web Branch. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a ton of new features to help you manage your accounts with UW Credit Union. And, we have plans for many future enhancements--stay tuned for more information.

We've invested quite a bit of time in our help section for using the new tools. Our "Ask a Question" system has been updated with answers to many questions. In addition, we have created six demo videos to walk you through how do use the different functions. Help is available in the Web Branch main menu bar and under the Settings tab of the history screens.

We are so excited to bring these features to our members.

Labels: help, money management, new features, Web Branch

Money Management Tools Sneak Peek

We are putting the finishing touches on Money Management Tools. We will have extensive help available on Web Branch along with videos detailing the features available and how to use them. One of the videos is a general overview and is available now to get a sneak peek at the features.

Money Management Tools Overview Video Demonstration

Look for more details here, on the Source Code blog, next week.

Labels: education, help, money management, new features, tips, Web Branch

Web Branch History is about to Get Smarter

After tons of hard work and planning, we are excited to announce one of our biggest enhancements ever for Web Branch: Money Management Tools. The new tools will be available in about two weeks and will significantly enhance the functionality of Web Branch. And, they are free.

Money Management Tools will add the following features to Web Branch:

• Categories--auto categorized based on your past preferences.
• Transaction notes
• Labels--add an additional layer of information to your history to track spending across categories.
• Extended history storage--we'll have history dating back to December 2008 right away and will continue to store more history going forward.
• True searching of all your history--easy ways to find transactions.
  
• Advanced searches--search by date, amount, description, category, label and notes in any combination.
• Transaction alerts--get e-mail or text messages based on new transactions appearing in your history. Find out when a particular check clears, a transaction over a certain amount posts or a transaction posts from a particular store.
• Reports--spending reports, income reports and cash flow.
  

The new tools are integrated right into your existing Web Branch history. There's nothing you need to do to start enjoying the benefits of the new system. Once we go live, you'll see a new categories column in your history. We'll do our best to categorize as many of the items as we can. From there, you can start categorizing transactions based on your personal preferences. You'll be able to immediately see spending reports from 2009 right up to the present. You can start setting up alerts if there are any particular transactions, or transaction types, you want to keep up-to-date with.

We are excited to bring these new features to Web Branch. Tons of work has gone into making this the easiest way for you to track your spending and stay on top of your accounts with us. We aren't going to stop there, however. We are already planning on adding new functionality like the ability to split single transactions into multiple categories. We will also add the ability to see pending items like recent debit card purchases and upcoming Web Payments and transfers in your history so you get a better sense of your true available balance. We also have plans to add budgeting tools and better ways to set savings or spending goals.

Keep your eyes on the Source Code blog for the next couple of weeks as we'll be adding a sneak preview soon and more details as we launch Money Management Tools.

Labels: money management, new features, Web Branch

See Web Branch Data and History in a Calendar View

It's been quiet on the Source Code blog for a while. That's not because there's nothing going on. We've been busy developing a number of exciting new features that will come out later this year to make staying organized and managing your finances on Web Branch even easier.

Today we've launched a new feature that gives a bit of a preview into the direction we are going. A while back we introduced a new widget for the side toolbar in Web Branch. The new widget just showed a monthly calendar. Now, you can expand the calendar by clicking Full View (see right) to be taken to a calendar view of your Web Branch transactions.

You can page through month by month. If you go back, you'll see historical information. If you go forward (past today's date) you'll see upcoming transactions like scheduled transfers and Web Payments.

You'll note it says "Showing:" at the top of the calendar. You can choose, by clicking on Calendar Options, between seeing Web Branch items (like Web Pay and transfers) and Account History. You can choose exactly which items or accounts you'd like to see as well.

What you end up with is a convenient calendar view of those items so you can see, in a visual way, what is happening with your accounts. We've also included links to the calendar view on many pages within Web Branch. Just look for the Calendar View link at the top. If you use those links, they will show the item or account history corresponding to the section you were in on Web Branch.

If you don't have the calendar widget, click Add/Remove Widgets at the very top of the side toolbar and check the box next to calendar to add the widget.

Labels: money management, new features, tips, Web Branch