Marketplace Pick
Market Pick
Portable Money Management (1/2)
Spb Software House Finance v2.0
INTRODUCTION
Over the years
economists have shown that tracking expenses against
budgets will allow you to save more and make your
hard earned paycheck go further. Having used
desktop based money management software for quite
some time, initially Intuit Quicken and now
Microsoft Money, I can attest to that fact. It
can be very enlightening to see how one spends his
disposable income, but a problem arises when you
are on the road. It is hard to keep track of all
those pesky small receipts or remember receipt-less
expenditures for later entry. For a while now, I have
been looking for a money management application that
I could take with me on my Pocket PC so that I
could keep my data up to date even when I was not
lugging around my laptop. I wanted a package that could function
well while I am on the road and synchronize easily
with my desktop when I return home. Microsoft has a
companion PocketPC application for Money which I
have tried, but it is far too basic and not of
much use. Spb
Finance 2.0 is a standalone money management
application and synchronizes with both Microsoft
Money and Intuit Quicken. Maybe
this is the
application I have been looking for. pocketnow.com last
reviewed
Spb Finance v1.0 in September 2003. Let's see what has changed,
and whether it's worth your dollars and cents.
WHAT'S HOT
What has been improved
since the last version of Finance?
- Spb Finance Entry
- Windows Mobile 5.0 support
- ActiveSync 4.0 support
- Advanced reports
- Improved Today Plug-In
SETUP
Spb Finance 2.0 has a straight forward guided
installation program and was a piece of cake. You need to make 2
major choices:
First you must choose the version of Spb Finance 2.0 you want installed, and there are three: the stand alone version with no synchronization to Microsoft Money or Intuit's Quicken, the version that synchronizes with Microsoft Money, and the version that synchronizes with Intuit's Quicken. Both of the versions that synchronize install components on your Windows computer. I initially installed the the standalone version and was able to go back and reinstall the version that synchronizes with Microsoft Money without any problem.
Secondly, you must pick whether you would like to install the trial or registered version. Installation of the registered version requires a key, and a link is provided to purchase the product. You can always install the trial, purchase the product later and enter the registration to enable it. When the ActiveSync installation menu popped up, I chose to install on my PocketPC's SD card. Two programs were installed: Spb Finance Entry (for easy transaction entry) and Spb Finance (the main application).
PROGRAM FEATURES
My first step in evaluating Spb Finance was to
synchronize with a test Microsoft Money data file.
I enabled the Spb Finance synchronization in Activesync under options. It prompted me to search for the Microsoft Money file I wanted to synchronize with.
The best feature of the synchronization is Filter, which provides the ability to choose the accounts and time period. If you plan to use Spb Finance as an adjunct to Microsoft Money, this feature makes the software invaluable because as companion application you do not need to carry your entire Money data file around. In my case I only need my current set of accounts and transactions to work with while I am on the road. I then synchronized my PocketPC and since it was the first time it asked me whether I wanted to combine, replace or perform no synchronization of the Microsoft Money data with Spb Finance. I chose to replace all of the data on the PocketPC.
The synchronization copied the account data and all of the Microsoft Money categories into Spb Finance.
According to the Spb Finance FAQs section on Microsoft Money synchronization you need to note the following:
"Current version of Spb Finance Money Edition doesn't support synchronization of budgets, memorized transactions, scheduled transactions and some other special objects like Investment Accounts. Some of these features will be available in the future versions."
There are also some limitations on the Intuit Quicken synchronization. This and other information can be found at the Spb Finance FAQ page.
Spb Finance Entry is a new program which makes the entry of recurring transactions a cinch since the interface uses large graphics which allow you to use your fingers to enter transactions.
The user interface is divided into 3 sections: the upper right displays drop down down data for the payee, amount, category and class fields found on the left, and the bottom contains the keypad to enter letters in alpha fields and number in numeric fields.
I selected the "Air Fare" transaction and the information is pre filled with the information from the previously memorized "Air Fare" transaction I entered in SBP Finance.
I pressed the amount field, and a touch screen calculator popped up with the pre-filled amount. For categories, a selection list pops up.
Pressing the date brings up the standard Compact Framework calendar control which is really too small to operate with my fat fingers. You then press OK, then Submit and you transaction is recorded.
You can set the options in this program to exit after the entry of one transaction, as well as setting the = sign to close the popup calculator. You also have the ability to change skins. This program is clearly not meant to replace Spb Finance but is convenient for those recurring transactions you want to track such as your daily latte fix at Starbuck's.
Two new reports have been added, Spending by Class and Spending by Payee.
You can now view the data in table as well as graph, bar and pie formats.
There is a today plug in which provides you with a glance of your financial data under four tabs.
You can select accounts, scheduled transactions, budgets and information such as when the time and date of the last synchronization.
Spb Software House has addressed the issues from our last review with Spb Finance Entry and the embedded ActiveSync synchronization item.
