Spending Plan, Watchlists, & Reports - Amount Displayed on Transaction List for Splits (edited)

Flopbot

This is intended to reduce confusion.  When someone uses splits - which I do a lot - and then views either the Spending Plan and Watchlist, this is an area that has tripped me up frequently.

Using this one as an example.... 

I truly did spend $147 on Diapers & Wipes this month.  Eek!  When I look at the list of transactions, it shows the TOTAL Amount of the entire split.  My immediate reaction is that "oh, something is wrong".  When I view all the transactions and add up the specific splits, they all total up correctly.

It would be less confusing if this Amount column ONLY showed the total of the split assigned to this specific category.

Suki

I totally agree this.  It is really confusing and I have to open each split transaction to see if it is correct.  Please change the how this is displayed and display every split amount that is in the category with the notes and tag fields. 

RobWilk

I've been noticing this too...   let's say i split a cash withdrawal half and half between two purposes (today this example happened), in spending reports by category i see the total transaction rather than the category I'm looking at.

Carl274

This is related to the closed discussion: "How are totals calcuated in Reports?"

I do reports to quickly scan for any anomalies for a given filter. Reports show the entire transaction amount and not the split amount for the filter. This renders reports fairly useless unless you are only interested in the aggregate amount. Currently I have to open each split transaction to see the correct amount for the filter.

A report should show the data a filtered.

Please consider fixing.

Thank you.

Flopbot

Vote farming again, since I continue to get caught by surprise every stinkin' time I view transactions in Planned Spending.

Each time - someone - sees the transaction totals, - they - instantly jump to accusations of it's broken, or what are we doing spending so much on Diapers, or I'm confused, or how could we, and then we have to retrain ourselves on how Simplifi is displaying the wrong info on this screen.

Ideally, Simplifi would ONLY display the amount of the split - not the entire transaction amount in the Amount column in the original screenshot!

This way, a person can do the quick mental math to say 'yes, that looks about right' without having to find a calculator and open up each transaction!

KDC1996

This should be a very simple view fix… why has this been open for a year? It's something that was incorrectly setup initially and just needs to be adjusted for the report view. Simple fix, not much work for developers. Where's the fix?

Melisa

@KDC1996 I doubt this is a "simple fix". Most likely splits are tracked in a different table, while transactions are tracked in a main table. If this is the case the development team will have to join several tables and create new queries that most likely will slow down the app for people who have a lot of split transactions. That being said, would be nice to have an official reply from the Simplifi team.

UrsulaA

Thanks @Melisa - check out some words of wisdom on Simple Fixes below.

I would like this feature too, but from the feature request in progress list connectivity and rollover budgets are taking priority.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/4789/some-thoughts-on-simple-fixes

EL1234

I noticed something interesting today - that when filtering on a tag or category, although the Amount column shows the full amount of a transaction that's been split, if I select the transaction (and others), the total displayed at the top of the list only includes the portions of the transaction that match the category/tag I've filtered for. Not sure if this is a new feature or if it's just something I never noticed, but it was pretty helpful!

Max1223

@EL1234 nice find, though I would still like the split in the line items to show only the filtered category or at worst show the split expanded so you can see the different line items. See this thread below

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/966/split-transactions-should-be-treated-as-separate-transactions-2-merged-votes

EL1234

I agree and have already voted for that idea :)

paulshanks

Yes, please change to show the portion of the transaction that contributes to the current report total, not the whole transaction. Or, perhaps, show the split and total separated by a slash. Like $13.08 / $77.50 or something like that.

eadkins20

I wish they would just allow us to split it in totality. If I pay with one transaction and then split it here, it doesn't matter anymore, I've already reconciled that it's split. Sometimes I want to hide only a portion of the split payment and I can't do that either.

Coach Natalie

Hey everyone, great news! Our product team is currently working on a new design for how splits are displayed in Reports, the Spending Plan, and Watchlists where each split will show as an individual line with an individual amount. This means that if you filter your Report to a specific category that's part of a split, just that part will show in the Transaction Activity of the Report, making the totals match!

This redesign is coming soon!

-Coach Natalie

RobWilk

This is terrific news. I'm always confused how the totals add up even though i understand how it currently works. It would make it much easier to read.

Flopbot

Munificent work and news @Coach Natalie! This will make financial conversations sooooo much less stressful and less prone to conflict.

DannyB

Teresa and I were on our way out to do a bit of shopping and our son asked us to pick up some diapers and wipes. No problem, but this brought us back to a conversation we have had over the years as our kids have had kids.

This is not just me being nostalgic or somehow imagining the fantasy world of "The Good Old Days." But I can't help but experience a bit of real-world shock when I hear that you spent $147 on diapers and wipes. All my kids do the same… month in and month out for the couple of years kids are in diapers. It does make me appreciate our use of cloth diapers! We would buy or more often then not be gifted a dozen diapers and those dang things got used over and over and over. Of course, there was the whole rinsing them out in the toilet before tossing them in the diaper pail along with the wash rag used to clean the little tykes bum, where they remained until loaded in the washer, run through the dryer (or hung out to try sometime), folded and ready for the next round, but, wow, they were sure economical! OK, yeah, the babies might get a little diaper rash from time to time but what a great incentive when it came time to potty train! And YES, I did my fair share of diaper changes, safety pins and all. A nice side benefit was the years of having a nice supply of great rags for inside and outside use! 🤣

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/38301#Comment_38301

Agree, this is great news. The watchlists, reports, and spending plan will become more useful with this.

DannyB

@Flopbot "Munificent"! I love it. That's one of those words I kind of think I know what it means but still had to look it up so I could add it to my vocabulary!

Flopbot

Wahoo!!

Following up on this Idea Post with updated screenshots now that it's been implemented!

This is what it used to look like…

And this is what it now looks like…

Note that the $39.98 displayed in the transaction activity section is JUST the split amount!!!

I also found the same thing in Reports and in Watchlists. This is wonderful and will make financial conversations so much more peaceful!!!

P.S. @DannyB what a difference one kid out of diapers makes! My average has dropped by $50. There's a lot of wisdom to cloth diapers.

UrsulaA

Thanks for implementing this update Simplifi, I will use the split feature more because of it.

RobWilk

I might start using it more as well.. Though, like many, i would like split 'notes' (line by line) in addition to 'tags'. but yes, I realize that may make the interface a little messier. I could use the tags column as 'notes' i understand, but it's not ideal. I might go ahead and create more categories now that i can split multi-item-purchases better.