Matt Abar

Reporting VI - Graphs

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:40:00 GMT

I've already talked about FinFolio's on-screen graphs here. Our graphs are modular, allowing you to see the same graphs on the screen as well as in reports. Some reports allow more than one graph.

You can mix and match graphs with reports, giving you a wide array of possibilities. On reports, the color scheme and other formatting options become much more important.

FinFolio Release Candidate

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:23:00 GMT

We just posted the Release Candidate to the web site--FinFolio Workstation 2010 is feature complete. We're working closely with our beta sites to round off any remaining issues. If you've been waiting until FinFolio was futher along before you dove in, this is probably the right time. We're ready to go.

Report V - Grouping

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:40:00 GMT

Would you rather have 1,000 static reports, or 100 dynamic reports that could be customized in 10,000 ways? Whenever possible during our design process, we've opted for the more flexible option and nowhere is it more apparent than the report grouping.

Reporting IV - Custom Columns

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:50:00 GMT

Some FinFolio reports have custom columns where you can pick any calculation from our library. We currently have about forty calculations which cover everything from transaction type summations, to rates of return, to fixed income accruals.

Beta 2 Released

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:07:00 GMT

We finished Beta 2 on Friday. I'm happy with the software--this is the last big beta release and we are almost feature complete, with the notable exception of performance composites. We created the structure for composites when we implemented stored performance (see below), so it should be fairly simple to implement.

We're now working toward a release candidate which involves bug fixing, polishing off the existing functionality, finishing the user manual, and making minor tweaks to the UI. We're continuing to chisel away at speed and expand our report and graph library. I'll update after the holiday when I have a better idea of a release date.

Reporting III - Callouts and String Substitution

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:43:00 GMT

Callouts are large text areas where you can use variables and conditional criteria to write messages to clients. You can talk about specific performance numbers, call your clients by name, or remind them which model you selected. Conditional text can say different things for different clients, based on the model they own, the account market value, or anything else. Think of it as a super mail merge.

It's a subtle thing, but these descriptive text blocks tie everything together to give your reports a professionally-designed feel. We've added callout sections to the table of contents and several other summary reports. You can put a personal touch on your data presenta

Reporting II - Packages

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:12:00 GMT

What is a client report? At FinFolio we consider the report to be the final package that is delivered to your client. This package consists of a cover page, table of contents, and various other report sections. They print from your printer already collated and ready to be sent to your clients. Packages can be printed for any of the major folio types (households, clients, portfolios or accounts).

You start by creating a new report package in FinFolio. Yyou can create an unlimited number of report packages and each package has one or more sections. Each section is a small report unto itself and can span multiple pages with unique formatting, data, charts and graphs. The list of sections includes Cover Page, Table of Contents, Portfolio Summary, Portfolio Returns, Index Comparison, Transaction Summary, and many more.

Reporting I

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:55:00 GMT

At Techfi we were overwhelmed with feature requests. It seemed like every client who bought the software wanted to do something different. Eventually we found the common thread running through the requests--90% of them centered around client reporting. We took a step back and realized that instead of approaching requests one-by-one, we need to make a bigger change that would accommodate them all at once. We needed a much more flexible custom report capability.

Feature Highlight: Import Manager

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:14:00 GMT

Managing your imports is a complicated process. Almost all portfolio accounting data comes from custodial import sources, as opposed to manual data entry. In most systems, you lose the provenance of your data once the import has completed. You can't look at a specific transaction or client record and determine which custodian or import file the data came from.

Even if you can figure out where your data came from, what options do you have for fixing problems? You need high-level tools that let you manage blocks of data at the custodian or file level. If you import a bad batch of files, you need some way to back out information globally without going line-by-line through your accounts or having to restore a database backup.

FinFolio Runs In A Web Browser

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:15:00 GMT

The bulk of the work we've been doing over the last month has been cleaning up our SOA layer so FinFolio can run in a web browser. It was much trickier than I'd anticipated but we're finally ready to go.