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upstreammuse / cashpiles

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Budget display does not include summary activity and allocation per period #42

Closed upstreammuse closed 2 years ago

upstreammuse commented 2 years ago

In the old budget display, each period would show the total allocation and activity for the period. This, coupled with a scrollable list of all periods, was useful to determine at a glance the overall health of the budget. (E.g. are the allocations per period consistent? Which way is the overall balance trending?)

The new budget display lists by category, then by period, so this summary data was lost in the conversion.

upstreammuse commented 2 years ago

One possibility, that assumes a three-part budget display similar to the current account display. Selecting a category shows the budget periods for that category, and each period includes allocation/activity/balance information for all selected categories. When the first category is selected, the period information would correspond to that category. When multiple categories are selected, the period information would correspond to the sum of the selected categories.

Note that this possibility requires the ability to multi-select categories to view. This is currently not implemented.

upstreammuse commented 2 years ago

Another possibility is to swap the selection priority. In other words, select the budget period, and then select the category. Thus the budget period list could always show the full allocation/activity/balance data for that period, covering all categories. Within that period, each category could then show its individual allocation/activity/balance for that period.

Note that this might also make it more possible to display old (closed) categories in the periods they were active in, without needing to show closed categories in the current period.

Note also that this option would put the display at odds with the data model, so some careful design work is needed before going this direction.

upstreammuse commented 2 years ago

With the new data model, the budget display was inverted, so budget periods are the primary selection, and categories the secondary. Doing this, the periods once again are able to display a summary of the allocations, activity, and balance per period. This should meet the intent of this issue. Closing.