How are statistics/filtering going to be implemented?

[gravelfreeman]

I'd like to know if statistics are planned for split-pro, or if it's not on the roadmap at all. I really liked the stats in Splitwise because I could easily see how much was spent per month and per year, broken down by category.

Right now, I can export expenses via Balances > Person > Export, then load the file into Google Sheets, create a pivot table, and get totals per month and per category. It works, but it's a lot of manual effort. Having this built into split-pro would be a big improvement.

I'm also wondering whether we’re supposed to use Groups as categories, or stick with the current icons. Will the icons eventually support filtering/sorting by category and show totals?

A good implementation could include a date picker and a category selector at the top of the page to filter the table and show a total for the current selection. Also the export button would then only export the currently filtered data.

I’d like to open a Feature Request, but I’m not sure whether categories are intended to be handled through groups or icons. Personally, I’d prefer icons, since that’s what we’re already using.

[krokosik]

Honestly it's not a priority for me right now, I'm afraid. There are still plenty of bugs and UX annoyances to be resolved, even pertaining to core functionality and this is what I want to focus on. It's been a week since I became a collaborator in this repo and it will take me some time to get up to speed and start implementing new features. The fact that the quality of the code and even the logic itself is, to say the least, not great, does not help. It will probably take me a while to get the repo to a state where I feel that it is working properly and I can iterate over it. We can start a discussion on how the statistics would be implemented, but I do not plan to work on them in the foreseeable future.

I guess the question is, what exactly would you expect. Compared to Splitwise what is unnecessary or what is missing. Could you make some simple mockups of how the statistics page would look like?

[gravelfreeman]

I don’t think a full-blown statistics page with pie charts and graphics is necessary. A simple filter system with a total $ at the top or bottom of the page would be enough to provide basic insights. For example: “Looks like we spent a bit too much on groceries this month, maybe we should slow down.” Another example: quickly comparing recurring yearly expenses like car/home insurance, internet, phone bills, etc.

There’s a lot of valuable data in there, and not having filters feels like a missed opportunity. The goal isn’t to turn Splitpro into an accounting tool, but the ability to quickly get basic insights on the data that's already there.

The main filtering functionality should be based on three columns, roughly like this (screenshot is from QBO and photoshopped for styling purposes):

Year Filter + Category Filter + Person Filter + Filter by Text

Concrete example:
I want to know how much I paid for Spotify last year:
Last Year + Services + Everyone + Spotify

---

Year Filter Dropdown

Includes a custom date picker and presets like:

• All Time
• Today
• Yesterday
• This Week
• This Month
• This Quarter
• This Year
• Last Year

Category Filter Dropdown

• Lists all categories with at least one item in the current group
• Supports selecting one or multiple categories

Person Filter Dropdown (not on picture)

• Lists all people in the current group
• Supports selecting one or multiple people

Filter by Text Box

• Searches within the category title

[gravelfreeman]

My partner just gave me another practical use case. Every week or month, she goes through her bank statement, checks each transaction, and adds the relevant ones to Splitpro. Then she grabs the pile of receipts, searches for each transaction, and links them manually.

Being able to filter by "last week" or "last month," then by category, like groceries, would make it much easier for her to find the matching transaction.

[krokosik]

Yes that is very sensible, thank you for the detailed response and proposition! While I can't say that it is a priority for me right now, I think it is one of the top features for the future