The Cashbook User Experience (UX) – Best In Class.

As someone who has joined the Cashbook team relatively recently, I’m in awe of how much work has gone into the Cashbook user experience. There are features and capabilities in the Cashbook front end that make the platform a pleasure to use for our clients.

First, a history lesson. Cashbook has evolved over the years, while maintaining its competitiveness and value for money. Back in 1999 we had V2. In 2002 we moved to v4. 2009 saw the release of our client-server V5 and the move away from green screen. Then in 2020, we went live with our web browser-based v6. It’s worth noting that we continue to support all older versions of Cashbook!

In 2020, a combination of the pandemic and new technical leadership gave us pause to reassess v6, and a decision was made to rearchitect our web solution. V6.1: Our Game Changer, launched in 2022, was the result of this rework. It became a complete overhaul of our technology stack and user interface. V6.1 also added Collections and Deductions Management modules.

Some of our peers have quite dated user interfaces, and this move helped us to leap-frog into a position of strength where the user experience is incredibly strong. A place where our users can be at their most productive and efficient. This article aims to showcase some of the Cashbook UX that we are most proud of, and features that our users love.

Finance people can be a picky group, requiring their data to be shown in a particular way, often with a particular dataset. On any list in Cashbook, you can set up your columns and filters the way you like it, then save that configuration as a View in Cashbook. With your new view in place, you can pin it – the next time you go to that screen, that will be the new default view.

There are certain columns that a user will always want to be visible, even as they scroll across to see other fields on the list. Similar to freezing columns in Microsoft Excel, you can pin columns to the left (or right) of the list you are working on. You can pin multiple columns, even if they are not adjacent in the list – they will dock to the left or right side of the list, depending on your preference.

For busy companies, large datasets can be unavoidable. Cashbook’s filters allow you to narrow down the dataset you are working with so that you can see the data that you need. With criteria like Greater Than, Less Than, Between and Blank (and the ability to use “And” / “Or” conditions), finding data couldn’t be easier. Remember – these filtered datasets can also be saved as views for easy retrieval. Filters update the list in real time.

It might be obvious, but it’s easy to miss. All columns can be sorted by clicking the column heading. There are three sort states – ascending, descending and original. If you click a column heading 3 times, it will return to the original sorting.

Some screens can potentially have over 100 data points, so giving users the ability to choose what columns to show (and in what order) is important. The Columns side bar gives you that control.

Data can be grouped by any column, making it easy to group and browse data with a particular value. For example, group all records by Journal Date to browse all data on a date by date basis.

All lists in Cashbook support Export to Excel. Download the entire list, or a specific range of data. You can also filter the list before exporting to narrow the data set. If the total number of records is over 1,000, the download will be offered as a zip file.

Several lists in Cashbook have the facility to add notes (with follow up dates). A great way to keep track of your tasks and let others know that something is being dealt with.

If you highlight a selection of records in one column, you’ll see Average, Count, Min, Max and Sum in the footer of the screen. Simple and incredibly useful.

One of the most recent additions to the Cashbook UX, a Pagination system is now in place for all lists (to replace endlessly scrolling lists). Show up to 1000 rows per page, and navigate through the pages one at a time using the navigation arrow icons. The pagination will update automatically if filters are in use.

Finally in this feature review, we have Pivot Tables. A Pivot Table is an interactive way to quickly summarize large amounts of data. You can use a PivotTable to analyze numerical data in detail, and answer unanticipated questions about your data. For example, totaling “Unreconciled Items 1” and “Unreconciled Items 2” for side by side comparison.

Would you like to see some of these features in action? Contact Cashbook today to chat with our team, or book a demo where we can show you the fantastic user experience in person and you can see it for yourself.