Author Topic: Searching in Bank Genie using BS421 and BSS408  (Read 2631 times)

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Offline barryl

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Searching in Bank Genie using BS421 and BSS408
« on: August 27, 2015, 04:34:08 PM »
There are many differences when using BS408 (Analyse transactions) and BS421 (Manage Transactions) to search in a BG dataset.

1) A very trivial point: in BS421 the search button is among several on the left side of the window; in BS408 it is at the bottom. This often trips me up.

2) search in BS408 defaults to all accounts and all dates in current year (and it is easy to select other years, etc) whereas BS421 defaults to this account and unreconciled statements (so roughly the current month)

3) the fields in a transaction that can be searched on are different (with some overlap).

It would be nice to know what importance other users give to making these two more alike, especially the default selections.

Offline Peter65

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Re: Searching in Bank Genie using BS421 and BSS408
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2015, 08:27:28 PM »
Aha! I had wondered how to search for an individual transaction by amount, but had overlooked that both search boxes in BS408 and 421 opened a new screen that allows searching across a far wider set of transactions, especially than the single account in BS421.  I was expecting the search button to operate on the criteria selected, not open a new screen. So for me, the trivial point was far from trivial.

As a new user I found BS408 and BS421 confusing at first, until I recognised each for their purpose, BS408 as the tool to analyse the data, and create and store formats for reports; BS421 as the record of individual monthly statements for each account. All very logical, and now I know there is a search box in both the default selections for searching are both fine. I dont find the defaults confusing at all as each is relevant to their particular context. (But it would be nice to know where I can find the list of payees to use in a search, I know they are in there somewhere)

What was confusing was first the lack of definition in the menus, with the search function for a transaction under 'manage transactions', and reporting under 'transactions'. I would put a lot more emphasis on making the purpose of each menu item much clearer, as well as putting the various buttons for searching and the like in the same locations.

But the great thing is, everything seems to work flawlessly and reliably, I've not found any bugs. (latest update of BG5)