[moneytalks] Re: Beta: How blank subcategories are handled in category summary reports Ctrl+g
- From: "ROB MEREDITH" <rmeredith@xxxxxxx>
- To: <moneytalks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:27:20 -0400
This is a good idea; you'll find it implemented in the next beta.
Rob Meredith
>>> steveziel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 08/27/06 07:40PM >>>
Hello MT staff and all,
When you do a category summary, Ctrl+G, under each category you get a
total
for that category, consisting of total dollar amount, average dollar
amount,
and total number of transactions in that category. This is followed by
information pertaining to each subcategory under that main category.
With each subcategory under the main category, you get the total dollar
amount for that subcat, the average dollar amount for that subcat, and
the
total number of transactions for that subcat.
Here's what I've noticed. If a certain category doesn't have a
subcategory
associated with it, then this subcategory report is missing. In some
ways
this makes sense, but when I first saw this it was a bit confusing,
since
most of my transactions have subcategories and the few that didn't
weren't
in the report and the totals didn't seem to add up.
What would the MT staff and folks think if instead of what is happening
now,
these blank subcategories be replaced with total dollar amount, average
dollar amount, and total number of transactions, but use a phrase like
"*Item(s) with no subcategory associated*",
or some phrase like that. It could even have that phrase bracketed with
an
asterisk or something, as above, as people won't use a symbol like that
in
the regular subcategory names. In my example I put parenthesis around
the
letter s in the word item to be meaningful for a single transaction or
multiple transactions.
This method would give a more complete report rather than leaving
completely
out transactions which have no subcategories associated with them.
Perhaps
in the options menu, a checkbox could be made available to allow
current
style of category summary and this newer style, if it's desirable.
Here's a specific example from one of my registries.
Miscellaneous:
76.97 total
19.24 average
4 items
Miscellaneous:Post office
6.98 total
3.49 average
2 items
Miscellaneous:Rebate
49.99 total
49.99 average
1 item
(Leading blank line stripped after use of the windows copy command.)
You see under the category of Miscellaneous you have a total of four
items.
Under the subcategory Miscellaneous:Post office, you have 2
subcategories
itemized.
Under the subcategory Miscellaneous:Rebate, you have 1 subcategory
itemized.
This adds up to 3, not 4.
The fourth is not there because it is a category with a blank
subcategory.
But that wasn't evident to me at first.
Perhaps that blank subcategory could say instead:
Miscellaneous:*Item(s) without a subcategory*
20.00 total
20.00 average
1 item
Why 1 item in this case? Because that is exactly what it is, but I have
to
study the registry transactions under Miscellaneous to see what is
going on.
Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Steve
"I purr, therefore I am"
-- Descates
1596-1650
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