Check this mockup of a different approach to the bank reconciliation. It is based on this business process we modeled earlier.

Use the right-arrow key to go to the next image in the sequence when in the web album.

You can also download the ZIP below to run it locally which gives a smoother flow. You need to be logged to download it though, I´m afraid.

I would like to hear your thoughts.

Hi Rob,

This is great. 

Is it possible to associate each of these images to a process flow diagram?  I think that would help explain the process and what the user would expect to see at each stage of the process.

You show "Reconciled" and "Marked as Reconciled" on slide 0001.  It would probably make sense to allow filtering on the view to exclude previously reconciled items.

Of the "Marked as Reconciled", I guess there are two ways for an item to be marked as reconciled:

a) the system relies on an intelligent "auto matching" function to automatically propose items that it thinks should be "Marked as Reconciled"

b) the user manually selects an item and changes its status to "Marked as Reconciled".

Is it possible to somehow differentiate between the two in the mockups (perhaps using the process flow approach above)?  This is because in some cases we may actually want to simply accept the "auto matching" proposal based on matching criteria or rules that we have previously configured (potentially with a "review and accept" flow).

I  think that when we get to the point of building this we will have to put some thought into how best to define the auto matching algorithms for each bank statement that is imported.  Different countries (or even different banks within countries) may have different rates of success for different matching criteria.  For example in some statements the document number may be consistently referenced and available as a matching criteria.  In others it may only be possilbe to do an intitial match on the name and the amount.  Tolerances should also be configurable (for example if there is a match on a document reference and business partner name and the amount is withing 5 cents then we might want to auto match, mark the document as settled, and automatically create a write-off transaction for the difference).  Other imports will have a very low success rate and will need more manual intervention.  The user interface for the configuration of these rules will form an important part of this process.

Regards

Richard

Hi Rob!

This looks great!

Just some more feedback. In "RecSeq_0017_Search-copy-5.png" when we split an invoice that is paid in once payment/collection in several ones, a part from the amount it is also important to register the "due date" and the "payment form" of each of the payments/collections.

Looking forward to seeing more mock-ups :-)

Kind regards,

Josep

I think this looks great, Rob.  I especially appreciate making it easier to do partial payments. 

Thanks for the opportunity to have a look!

Peter

[ Via email from Paula, an SAP user from Stuttgart, Germany ]

I had checked the previous version, the only difference to this new one is the splitting and the "manual" search for matches right?
It's quite good. Here a few thoughts:
1.Imported bank statement lines: To be able to match items automatically you'll have to define what the system searches for. You wrote you still need to figure out a logic. Reference, counterpart and amount are the most logical ones, however the statements provide this information in different ways/places, depending on the country and sometimes even on the bank. You could set up the system so that each company could choose the criteria and create possibly a tolerance for the reference and the counterpart. If you get two statements from different banks it would be easier to see what I mean.
2. I don't understand exactly the first slide with the items "marked as reconciled, reconciled, not reconciled" as the Moritz one isn't reconciled on your next slide...And why do you have to create this one for matching? If it's on both sides, wouldn't it be easier to match them manually?
3. What do you mean on slide about Mari with "We add an invoice we forgot to pay"? Don't you mean forgot to book on bank? As the difference was on the OB statement...Or what do you mean by Transaction in Openbravo?

A suggestion, after the first reconciliation you have matched and not matched items. Why don't the matched ones disappear off the list or put them at the end? That way if you have a long list of transactions, you'd see immediately which ones you have to work on.

Keep up the good work!

[via email from accountant Oscar]

 Hi Rob,

It looks fine and easy to match and control.

But I'm missing some specific cases:

a) Normally, bank transactions have some costs that are shown (added or deducted) as a part of the transaction and not separately. So, at
"Transactions in Openbravo" where we can math or create with the Bank statement, it would be great if we can add a field for this bank costs (i.e. we have a payment of 998 eur related with and invoice of 1.000 eur that have included a commission of 2 eur. The best way would be to be able to match with the invoice and in the same process account as well for the 2 eur of expenses).
b) When creating a new transaction in Openbravo due to we have not a match, how we can manage later if we have found a match? I.e. we have an advance payment of 1.000 eur that we made prior to receive the supplier invoice. How we should match (and delete the transaction created) when receiving the invoice from the supplier?.
c) Period of Bank reconciliation. This appear to be prepared to import data directly from the bank statement but is it possible to do it in a daily basis or must be done for a specific period of time (one month)? Normally,for credit and collection task it is really usefull to have the information updated in a daily basis but, if doing this, will we have one bank statement
for each day? How will be possible to control the non-match movements?
d) Movements no related with invoices. Also, for a complete reconciliation of the bank statements, there will be some transaction not related with supplier payment or client collections but related with bank loans, subsidies, financing, etc. How these transactions will be managed? I.e. We have a payment of 1.200 eur related with a loan with the bank and this amount is composed a 1.000 eur for loan amortization, 150 eur for interest paid and 50 eur bank expenses.

Please, contact me if you have any doubt or question related with my comments.

Regards,

Oscar
 

Attached you'll find the updated version of the mocks. It includes most of the suggested improvements in this thread.