Mobile budget planner & shopping assistant

1. Andrew Okoh Dr. Marko Popovic Kwan Hong Lee Mobile budget planner & shopping assistant Intuitive and on-the-go approach to budgeting

2. General Goal Statements • Budget planner helps in setting and tracking budget goals in real time. • Shopping assistant helps in optimizing shopping experience based on parameters like cost, and proximity to store.

3. Problems with personal budgeting • Vague budget goals are set. • Progress in sticking to budget is poorly tracked. • Difficult to pinpoint weak areas in spending categories. • Identifying categories where budget goals are broken could lead to better adherence to future budgets. • Budget goals are rarely dynamic. • Long-term spending and savings habits aren’t taken into account. • There’s little motivation for budgeting

4. Solutions to preceding problems • Spending and savings is tracked in real time by lucid and interactive representations. • Budget goals are determined for spending categories. • Intuitive touch-oriented editing of budget goals. • Dynamic depiction of expenditure in each category. • Alerts deployed when budget constraints are broken in each category. • Easy interaction with “shopping assistant” to save on problematic categories

5. Budget Planner User Interface • Total balance, budget goals, and expenses are depicted by rectangular bars • Budget goals are entered by readjusting category bars by finger(using red tickers on diagram to right) • Bars are automatically updated when purchase is made.

6. Shopping assistant • Aids in saving on problematic categories. • Presents a map platform for viewing stores with desired items. • A search feature helps generate a list of deals on with highest priority given to cheaper items. • A wishlist is implemented. • Alerts user if a store in close proximity is carrying out a sale on item in wishlist. Add item Search for item

7. Scenario 1 • John is taking a stroll on main street and remembers that he needs to get a new backpack. So he consults the shopping optimization search feature. Backpack__ Search by proximity Search by cost Generates a list of the closest stores and an option of viewing them on the map Generates a list of stores with the cheapest at top of the list John goes for proximity

8. Scenario1 (continued) Touching one of the locations comes up with more information about the store Backpack: $24 Estimated discount: 20% Distance: 0.6 miles

9. Scenario 2 • John is walking on main street again and this time he is walking past T.J.Maxx which is having a sale on jean pants. Because John has this on his wishlist, he is alerted by a vibration on his phone. Deal: Sale on jean pants Location: 7 blocks east View on map

10. Data & Technical Issues • The budgeting tool will require access to users account information which should be available on bank server. • The shopping assistant will require a database for merchant name, location, item prices, etc. • Since the mobile device doesn’t have enough memory, a web server will carry this information and is connected via the web tto the device. • Merchants should be willing to post these deals on the database as a form of marketing. Courtesy FCN Group at BAC

11. Current tasks on the agenda • Generate shopping assistant database. • Set up web server. • Implement necessary user interface.