Photo Courtesy: Nikita Gautam

Money Record is a simple android app designed to record the personal financial transactions of the user. The user can define his own categories, and record the income and expenditure based on those categories. It also has a graph that allows the user to visualize their financial transactions in an attractive way.

Money Record is an app developed by Bipin Paudel, a fifth-semester student at Deerwalk Institute of Technology. DWIT News caught up with him in the college premises for a brief interview. Let’s hear what he has to say.

What was your motivation to create Money Record?

Money Record is actually my term paper project. (All DWIT students have to create an IT product. The college assigns different phases of creating a product as Term Papers every semester.) During my second semester, when the term paper was assigned to me, I thought of creating this app.

Personally, I was having trouble to manage my finances. So, I looked up for some apps that would help me do that. But, most of the apps in the market were complex and difficult to use. So, I thought of creating a simple one myself. And, I took up the idea as my term paper project.

How is this app different from other similar apps?

One of the key difference between Money Record and other apps is that it allows the user to group their financial transactions based on categories. This helps them to easily track down their financial transactions. For example, if you are planning a trip, you can create a category for that, and record all your financial transactions in that category.

There is also a graph. It allows the user to visualize their transactions in an attractive way.

What are the challenges you faced?

There were a lot of challenges. Creating an android app is not an easy feat. First of all, you need to have good knowledge about programming itself. I started to learn Java (The app is based on Java Programming language) from second semester. Then, in third semester, when I learned object-oriented programming language, I began to have a good idea of android development.

Creating an android app is not as easy as creating a web app. For web apps, there is already a platform, but for android apps, one needs to start from scratch. I had to learn the basics of file handling, learn XML for designing. It was very difficult.

And, did you ever thought of giving up?

Yes. Although I thought of this app in my second semester, I began my work in the fourth semester. There was a month holiday due to the Earthquake in April. I began my work in this period. But, I found it so difficult that I had already given up.

But, again there was a month holiday during the Dashain vacation due to the blockade. In this period, I again took up the project. This time, I made significant development and was able to finish the app.

Do you have any future plans for this app?

Yes, I uploaded the app in Google Play Store, and there have been some feedback from the users. Based on their recommendations, I plan to add some security features; maybe, a pin to access the app. I also plan to improve the graph. Some of the users noted that the graph was not accurate. Some complaints were made about the font as well. So, I will work on that as well.

And, what about revenue?

I haven’t thought of money yet. Besides, it’s difficult to earn at the beginning. The app needs to get more than 1,00,000 downloads to even think of advertising (Money Record has been downloaded more than 100 times). So, money is not my agenda right now.

If you had to advise yourself in the beginning phase of developing this app, what would you say?

Never give up. Don’t ever give up on what you began. Believe in yourself, and work hard. And, avoid distractions if possible. I used to work at 3-4 am in the morning because there were no distractions during that time.

This application can be downloaded from Google play store through the following link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bipinpaudel.moneyrecrd