Mobile Application Case study
Wallet Optimizer
Consultation
A complimentary consultation is the first step in our mobile app development approach. Below you'll find the results of our conversation with Wallet Optimizer.
User Stories
After the consultation we ran a story creation workshop with Wallet Optimizer. Below you'll find the results of the workshop and how the stories were prioritized.
Must Have
Nice to Have
Maybe Later
Wireframes
Wallet Optimizer required both design and development services so our design team created wireframes to show how the user stories will be integrated into the final product.
Iterations
After sizing up the stories for Wallet Optimizer, we grouped them into iterations that can can be developed and tested in a 1-2 week time frame.
Iteration 1
Week 1
- Design and development environment setup
- Database selection and setup
- Asset collection and review
- Wireframe review
Iteration 2
Week 2-3
- Database configuration for user login
- Account creation screen design & development
- Login Screen design & development
- Forget password screen design and development
- Splash screen design and development
- My Information screen design and development
Iteration 3
Week 4-5
- Bank Account connection screen design and development
- Additional bank account search screen design and development
- Database configuration for bank accounts and transactions
- Plaid API integration with backend and initial transaction pull
Iteration 4
Week 6-7
- Calendar screen design and development
- API configuration to pull latest transactions
Iteration 5
Week 8-9
- Design and develop Budgets screen
- Database and API development for budgets with link to transaction categories
- Add budget popover for adding budgets
- Spent vs. total budget display block
Iteration 6
Week 10-11
- Expenses screen design and development
- Transaction search filter design and backend API development
- Transaction detailed view design and development
- API configuration to pull transaction details
- Manually re-assign expense to budget
Iteration 7
Week 12-13
- Spending screen design and development
- Show spent vs. total budget from budget screen
- API development for daily spending
- Implement charting library to display daily spending pulled from API
- Display top 3 budgets and link to budgets screen
Iteration 8
Week 14-15
- Design and develop Dashboard screen
- API development to provide overall bank balance
- Reuse spending evolution from the Spending screen
- Add latest transactions with a day filter and use expenses API for day filter
- API development for bank balance history
- Implement charting library to display bank balance evolution
Iteration 9
Week 16-17
- Messaging centre design & development
- Database development for messaging and Socket.io integration
- Online user display
Iteration 10
Week 18-19
- Notifications screen design and development
- Anomaly algorithm development
- API endpoint development to trigger calculations and analyze data for ATM fees and inconsistent bills as well as add indicator for notification update
Iteration 11
Week 20-21
- Design and develop profile screen
- Design and develop About Wallet Optimizer screen
- Link to My Information, My Accounts, and My Notifications
- Sign out link and API development
- Pull notification update and add red dot to notification icon if there are updates
Iteration 12
Week 22-23
- Walkthrough screens design and development
- Connect all iteration links together
Iteration 13
Week 24
- Release
- Emergency support standby as website is tested with live traffic
Technologies used
Once we had the iterations laid out, we were able to choose the most fitting technologies to build Wallet Optimizer a modern, secure, and scalable mobile app. Here is a list of the technologies we used:
Challenges & Wins
As with most projects, Wallet Optimizer had some unique requirements that required creative solutions. Below you'll see how we approached these challenges.
Wallet Optimizer had a large pre-existing and detailed roadmap of features to implement.
Having a large set of features requests isn't a bad thing but it can often be the death of project due to a startup's limited resources. The Tactic Apps team advised Wallet Optimizer to start small, receive customer feedback and pivot accordingly.
Working with the Wallet Optimizer team, we carefully selected the user stories for their first release that provided the essence of their vision.
Through an Agile approach we iterated through their user stories by relatively sizing them up so we could provide an initial timeline for their first release. This allowed Wallet Optimizer to limit their budget for the initial release and launch sooner than expected.
Wallet Optimizer required complex mathematical formulas to generate valuable notifications to their users.
Even though coding may seem like a deeply mathematical skill set, it rarely involves complex math. Wallet Optimizer had some proprietary ideas on how to detect bank account anomalies and we had limited time to implement these formulas.
Without in house expertise on either side, the Tactic Apps team worked with Wallet Optimizer to find an excellent freelancer who created all the formulas required and kept the project on track.
The initial bank connection API used changed their billing structure and was no longer viable for Wallet Optimizer.
This issue had the potential to derail the entire project. Without a way for customers to log into their bank accounts, the budgeting portion of the app would have to all be done manually by customers.
After 16+ hours of research, the Tactic Apps team found an API provider with a lower starting billing structure that had similar data output as the initial choice. With some development overtime, the project was able to stay on track.
The Wallet Optimizer team had been burned before by another development company and was hesitant to start the project with Tactic Apps
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story. Development hurdles often creep up when building complex applications which in turn leads to overspent budgets and uncompleted projects.
The Tactic Apps team explained the Agile development framework and how iterations can be paid for individually. This allows Wallet Optimizer to cancel their contract at any point without having to spend their entire budget upfront. This is useful in case of financial trouble or if things aren't going to plan. Having this type of control put the Wallet Optimizer team at ease before and during the project.
The Wallet Optimizer team had serious security concerns due to the sensitive data contained with their application.
Even though Tactic Apps has an intense focus on security throughout the development cycle, a 100% securely built application is nearly impossible. Security standards change constantly and new hacks or discovered by the hour.
After much discussion, the Tactic Apps team reviewed all the security measures taken during the development of the app but for long term support, a security specialist would need to be hired on the Wallet Optimizer staff. Unfortunately this is the nature of applications that deal with highly sensitive data and Wallet Optimizer decided to factor this cost into their next funding round.
Project Results
With all iterations completed, we produced a mobile app{" "} that Wallet Optimizer can be proud of. Below you'll see the effort it took and the consequent results.
Team & Effort
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