Before the project works started, the solution tests had been conducted, during which the quality and speed of its categorization engine had been assessed. The categorization engine task is to define categories for various transactions, e.g., ‘fuel’, ‘food’, ‘media’. During the test, 2,000,000 customers’ transactions were successfully categorized. The enquiry confirmed that Comarch solution works properly in different language environments which was an important point in the context of implementing the solution across the whole UniCredit Group. The correctness of the category assignment exceeded the achievements of competitors. Thus, positive test results contributed to the UniCredit decision to entrust the delivery of a Personal Finance Management tool to Comarch.
After Comarch had signed the contract for the implementation of Comarch Personal Finance Management within UniCredit Group, the market research was conducted. Bank’s potential and existing customers were asked about their needs and habits related to financial management. On its basis, the implementation plan was created.
The first phase of the project was completed in August 2013, when more than 1, 200,000,000 transactions were imported to the Comarch Personal Finance Management system. Its kernel – the categorization engine was then created. The data processed by the engine can be presented in various ways, e.g., in a form of a donut graph, a tree map or comparative diagrams. The information presented comprehensively but clearly is available immediately after logging into the system, allowing customers to control their financial situation. The Comarch Personal Finance Management application is characterized by high responsiveness owing to the Angular JS technology. Thus, the user can, for example, search for transactions in a way known form the Google search engine. The second phase of the implementation was completed in April 2014, when the solution was enriched with more functionality, i.e. limits, tags and notifications. Limits provide users with maximum flexibility in the monitoring of their expenses. They can set limits on any number of categories – one category may be included simultaneously in several limits, depending on customer needs. The application also runs special notifications when customers are
approaching defined thresholds. Tags are used to group associated financial expenses for a given purpose, e.g., ‘vacation’. This tag can mark spending on air tickets, hotel bookings, trips, etc. The transactions marked with a given tag can be browsed in order to check how much money was spent total on a specific purpose.
The next phase of the project ended in September 2014 following the introduction of manual categorization and calendar functions. The first feature is dedicated to long-term customers who are to start work with a Personal Finance Management tool. It helps to categorize transactions according to customer preferences, who can define own category assignments. It is worth noting that the categorization engine ‘learns’ the customer’s behavior and preferences, therefore the accuracy of transaction automatic assignment to the appropriate category is high and still increasing.
The calendar function allows the customer to enter important dates and use notifications. This personal planner enables the customer to control current and future spending in an efficient and modern way. Next phases of the implementation will cover the following functionality – category customization, real-time transactions, and savings objectives. Category customization proves the freedom given by UniCredit to its customers, enabling them to create and manage sub-categories for transactions. Realtime transactions show a list of transactions authorized by the customer but not booked by the bank yet. Savings objectives allow defining products and services for which the user wants to save money, as well as specifying the method of saving and monitoring the progress.