Beancruncher
Beancruncher
Beancruncher is a website platform that simplifies financial reporting for businesses.
It integrates with major accounting software such as Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks, helping
companies understand their financial data, create reports, forecast the future, track
progress, and benchmark performance.
When a client sought a custom financial solution built on Beancruncher, they turned to
CubeZoo for their development expertise. CubeZoo spent significant time planning and
designing the platform to ensure it met the needs of various teams and provided a great
user experience.
With a production build spanning 18 months, this project marked CubeZoo's largest website
endeavour to date. The success of the project hinged on meticulous planning and design,
with CubeZoo dedicating significant time to producing a functional spec, creating user
stories, and designing the user experience.
Design Direction: Mood Board
Context
In developing the mood board for beancruncheranalytics.com, we aimed to strike a balance where playful meets accounting.
What We Did
Through thorough consultations and focused inquiries, we meticulously blended vibrant
colours, whimsical illustrations, and sleek typography with elements evocative of financial
data. This deliberate fusion of creativity and precision allowed us to craft a visual
narrative that deeply resonates with Beancruncher's ethos.
As a result, we established the foundation for a website design that strikes the perfect
balance between approachability and professionalism, inviting users into a captivating
realm where number crunching transforms into an engaging experience.
Style Guide
Design Elements
A digital style guide serves as a vital tool for maintaining consistency across Beancruncher's digital platforms by meticulously defining design elements such as typography, colours, and layouts. This steadfast uniformity not only enhances brand recognition but also elevates user experience and streamlines design processes, making it an essential investment for Beancruncher's digital presence.
Colors
Typography
User Experience (UX)
At CubeZoo, we took on the challenge of refining the user experience (UX) for
Beancruncher, our esteemed client in the realm of accounting analytics. With a
keen understanding of the intricate financial landscape, we endeavoured to develop
an accounting platform that not only simplifies financial processes but also elevates
user engagement.
Our journey commenced with an in-depth analysis of Beancruncher's requirements,
delving deep into the nuances of accounting principles and user expectations.
From there, we meticulously crafted wireframes that served as the foundation for
our user-centric approach.
Through strategic design decisions and intuitive navigation pathways, we ensured
that Beancruncher's platform offers seamless access to financial data and insights.
From streamlined invoicing to intuitive report generation, every aspect of the
platform was tailored to enhance productivity and efficiency for accounting professionals.
With a focus on user-friendly design and a commitment to accounting excellence,
CubeZoo delivered a Beancruncher platform that not only meets but exceeds the
expectations of modern accounting professionals.
User Interface (UI)
In the dynamic realm of UI design, our collaboration with Beancruncher sparked an
invigorating journey focused on seamlessly merging aesthetics and functionality
within their web platform.
Drawing inspiration from apps with light-hearted designs, we opted for a clinically
white backdrop punctuated by bursts of colourful iconography, infusing the design
with vitality and charm.
Our approach prioritised simplicity and a welcoming ambiance, inviting users into a
realm of vibrant designs and interactive animations.
This unique blend of creativity and practicality not only enhances the website's
visual allure but also cultivates a deeper connection with users, captivating them
with engaging designs and interactions.
Step into the captivating world of Beancruncher's website design, where every
interaction unfolds a delightful journey!
Our Challenge
Encountered hurdles when handling large volumes of raw accounting data
Software integration, especially with major online accounting platforms like Xero, Sage,
and QuickBooks, presents significant challenges.
CubeZoo encountered hurdles when handling large volumes of raw accounting data,
necessitating unification without disrupting the current system. Additionally, creating
visual outputs posed a challenge, especially in generating PDF documents with embedded
charts due to limitations in available libraries.
Exporting to PowerPoint also proved challenging due to proprietary software constraints,
but CubeZoo leveraged PPTX format to navigate this obstacle.
Moreover, dynamically generating graphs from API data for diverse reports on the
dashboard required careful consideration of varying screen sizes and user expertise
levels in accounting.
Our Solution
Utilised headless versions of Chrome browser and LibreOffice, enabling rendering of web pages
After extensive research into accounting APIs, CubeZoo devised a unified solution to save
retrieved API data for integration, facilitating reporting across all accounting modules.
The system incorporates various chart types such as bar charts, line graphs, and pie charts,
ensuring user-friendly reports accessible to individuals without an accounting background.
Utilising Bootstrap and CSS media queries, the platform adapts seamlessly to different screen
sizes, enabling access on various devices. To address challenges in exporting to PDF and
PowerPoint, CubeZoo utilised headless versions of Chrome browser and LibreOffice, enabling
rendering of web pages and execution of JavaScript for chart generation.
After eighteen months of development, the client now boasts a fully integrated and customised
Beancruncher platform equipped with all necessary features to drive business operations.
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