Review: RMR Bank
Score:
82%
Version Reviewed: 1.8
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Let's get one thing straight about RMRBank. Don't be fooled by its current cross-platform stature - this finance application was running on the Psion Series 3a back in 1994, making it no less than 11 years old. The core code hasn't changed too much over the intervening years, thanks to the wonders of OPL, but it has been significantly tweaked and expanded, always adding functionality to keep it abreast of current developments in the world of computer money management. A good example is the way that the latest v1.8 (beta) even supports the new OFX format for Financial exchanges on the Web, that Quicken are going to introduce in their 2005 suite (i.e. it's not even out yet). RMRBank's remit is to help you manage every single aspect of your finances, from humble bank account tracking to budget planning, from managing motoring costs to tracking stocks and shares, from totting up business expenses to keeping a complete home inventory. Of course, if you actually use every single module to its fullest, you'd spend most of your life tracking your assets and very little actually enjoying them. But this isn't RMRBank's fault, and it can boast modules for everything you'd ever like to record that has anything to do with money.
Like finance applications on other platforms, the basics work in the usual way. You keep multiple accounts, each of which you gradually fill with transactions, recording the financial minutiae of your daily life. At the end of each month, you reconcile RMRBank's readouts with those in your bank statement and you're then armed and ready to point out mistakes. Transactions can be categorised (to help you work out where all your money is going) and even 'split' (i.e. part being assigned to one category, part to another). Standing orders are factored into RMRBank and it's easy to 'look ahead' at a projected balance for each account for a few months time. Importing existing transactions into RMRBank is very easy, with support for QIF, OFX and QFX formats; exporting is also easy, adding CSV and ASCII text to the previous three formats.
One idiosyncrasy is that pressing 'Enter' on anything (e.g. an account, a transaction, a category) doesn't open that item for editing or expansion, but rather brings up a 'New item' dialog. While this is obviously geared for speedy entry of new data, it takes a little getting used to.
This quirk aside, there's an awful lot of seriously mature and useful functionality in RMRBank. Even when loaded with data, performance remains quite acceptable, perhaps not surprising as RMR's main developer (Psion legend Alan Richey programmed S3ABank just over 11 years ago!) uses RMRBank in his daily life and makes darned sure that it stays practical, accurate and useful.
And, should you want to switch to Symbian UIQ or even(!) dabble with going over to the dark side, RMRBank's available for all other PDA platforms as well, so learning your way around the suite won't be wasted effort.
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at