Split

A web application to manage, pay, and split expenses of any type all in one place. No more "do you take Zelle or Venmo" anymore, or forgetting if you paid someone, Split has it all covered.

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Inspiration

Our inspiration came from the annoying amount of times we have had to take out a calculator after a meal with friends and figure out how much to pay each other, make sure we have a common payment method (Venmo, Zelle), and remember if we paid each other back or not a week later. So to answer this question we came up with a Split that can easily divide our expenses for us, and organize the amount we owe a friend, and payments without having a common platform at all in one.

What it does

This application allows someone to put in a value that someone owes them or they owe someone and organize it. During this implementation of a due to someone, you can also split an entire amount with multiple individuals which will be reflected in the amount owed to each person. Additionally, you are able to clear your debts and make payments through the built-in Checkbook service that allows you to pay just given their name, phone number, and value amount.

How we built it

We built this project using html, css, python, and SQL implemented with Flask. Alongside using these different languages we utilized the Checkbook API to streamline the payment process.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges we ran into were, not knowing how to implement new parts of web development. We had difficulty implementing the API we used, “Checkbook” , using python into the backend of our website. We had no experience with APIs and so implementing this was a challenge that took some time to resolve.

Another challenge that we ran into was coming up with different ideas that were more complex than we could design. During the brainstorming phase we had many ideas of what would be impactful projects but were left with the issue of not knowing how to put that into code, so brainstorming, planning, and getting an attainable solution down was another challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to create a fully functioning, ready to use product with no prior experience with software engineering and very limited exposure to web dev.

What we learned

Some things we learned from this project were first that communication was the most important thing in the starting phase of this project. While brainstorming, we had different ideas that we would agree on, start, and then consider other ideas which led to a loss of time.

After completing this project we found that communicating what we could do and committing to that idea would have been the most productive decision toward making a great project. To complement that, we also learned to play to our strengths in the building of this project.

In addition, we learned about how to best structure databases in SQL to achieve our intended goals and we learned how to implement APIs.

What's next for Split

The next step for Split would be to move into a mobile application scene. Doing this would allow users to use this convenient application in the application instead of a browser.

Right now the app is fully supported for a mobile phone screen and thus users on iPhone could also use the “save to HomeScreen” feature to utilize this effectively as an app while we create a dedicated app.

Another feature that can be added to this application is bill scanning using a mobile camera to quickly split and organize payments. In addition, the app could be reframed as a social media with a messenger and friend system.

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