TMA Sport / MVP DEVELOPMENT + FINANCIAL REPORTING
A financial reporting MVP connecting three payment sources
Built a consolidated financial reporting MVP for transactions and charges across EventCube, Shopify and Stripe in response to an urgent client request.
ClientTMA Sport
Work deliveredMVP Development & Financial Integrations
Business result3 · Financial data sources
THE EXISTING PRODUCT
A financial reporting MVP across three platforms
TMA Sport came to us with an urgent need: a minimum viable product (MVP) that could produce a financial report covering transactions and charges across EventCube, Shopify and Stripe.
Add the reporting your business needs to an existing Ruby on Rails application. A consolidated view of transactions and charges gives the team one place to review financial activity across platforms.
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Lokkaroom financial report
We implemented Lokkaroom's financial reporting MVP on Ruby on Rails with ActiveAdmin, bringing together financial activity from EventCube, Shopify and Stripe. Before building, we evaluated Zapier against a self-made solution across 17 criteria to make the tradeoffs explicit.
What needed to change
The client's transactions and charges were spread across EventCube, Shopify and Stripe. They urgently needed a consolidated financial report covering all three sources.
THE WORK WE DELIVERED
Improve the product. Keep the business moving
- 01
Build the Rails reporting interface
We built the MVP’s financial reporting interface with ActiveAdmin on Ruby on Rails, consolidating transactions and charges from EventCube, Shopify and Stripe.
- 02
Consolidate three financial sources
Zapier offered a faster start and a broad catalog of integrations. The decision matrix favored a purpose-built solution for data control, consistency, monitoring, and long-term scaling, so we built the reporting workflow into the Rails application.
SOLUTION SELECTION
Zapier or a purpose-built solution?
We compared the options across 17 criteria before committing to the reporting workflow. Zapier scored higher for speed to launch and ready-made integrations; a self-made solution scored higher for control, consistency, observability and long-term scale.
| Criterion | Zapier | Self-made | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced customization | 2 | 5 | A custom system allows full control over business rules, architecture and integrations. |
| Debugging and support | 2 | 5 | Custom code offers more detailed diagnostics and direct control over fixes. |
| Data consistency | 1 | 5 | A purpose-built workflow can define its own delivery and idempotency guarantees. |
| Time to first results | 5 | 2 | Zapier workflows can launch quickly; custom development takes longer upfront. |
| Data protection and ownership | 2 | 5 | A custom solution keeps the data flow under the product team’s control. |
| Long-run maintenance cost | 2 | 4 | Usage-based automation can grow in cost; custom work has a larger initial investment. |
| Scalability | 2 | 5 | Custom processing can be tuned as event volume and workload grow. |
| Hosting cost | 4 | 3 | Zapier includes hosting; a custom solution needs its own infrastructure. |
| Developer onboarding | 2 | 4 | Custom code in version control is easier to inspect and hand over. |
| Real-time latency | 2 | 5 | Custom processing can avoid the seconds-to-minutes delay of automation workflows. |
| Batch processing and throughput | 1 | 5 | A custom system can batch work, parallelize processing and tune API usage. |
| Monitoring and observability | 2 | 5 | A custom system can integrate the metrics, tracing and dashboards the team needs. |
| Vendor lock-in risk | 1 | 5 | Custom code and open standards offer a more portable path. |
| Integration availability | 5 | 3 | Zapier provides many ready-made connectors; custom integrations require development. |
| Compliance and certifications | 3 | 5 | A custom system can be designed around specific compliance requirements. |
| Error handling and retries | 2 | 5 | Custom workflows can define retry policies, dead-letter handling and alerts. |
| Cost structure | 2 | 5 | Custom development shifts more cost upfront and can lower marginal cost at scale. |
| Total score across 17 criteria | 40 / 85 | 76 / 85 | Self-made leads overall |
VALUE FOR THE BUSINESS
Financial reporting MVP across EventCube, Shopify and Stripe: the results
The Lokkaroom financial reporting MVP provides a consolidated view of transactions and charges across EventCube, Shopify and Stripe, addressing the client's urgent financial reporting requirement.
WE TAKE OWNERSHIP OF EXISTING RUBY ON RAILS APPLICATIONS
Need new reporting or integrations in your Rails app?
Need someone to take over your Rails app? We maintain, stabilize and improve existing Rails applications, from production issues and upgrades to new features and infrastructure. Keep your product moving without unnecessary rewrites or rebuilding your engineering team.
Discuss your Rails app MVP development with WideFix Explore existing Rails app takeoverMORE EXISTING PRODUCTS IMPROVED
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