Cashlens Shipped 2026

Finance could see how much cash moved. Not why

Cashlens brings a finance team's working-capital reporting into one Power Pages app: cash performance, debtors, creditors, inventories and capex, each with its comparisons and the drivers behind every change.

Role
Product Designer (sole designer)
Timeline
Month 2025 to Month 2026
Team
N Power Platform developers, finance leads, me
Skills
Data visualisation, Information architecture, Dashboard design, Designing within a platform

My role

So my job was to let a finance lead follow any number back to its cause.

I designed the landing page, the global filters and every module: cash performance, the cash-flow contribution statement, debtors, creditors, inventories, capex and closing balance.

Problem
Working-capital numbers were spread across static reports, and leaders couldn't trace a movement back to its cause.
What I did
Designed a landing page that maps questions to modules, one filter bar for every page, and module pages where each number sits next to its comparison and its drivers.
Result
Built so a finance lead can go from “cash dropped” to the customer or region behind it without stitching reports together.

Client work, shown with a new name, made-up data and a new visual identity. Views are my own.

Problem

Finance had every number it needed…

Cash, debtors, creditors and inventory each lived in their own report, with their own filters and their own idea of “last year”. A finance team spent its time lining reports up before anyone could ask why something had changed.

…but not the story behind them.

Leaders were making working-capital calls on numbers they couldn't trace, and reviews started with an argument about which report was right.

Who it’s for

  • Finance leadsExplain working-capital movements in the monthly review.
  • Business-unit controllersTrack debtors, creditors and inventory for their own markets.
  • LeadershipSee the headline numbers, and drill in when something moves.
What had to change

From lining reports up to following one number.

  • Before: Each report had its own filters and its own idea of last year

    After: One filter bar, the same on every page

  • Before: A number on its own

    After: Every number beside last year and last month

  • Before: A map of every page

    After: A directory of the questions finance asks

  • Before: Totals that said what moved

    After: Drivers that say why: by customer, by vendor, by geography

Discovery

What does finance actually ask?

Every question finance asked had the same shape: what changed, compared with what, and why.

The questions finance leads brought to a review shaped the landing page more than the list of existing reports did. Add your research: sessions with finance leads, and which reports Cashlens replaced.

Platform
Power Pages: page-based navigation, embedded reports and a filter bar across the top.
Comparisons
Each figure needs year to date, last year, last month, forecast and target, with consistent signs.
Scale
Currency, scale, scenario and forecast version change every number on the page at once.

Core idea

Working capital is three balances pulling against each other.

Each one has its own module, and each module breaks its movement down to the drivers behind it.

The working-capital formula

Debtors
Cash customers still owe.
Inventory
Cash sitting in stock: finished goods, raw and packaging material.
Creditors
Cash still owed to suppliers.
Working capital
The cash tied up in running the business. Cashlens explains why it moved.

Exploration

The landing page went through many layouts. Two of them show the turning point.

Dropped: A map of every page

A tree of modules and their pages, each one a link.

Why not: It showed where everything was, but not why you'd go there. People still had to know which report answered their question.

Chosen: A directory of questions

Cards grouped by what they track (cash performance, creditors, debtors, inventory and capex, slice and dice), with headline KPIs beside them.

Why it won: Each card says what it tracks, its links go straight to the view that answers it, and the KPI rail shows the headline numbers before you click anything.

Decisions

Three calls made the numbers readable.

  1. Decision 1: Every number comes with its comparison

    KPIs show the current figure with last year and last month beside it, coloured by whether the change helps cash. Tables keep the same column order everywhere: year to date, same period last year, forecast, target.

    One column order, on every table

  2. Decision 2: One filter bar for every page

    Currency, scale, scenario, forecast version, period, organisation, customer and product sit in the same bar on every module, so a view you set up carries across pages.

    The global filter bar

  3. Decision 3: Show the drivers, not just the totals

    Debtor and creditor pages break a change into what drove it: as a waterfall, by customer or vendor, and by geography. “Why did receivables move?” is answered on the same page that shows they did.

    Debtors by geography

Solution

A finance lead can open one app, set the filters once, and follow a number to its cause.

Here is the landing page, then the statement and the breakdowns behind it.

End to end

From “cash dropped” to the customer behind it.

  1. 1
    Start from a questionThe landing page groups modules by what they track, with headline KPIs.
  2. 2
    Set the filters onceCurrency, scenario, period and organisation carry across every page.
  3. 3
    See what changedEach figure against last year, last month, forecast and target.
  4. 4
    Find what drove itThe movement broken down as a waterfall, and by geography.
  5. 5
    Call the right personCustomers and vendors ranked by balance and overdue share.
The landing page
  1. 1A greeting with the actuals and forecast period, so you know which data you're reading.
  2. 2A KPI rail: operating cash, working-capital movement, cash contribution and productivity, against last year and last month.
  3. 3The directory: each card says what it tracks and links straight to its views.
  4. 4Request access, for modules your role can't see yet.
Trends

Cash performance, with the trend behind each number

Operating cash, working-capital movement, cash contribution and productivity each show this year, last year and last month, over a twelve-month trend line.

Cash performance
Breakdown

From a total to the customers behind it

Customer and vendor breakdowns rank who drives the balance and the overdue share, so the follow-up call goes to the right person.

Customer breakdown

More screens

Every module follows the same pattern

Inventories: finished goods, raw and packaging material
Capex: KPI cards with trends, then the table
Closing balance by month
Picking an organisation from the hierarchy

Outcome

Built so working-capital reviews start from the cause, not from reconciling reports.

These are the effects the design was built for, not measured results. Next to each is the signal that would show it.

  • One version of the numbers in every review

    What would show it: Static reports retired, and reviews run from Cashlens.

  • Faster answers to “why did cash move?”

    What would show it: Time from spotting a change to finding the customer, vendor or region behind it.

  • Overdue debt spotted earlier

    What would show it: Overdue share by region, tracked month on month in the geography views.

Reflection

What did I learn?

Inside Power Pages most of the design lived in the information, not the components. The biggest gains came from agreeing the order of comparisons and what colour means once, for every page.

What would I change?

I'd settle the landing page's structure with finance leads before drawing cards. Many of the layout rounds were really the same question: how do they group their own work?

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