All posts by Praveen G P

International Women’s Day is no longer a new topic today. It is celebrated across the World in order to recognize and appreciate the contributions and achievements of the women in various fields. Starting from being Home-maker to Management Committee members to Working Professionals, they truly define the spirit of today’s women. Today, we decided to talk to three such women about their journey in ApnaComplex and how they are leading their lives with multiple roles and responsibilities.

These women are super confident and self-motivated either at home or at the workplace. Mrs. Prema Robert, Head of Human Resource at ApnaComplex quoted that “Confidence comes from the kind of responsibilities that I get it, more the responsibility that is given to me, the more I feel confident and that makes me explore more, learn more and motivates me to give my best.” Mrs. Arundhati Sen Pradhan, Head of Strategic Partnerships at ApnaComplex states “Motivation comes from the team that I work with, the people that I work with, gives me the motivation to do best in what I do”.

They mentioned that it has been a great journey so far and it is fun working at ApnaComplex. It is quite an experience for anyone to manage multiple roles. Ms. Monika Mitruka, Software Developer at ApnaComplex finds the experience ‘’very challenging and satisfactory.” They also mentioned that the key to confidence is knowledge & learning. These women feel privileged being women as they feel that they have the ability to handle both work and family life.

At ApnaComplex, they all have built stronger social connections amongst themselves. They advised that everyone has her own way of doing things and everyone should have belief in themselves first. Mrs. Arundhati concluded as “It is a very fun life, live to the fullest.” At ApnaComplex, people are full of enthusiasm, confidence and most importantly motivated to face all the odds. Moreover, accomplishing these odds has always been a challenging situation for these women.

Raj Sekhar Kommu – Co-founder and CEO of ApnaComplex says “We are pleased to celebrate International Women’s Day with all the amazing superwomen at ApnaComplex. International Women’s Day is celebrated globally to highlight and honor the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and to call for gender equality. At ApnaComplex, we firmly believe in gender equality and are forever grateful to every female employee who is an integral part of ApnaComplex.”

In our continuous endeavor to make management of your Society efficient and effective, we have released a few major enhancements to the most widely used capability in ApnaComplex  – the humble, yet world-class Complaint Box. These changes incorporate the latest best practices in managing a Society Helpdesk by Facility Management teams – with two key goals, reducing the efforts of Facility Management Staff and Improving Resident Satisfaction. As always, ApnaComplex continues to innovate and raise the bar.

Here is a gist of the key changes we have implemented:

1. Take your Society’s Issue Resolution to next level. When a complaint is closed, the facility management team now has an option to update “Root Cause” of the complaint. This helps the FM team to tag the core reason why an issue happened. The report for all complaints shall help the Facility Management team understand the areas to focus on for improving resident satisfaction.
2. Despite best intentions, some complaints cannot be solved. Committee now has the ability to tag a complaint as “non-solvable” after member re-opens a complaint X number of times. Once a complaint is tagged as non-solvable member will not be able to re-open the same. X can be configured in the settings panel.
3. ApnaComplex complaint box now has the ability to configure if the resident can see the actual staff name who is working on the complaint (by default it is shown). If enabled, the resident would not see the details of the staff who exactly is working on a complaint. It helps in avoiding the residents to call up the staffs directly and encourages process compliance.
4. We have 50% of our customer demanding that when a resident logs a complaint, it must default to a ‘Personal’ Complaint and the rest saying exactly opposite that it must be ‘Community’ complaint. To keep everyone happy, admins can now set default complaint type for their society.
5. The new Complaint Box supports the ability to optionally select a Unit for ‘Community’ type of complaints (which was restricted to ‘Personal’ complaints in the past). This helps when Helpdesk staff has to log a community complaint on behalf of a Resident.
6. Admins and Staff can now change the complaint type (from ‘Personal’ to ‘Community’ or vice-versa). As a bonus, Complaint Box now allows the nature of the complaint (from complaint to suggestion etc.), update the urgency status and even change the unit # if needed.
7. Complaint Box now supports the ability to add ‘Private Notes’ against complaints which are only visible to the administrators. Staff can keep adding internal updates on a complaint as private notes, which are only visible to admins and not to the resident. This helps the staff in maintaining updates at one place for a given complaint.
8. The most coolest feature of the new Complaint Box – Ability to create “templates” which can be used by Staff when adding notes against a complaint. Templates will help staff to respond to complaints professionally and in a consistent way. We are sure residents of your society will feel the difference in the quality of responses. In addition, this saves significant time for staff as the efforts of typing reduce significantly.

Have you ever thought about how you should place different objects at home as per Vastu?  Do you know the direction, colour, and material of the cash locker and almirah for wealth and prosperity? Yes, it is very important to know the placement, colour, and material before placing any object or item. Here are some Guidelines for placing an Almirah (wardrobe) or Cash Locker that you must apply now:

1. Do not use almirah made of stones or marbles. Always prefer wood or iron almirah in the bedroom.
2. Almirah should be placed in Southwest direction so that it opens in North or East.
3. Almirah should be in some subtle colours like cream or light colour shades.
4. Make sure not to have any mirror on the Southwest almirah.
5. Placement of Almirah has different impacts for different rooms and should be placed as per Vastu guidelines.
6. For Bedroom Almirah-

• Place bedroom cabinet or almirah in Northeast or Southwest corner.
• Mirrors on almirah must be avoided especially if this almirah is placed in your bedroom.
• If there is a mirror on the bedroom almirah, make sure it is not facing the bed.
• Avoid dark coloured wardrobe or almirah in the bedroom. Use light-coloured almirah.
• For the bedroom, the almirah or wardrobe should open in east or south direction.

7. For Cash Almirah-

• Make sure the cash almirah or locker is comprised of a single door.
• The placement of the cash almirah or locker should be such that it is facing the North. Since North is the direction of Kuber, so it is believed that Lord Kuber refills the cash.
• Do not place the cash almirah in Northeast, more expenses will be there and ultimately loss of cash.

Conclusion- There is no substitute for hard work, but if you follow these guidelines it helps to balance the energies in the surroundings and attract more positivity to your home.

We are at a fast pace for growth. Growth for a better future and for a better world. But have you ever imagined what if there is no money or financial dearth in your life?  Nobody has seen the future, it’s essential to save than regret later. There are different types of solutions available in the market on money management. Retaining money is not that easy. It needs lots of planning.

Let’s talk on some easy and effective vastu changes to ensure a positive outcome and more money inflow.

Cash Almirah or Locker– It is very important to understand where to keep your cash, almirah or Locker. Place the cash almirah or locker in the Southwest or South wall so that it opens in the North. This is the direction of Lord Kuber. It is believed that Lord Kuber refills the cash almirah so this is how you attract money.

Main door instructions– Never place big or high trees in the Northeast direction outside your home as this creates an obstacle for the cash inflow. Also, keep the main entrance clutter free and if there is any shoe rack, replace it away from the main door or entrance.

Place a fish aquarium– An aquarium is used especially to enhance money, career and luck. If used properly in the right direction, it brings wealth and abundance in the home. To know the best direction, you can read http://community.vastudekho.com/3785/attract-wealth-and-luck-placing-aquarium-vastu-tips-aquarium

Check these other important Vastu Dekho measures to ensure no blockades for the cash inflow-

• Never place big or high trees in the Northeast direction outside your home as this creates an obstacle for the cash inflow.
• Lord Kuber and Goddess Lakshmi like cleanliness so ensure that all the windows and doors of the house are properly cleaned. If not, they will obstruct the flow of money and wealth inside your house.
• Leaking Taps in the house is a BIG NO. Since water is symbolic of money so it is believed that if water is getting waste then money is also getting wasted.

The way you decorate your home says a lot about you. But unknowingly, many times we bring such images, idols or showpieces that disturb our happiness and positivity and ultimately we ruin our lives by ourselves.

I was wondering why there is an increased negativity in my home until I recognize these very important facts.

Let’s talk about these 15 things that affect our lives. You may not be knowing the negative effects of these things:

1. Broken or unused clocks- as we all know time is symbolic of Growth. It is highly recommended to avoid keeping a wall clock that is not in use or broken.
2. Old Calendars- similar to Clock a calendar also signifies growth, so avoid keeping an old calendar on the walls of the house. Also please make sure if you are hanging current year calendar then you must keep the current month and date open.
3. Cactus, Bonsai or thorny plants- Except Rose and medicinal plants, avoid keeping cactus and thorny plants at your home as these are inauspicious. Do not place any bonsai plant as they represent short/ little growth.
4. Negative Images- Never keep images that depicts negativity like- sadness, loneliness, war scene, trees without fruits or flowers, nude, hunting scenes, fight scenes using swords, captured elephant, weeping or crying image. If you have such images remove immediately.
5. Taj Mahal Picture or idol- Taj Mahal is considered as an epitome of love but it is actually a grave that symbolizes death and inactiveness. So avoid keeping Taj Mahal picture or idol at home.
6. Broken furniture- If you have broken furniture, pots or vessels that are not in use and unrepairable. Throw them off to remove negative energy.
7. Mirrors- Mirrors should be kept wisely. Make sure not to place any mirror in front of your bed. Your image should never be reflected when you are sleeping. Put a curtain or cloth if you have a mirror in front of your bedroom. Legends say if you have broken mirrors at home, it brings bad luck for seven years and a broken marriage too.
8. Avoid things under your bed- Never keep anything under your bed as it causes disruptions and disturbed sleep. Also, make sure you don’t keep any footwear under your bed before sleeping.
9. Statue or Paintings of Animals- Don’t put any image or showpiece of any wild animals and birds like snakes, owl, vulture, bat, pigs, pigeons, crows, tiger, etc. Vastu recommends not to keep any picture or statue of a single bird or animal in a couple’s room. Keeping wild animals and bird’s image or showpiece brings Violent Attitude in your life.
10. Pictures of Ramayana and Mahabharata War scenes- Never place such pictures that depicts fight story or scenes from Ramayana or Mahabharata as it strongly brings rivalry among family members.
11. Black Door- Avoid black door as your Main entrance door. According to Chinese Feng Shui tradition, a black door invites bad luck to your house EXCEPT if the door faces the North.
12. Avoid placing Empty Rocking Chairs- Avoid placing empty rocking chairs at home as it invites dark forces to come and sit in it.
13. Brocken Crockery- if you have broken plates, cups or any crockery, remove immediately. Crockery symbolizes wealth and family so when you eat on broken or chipped plates, you are subconsciously inviting failures and troubles in your life.
14. Sinking Boat or sinking Titanic Image- I also kept Titanic image at home, until I knew its bad effects. A sinking boat depicts a failing or deteriorating relationship so if you have one in your home, throw it immediately.
15. Nataraja- This is an image of cosmic dancer Shiva and it is found mostly in every dancer’s house. As we see it has two different meaning. One that symbolizes tremendous art form and other symbolizes destruction.

Conclusion- It is good to décor home as you love, but at the same time it is very important to know the adverse or bad effects of these decorative before it’s too late!

Managing the affairs of an apartment complex is not just the responsibility of the Managing Committee. Surprised? Don’t be. Just as the quality of your family life depends on the behaviour of all members of the family, in the same way managing a society depends on the behaviour of all the residents living in that apartment complex. How you interact with the committee and the rest of the residents has an effect on the management of the society. We have listed below a few such interactions which can decide how well your society functions.

Breach of bye-laws

In an apartment complex, it is quite common for a resident to lock horns with a member of the managing committee. Most often, resolutions arrive amicably. But when they aren’t, the residents often retaliate by ceasing to pay maintenance dues. Residents should remember that this is a breach of the bye-law and hence, illegal.

If, as a resident, you are unsatisfied with the resolution, escalate this issue with the appropriate authority. Alternately, if it is an issue that affects all the other residents then take their opinions into account and put it to vote. Withholding dues you owe the society affects the smooth functioning of the society. You may end up with a shortage of funds. Further, the committee is legally authorised to issue notices against defaulters and to penalise you for the same.

Unauthorized constructions

The action of every resident has an effect on all the residing neighbours. This becomes especially evident during renovations and constructions. Whether you change the interior or the exterior of your flat, make sure that your plans don’t break any rules of the society. Get the consent of the Secretary of the Managing Committee before you begin and make sure you don’t become a nuisance by exceeding the noise to respectable hours.

Certain changes like altering the fundamental structure of the building and construction in common areas require special legal permission. If you fail to obtain the same, the committee (and even the municipal council) is entitled to take action against the same. Lastly, remember that if not conveyed, other residents are well within their rights to complain against the construction to seek redressal.

Favours from the Managing Committee

As longtime neighbours, you might be close friends with certain members of the committee. So sometimes, you may find yourself asking for favours like waiving off the penalty charge for late payment or reducing the rent charged for the clubhouse. Not only is this unfair to rest of the complex, but it also puts your friend in a dilemma. It puts them to choose between friendship and their duty.

Participation in society meetings and elections

As a resident, it is both your right and duty to contribute to the functioning of the society. Despite personal commitments, it is important that residents attend society meetings and elections. The decisions and opinions expressed here will have a direct effect on your life in the complex. It is also important that you express your opinions about an idea that is being discussed. There is no point in complaining about a decision taken during the meeting you missed. It is important to work with both the committee members and other residents to make sure that the complex runs efficiently.

The role of a resident extends beyond the payment of maintenance dues. These are just a few areas in which the behaviour of the members can decide how efficiently an apartment complex gets managed. We hope you are playing a proactive role in the affairs of your apartment complex – whether you are a part of the Managing Committee or not!

An interior designer works closely with you on the project and sees to it that your vision is given shape in the most effective way. Choosing an interior designer is highly subjective as the project involves personal taste and preferences. Here are a few things to consider before you select the right candidate for the job.

1. Verify Their Credentials

Before you hire an interior designer, verify his or her credentials. Check if they the prerequisite license to work as an interior designer. Ask about the designer’s education, training, work experience and other credentials. A good interior designer will have had comprehensive training that includes flame-spread ratings, space planning, AutoCAD, 3-D modelling, and lighting.

2. Be Clear About What You Want

You need to be sure about what you want before you can start calling prospects. Assess the level of your involvement in the creative process and the amount of guidance you need. Know whether you are open to suggestions from the designer, or if you are firm about what you have come up with. Having a clear picture of your needs will ensure that you hire the right person.

3. Scrutinize Their Portfolio

Studying a designer’s portfolio will give you an idea about his or her style and working methods in similar projects.  If you can arrange for a visit to one of the designer’s completed works, you can get an up-close and personal taste of their finished project.

4. Choose A Designer With Transparent Billing Methods

Understand the fee structure of your prospects in order to know if their billing methods are transparent. Find out if the designer is going to charge you a flat fee or by the hour.  Make sure you let your prospective designer know about your predetermined budget. Having a clear understanding of what you are paying for will ensure that the work is not compromised by any financial disagreement that may come up later.

Interviewing and choosing an interior designer for your project can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to months. Do not hurry, as picking the right designer is critical to the long-term success of your project. Try using the ApnaComplex database to find a verified designer to suit your needs. Selecting the wrong designer, no matter how experienced or qualified he or she may be, can lead to a décor disaster.

Presently, the number of apartment complexes in India is growing exponentially. With the growing number of apartment sizes, management committees are looking for some active help from chartered accountants or auditing firms to manage their accounting operations. This scenario offers a huge potential to accountants to grow their business.

ApnaComplex, a mobile and web-based apartment management service is a one-stop solution for all housing society requirements. The Billing and Accounting module is now being increasingly trusted by chartered accountants (CAs) as their technology partner for offering premium service. In this digital era, CAs who have adopted ApnaComplex achieved multi-fold growth in their business along with reducing their manual work.

Top reasons Chartered Accountants prefer ApnaComplex over other software:

1. Best accounting software across India:

ApnaComplex offers online services, integrated with emails, SMS and online payments providing a clear edge over other players.

2. Helps in saving time and money:

The accounting software helps in easing the accounting effort drastically and automates a lot of accounting process. Even non-accountants can be employed for data-entry.

3. Supports a growing business:

Not only do the accountants use ApnaComplex for their existing customers but also acquire customers referred by ApnaComplex. As a result, the customer base of accountants grows in size.

4. Offers convenience to work from anywhere and everywhere:

ApnaComplex accounting software enables accountants to enter and access data digitally. One does not need to carry all data to a centralized location. Moreover, multiple people can work on entering data simultaneously, further speeding up the work.

5. Provides training and support:

ApnaComplex offers regular training and support on the product and conducts periodic refresher courses. This allows our customers to master using it.

The ApnaComplex accounting software is specially designed for a housing society

ApnaComplex automates the following housing society requirements for the accountants and management associations:

• Offers readymade flat-wise sub-ledger
• Automates unit-wise due generation
• Provides flat-wise account statement
• Automates calculation of late payment interest
• Automates allocation of a collection to invoices
• Generates reports

So, partner with ApnaComplex today to create synergy. Get powered with technology to offer superior accounting services and maximize your revenue.

Domestic help/maids have now become a necessity for almost all households in India. Presently, with the average citizen working in the 9-5 shift or more, basic household chores need to be taken care of. It becomes essential that you hire the right person for all these activities that affect your day-to-day lives.

Some of the cities such as Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad have several high-rise apartments with 700+ people residing in the same. The amount of domestic help available in such apartments should also be abundant? But this is not the case and the simple rule of economics that demand generates supply fails here. Finding domestic help is not easy irrespective of where you stay or how much you can pay. Sooner or later you do go through the pain of finding the right domestic help and retaining the same. Essentially, the story remains the same whether you reside in a big apartment or small: demands by the domestic staff for salary hikes are too frequent and largely unaffordable.

How can you tackle this problem?

Tips to standardise domestic help rates:

• Prepare a rate card for all the household activities and ask residents to pay only that much.
• Every maid needs to carry a No-objection-certificate from her previous employer so that the prospective employer ensures she/he is not switching jobs for money.
• Residents are requested not to deviate from the rate card.
• Any domestic help asking for more than the agreed rates are penalized.

Pitfalls of standardised rates:

The question that arises from the above pointers is that how easy is it to apply these rules to housing societies. A lot of residents were happy with the above-mentioned resolutions, however, some disagreed to the resolutions claiming that they were quite capitalist in nature and if doctors/engineers can demand their price, why can’t the domestic help do the same? The whole demand and supply economics lies in the scenario that if you can afford a maid for Rs. 8,000 and can very well afford it, it doesn’t matter to you if others in the apartment are paying Rs. 3,000. The others sooner or later will have to succumb to the so-called “market rate” pressure and increase the salary bars.

The resolutions mentioned above can only work if people living in an apartment work as a team with their associations and come to a common resolution wherein neither the domestic help is exploited nor are the employers blackmailed for sudden pay hikes.

Until then people with maids/drivers working with you for more than a year, good luck in maintaining them. For people searching for a good domestic help, best of luck for your quest to find the right domestic help!

Vehicle Tracking of is one of the key responsibilities for security guards of every apartment. In addition, Vehicle Security itself is a very important issue for every society. With theft of vehicles increasing, it has become an imperative for societies to address this issue. How would one know whether their vehicle is safe and is still at the same place they left it? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to keep track of your vehicle’s movement whenever you are not using it?

The system in most housing societies:

“Parking lot stickers” are issued to vehicle owners. These are stuck to windshields. Vehicles are permitted entry into a complex after the sticker is verified by the security guard. However, since there is no way to “deactivate” the sticker the entry of unauthorized vehicles even after they left the society cannot be controlled. Further, there is no record or log of the entry or exit of vehicles of the residents. In case of a security issue, this can be a major shortcoming.

Our solution:

Vehicle Sentry is a Vehicle Tracking System that is RFID based and fully integrated with the ApnaComplex cloud. At a broad level, Vehicle Sentry includes RFID tags for all authorized vehicles and RFID readers at the gate. This allows you to track the movement of your vehicle when it exits or enters the apartment gate.

How does Vehicle Sentry work?

Authorized vehicles are first fitted with RFID tags. Next, RFID readers are installed at the gates. These Readers come with ApnaComplex’s own custom hardware called ‘Sentry Controller’ that acts as the gateway between ApnaComplex Cloud and the RFID Readers. Sentry Controller helps sync the vehicle entry, and exit information to the ApnaComplex cloud server in near real-time, and also keeps the reader in sync with tags issued for new vehicles and de-activated tag list.

Important features of Vehicle Sentry:

• When a Vehicle with valid tag passes near the gate, the light/buzzer connected to the reader will buzz indicating the detection.
• It can also be configured to hoot for invalid tags.
• It can be hooked up with a boom barrier for automatic entry/exit.
• Vehicle movement information will get automatically synced up with the ApnaComplex portal.
• Admins can check the vehicle movement records any time in the portal.
• Data of any new tags issues or old tags deactivated will automatically update the RFID reader (as long as it has internet connectivity)

Benefits of Vehicle Sentry:

1. Increased security in your society:

The movement of every vehicle entering and leaving the campus can be tracked, making it more secure. Unwanted intrusion is avoided with the use of Vehicle Sentry.

2. Easy and quick Updates:

All the data for your entire apartment complex is stored in a single database. Any other RFID solution you implement will force you to maintain separate databases for vehicles and apartment units. This means you need to manually update the same information over and over again. Vehicle Sentry is an integrated solution and redundant efforts do not come into the picture.

3. Cost Effective:

No extra hardware is needed apart from RFID reader installed at the gate. All functionalities are driven from the ApnaComplex portal. Your estate manager can issue and deactivate tags to be updated to the portal. In addition, you could just deploy the vehicle movement tracking with our boom barrier, making it very cost effective for the housing society.

This is yet another innovative approach by ApnaComplex to keep your mind free from worry while providing you with the best services possible. To know more about Vehicle Sentry and to implement it in your society, kindly submit a sales request at the Contact Us page and we will get back to you with the details.