As the year end comes , we just recieved great testimonial from Mr. Ganesh Raja, treasurer of Ittina Abby, a 200+ unit society in Bangalore who have been using ApnaComplex for past 6 months now. Below is the testimonial:

Gone are the days of Maintaining Excel sheets and reconciling the same for Expenses made … Gone are the Days of having a home grown solution that crashes or have sleepless nights thinking about a Hard Disk crashes… ApnaComplex has really revolutionized facility maintenance all the way from collecting Maintenance to spending it. We at ITTINA ABBY are so happy and yesterday also a resident was saying how easy it is to use it and they never have to come to the Treasurer’s office for anything.

Great Team who is always ready to hear our problems and offer a solution even if it means more work for them. Always there to correct mistakes made by our Facility Manager, Support is so important for a System like this and the Team at Apnacomplex have understood that very well.

Kudos to the team and hope to see them enhance this more as we roll into 2012. — Ganesh, Treasurer ITTINA ABBY LBS Nagar Vimanapura PO”

Thank you Mr. Ganesh for your kind words!! We are so happy to receive these words from you!

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Want to ease your (or your treasurer’s) burden? – Get on to ApnaComplex – Today!

ApnaComplex is India’s most comprehensive web based housing society accounting, management and communication software. It is designed to make the life of residents and owners way lot better by bringing in more transparency and accountability in managing a housing society. Check out the features of ApnaComplex and sign up your society today to get the benefits! We offer a free 30-day trial as well so that you can try before you buy!

In a first for any Housing Society Software – ApnaComplex launches a new module – Bio-metric Attendance Tracking* to track attendance of apartment and layout maintenance staff using a bio-metric finger print scanner.  The module is tightly integrated with the Staff Management Module providing an integrated, comprehensive view of all staff details inside the portal. Following are highlights of  this new module:

• Track attendance of maintenance staff through finger print reader
• View Attendance Reports of Maintenance Staff on daily basis, monthly basis etc.
• Get to know the amount of time spent outside of the complex
• Enables Society to easily calculate the payroll based on the attendance
• Manually over-ride the attendance records as per need
• Ability to manually insert attendance records to handle missed swiping cases
• Ability to handle multiple devices installed in a location

*This is an optional  module and is enabled only with hardware purchase.
Reach out to us to get specifications of the hardware and quote.

Its been almost one year since we showcased ApnaComplex in the NASSCOM Product Launchpad as one of the top 10 start ups in 2010. How time just flew!

NASSCOM Product Conclave 2011 is a few days away, we thought its a good time to reflect back on our journey since the last Product Conclave. Our biggest achievement since then – we firmly established ourselves in the market as a very comprehensive and value-for-money software for every gated community.

In the past one year, we had many “firsts” to our name and have consistently raised the bar for Apartment Management and Accounting Software with features like:

• Capability to generate fully adjusted Balance Sheets online for Housing Socities,
• Multi-tiered rate structures for Facility Booking,
• Ability to enforce acceptance of bye-laws by members,
• Online Society Registers to meet regulatory needs,
• Highly configurable Penalty Rules Engine,
• Meeting Management – Innovative Meeting Calendar for Society Meetings/Events

For those who are statistically inclined, following are few metrics for us in last 1 year:

• We have made 45 releases – thats almost one release every week – we are always hungry to add new capabilities
• We have done at least 12 major upgrades – all made available at no extra cost to our customers!
• We have doubled our server infrastructure 4 times
• Got covered in YourStory.in, BizExchange, RealEstate Times, Aaj ka Anand, Accommodation Times, Sakal

We also had loads of fun when we distributed Holi Posters, conducted the Drawing Contest for Children of ApnaComplex customers, sponsored and participated in the flagship ApnaComplex – TPL Cricket Tournament along with Treamis World School for gated communities in Bangalore.

All of this ofcourse was not possible with out support from our customers – all of them supported us superbly by constantly giving feedback, shaping up requirements for new features, helping us with beta testing, providing references – what not – they have been with us in every step we took.

Some of them gave us fantastic moments that made us extremely happy and proud like – “Going ‘live’ with their portal with all accounting data in less than a week after they signed up for the 30-day trial”, “Attaching expense voucher generated by the software along with the payment to us!! We take a moment to THANK each one of our customers and users. A few of our customers truly deserve very special mention – for they not only made us sit on the edge and pushed us to deliver, but also backed us to hilt:

• Mr. Ravichandran and Mr. Ram Bhagawat of Citilights Liberty,
• Mr. R V Ashok of Appaswamy Orchards,
• Mr. Balasubramaniam and Mr. Kannan Viswanathan of Sobha Azalea and Althea,
• Mr. P V R Prasad of Aparna Sarovar,
• Mr. Ganesh Raja of Ittina Abby,
• Mr. Amish Shah of SJR Spencer,
• Mr. Praveen of Ferns Habitat,
• Mr. Vivek Baliga of Purva Panorama,
• Mr. Pradeep Parmar of Lotus CHS,
• Mr. Sivaram of Dream Meadows,
• Mr. Hafiz Abraham of Abad Aquarius

We are truly fortunate to have such customers! We also thank various partners – Citizen Matters, Chennai Online and others who were there with us through out.

As we experience the next wave of growth – we make a promise to ourselves that we will continue to build new features and support our customers that will make community living a pleasure!

One more first by ApnaComplex – we are happy to announce the release of Meeting Management module for beta to all our customers. The Meeting Management module handles the following:

1. Schedule One-time Meetings , Recurring Meetings (daily, weekly, monthly)

2. Invite attendees with agenda – all committee members, all owners, all residents, one or more groups or a selected list of members.

3. Invitees can respond to a Meeting Invite by accepting/declining/marking tentative

4. Meeting Organizers can reschedule/cancel meetings, update list of invitees, mark attendance of invitees.

5. Record/Upload and share Meeting Minutes, create action items associated with a meeting and track them to closure.

6. Members can see all the meetings they have been invited to and the ones they are organizing in different colours in a calendar view.

So, go ahead invite selected friends of your community formally for that birthday party or schedule the weekly committee meetings!

Happy Meetings!

We have released an enhancement to Accounting in ApnaComplex. Most societies have a need to ensure that accounts are not “modified” unintentionally (or intentionally) once the accounts are audited and approved by the general body.

To meet this need, your favorite software now supports “freezing” (or closing) of accounts for a given accounting period. Go to Accounting->Accounting Periods and click the “Close Accounting Period” which will lock all transactions of that period. No one (even community admins) will be able to make any changes to the transactions once the accounting period is closed. You have to make a special request to Support team to “unfreeze” an accounting period.

This provides an inherent safety net ensuring no changes to the accounts once they are approved in AGM by the general body.

Continuing with our philosophy of continuous, incremental enhancements – Administrators now have a setting to control if members can post Community Complaints (which is enabled by default). When disabled, members will only be allowed to post Personal complaints. Go to Complex->Settings to see this in action.

Configure ApnaComplex to suit your society needs better!

In yet another first and setting the standards for web based society accounting, ApnaComplex announces the availability of a new Penalty Rules Engine to all the customers. While ApnaComplex all along had the ability to calculate interst rate based on a percentage rate of the reducing outstanding balance, we now enhanced the penalty calculation engine to be able to calculate penalty for a wide variety of cases such as one time late penalty, per day penalty, %age on invoice value, %age of the outstanding value, slab based penalties etc. All the treasurer needs to do is to set choices for various criteria and get the penalties at the click of a button.

Listed below are some of the cases which ApnaComplex Penalty Rules Engine supports. Do note these are just a small list of possibilities. The engine supports nearly innumerable penalty schemes. Treasurers now can calculate penalty for one or more charge types (not just maintenance charge – but any charge type and any number of types) and you can get a fair idea of the powerful engine with the examples below:

Examples of Penalty Calculations supported by ApnaComplex

1. Calculate penalty at a flat rate of Rs. 25/- per every day of delay.
2. Calculate penalty for at a rate of Rs. 500/- for 1st week of delay and Rs. 1000/- there after
3. Calculate penalty at a compounded rate of interest on the invoice amount.
4. Calculate penalty at 10% per annum on the maintenance charge for a delay of a week and 20% of the maintenance charge if the payment is delayed by more than week
5. Calculate penalty at 2% per month on reducing balance as per the payments received against an invoice.
6. Apply penalty charges only if the outstanding amount is greater than a minimum amount
and many more..

Now, don’t you call this a true Diwali Gift for the treasurers!?

ApnaComplex now has the ability to store documents related to a flat/unit. All along documents can be stored in the central repository for consumption of all members or committee members. Administrators can now attach documents such as a floor plan, sale deed etc to specific unit which would be only visible to the administrators and the flat/unit owners. Check it out at Complex->Residential Units and clicking the ‘Manage Documents’ icon against a unit.

Do note while the owners of the unit can see and download the documents, they cannot upload or delete documents. Only Administrators has the necesary authorization.

Proper roads are absolutely necessary in every apartment complex. The roads in an apartment complex are mainly used for traveling purposes, and they also add an element of beauty to the apartment complex.

The Need for Maintenance

Maintaining the roads is quite important, for daily activities within the complex to pass unhindered. Well maintained roads in an apartment complex also increase the value of the place.

When roads in an apartment complex are not maintained in a regular manner, the apartment association will have to spend much money on filling the potholes or setting up new roads.

This money, which can be saved through periodic maintenance, can be channelized to various other projects that require attention in an apartment.

In order to ensure that the roads are properly maintained, take up the issue with the apartment association during resident body meetings. While residents can take small steps in order to contribute their bit, the apartment association can get the maintenance team to do the difficult tasks.

• Residents should be constantly updated about the need to maintain roads by the apartment association
• Littering on roads should be strictly prohibited and waste bins should be provided for this purpose
• Stagnant bodies of water should be immediately cleared, especially after instances of rain
• The roads should be swept regularly by the maintenance crew

Maintenance Measures in Apartment Complex Roads

The roads in an apartment complex undergo a lot of destructive changes, and fatigue cracking, rutting, roughness, weathering, and raveling are common problems that can be noted.

The apartment association will have to take on different approaches based on the problem involved. Crack sealing is a process that’s followed in order to maintain roads and surface treatment can be done in order to prolong the life of the particular road.

This treatment measures should be taken up by professionals, who can be hired by the apartment association. Through surface treatment measures, these problems can be solved.

• Fatigue Cracks – These are cracks that are seen on the roads due to fatigue.  These cracks occur due to the added effects of wheel loads. Fatigue cracks are a sure sign of the road’s structural deterioration, and the treatment depends on the severity of the cracks. Water and dirt should be prevented from entering these cracks as they might grow worse this way.
• Environmental Cracking – This is transverse or longitudinal cracking that develops in asphalt as it ages and endures thermal stresses related to everyday temperature changes. These cracks are very small when compared to fatigue cracks, and moisture should be prevented from entering these cracks for them to not develop.
• Surface Wear – The wear on the surface is mainly due to tire wear and material degradation (raveling). Its maintenance includes removing the surface and/or covering up the surface which is worn. Again, surface treatment depends on the severity of the surface wear.
• Rutting – This signifies permanent degradation in the layers of the road. This can happen if the structure design is improper or if the roads are overloaded. It can also happen if the surface layer is of poor quality.
• Potholes – Pits or holes produced by wear or weathering on the road surfaces can be fixed through surface treatments.

A lot of factors affect the type of maintenance undertaken within the housing complex. These include the type of distress, vehicle loading, the general climate in the region, the cost of treatment; the roads expected life, the existing road type, and availability of good materials.

Residents can help maintain the quality of roads within the apartment complex by giving regular feedback on their defects to the management as well as bearing with the inconvenience caused during the repair of the roads.

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Get your Society on ApnaComplex – Today!
ApnaComplex is India’s most comprehensive web based housing society accounting, management and communication software. It is designed to make the life of residents and owners a lot better by bringing in more transparency and accountability in managing a housing society. Check out the features of ApnaComplex and sign up your society today to get the benefits! We offer a free 30-day trial as well so that you can try before you buy!

We have just made your Facility Manager more productive. The Complaint Box Admins now have the ability to select the “Maintenance Staff” who actually attends the complaint. Admins can not only select the staff – but also SMS the staff on the latest update of the complaint at any time. Now, there are multiple benefits of this – Committee Members / Facility managers can instantly know the workload on a given staff. In addition, the SMS acts as an mechanism to instantly inform of new complaints to the staff in the field.

Try and update any Complaint and you can see this in action. We also enhanced the reports to be able to easily get reports for complaints worked by staff.