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February 10, 2022

The 10 restricted areas children should never enter in a gated community!

Gated communities come with comforts, security, rules regulations, and of course restrictions too. Not all residents have access to certain areas. Some areas can be accessed only by the management committee, security, and maintenance staff.

Having said so, kids certainly should be kept out of these areas for their safety as well as to ensure the operations of the society are uninterrupted.

In this article, we bring out the common restricted areas in societies and why children and residents should seldom enter.

Mechanical and electrical closets

Mechanical closets hold the air conditioning, heating, and ventilation systems of the whole society and are located in the common area. The controls are sensitive and power several appliances in the building.

Electrical closets also function similarly. They house the entire power supply to the building and the community’s power connections are managed here. Since the controls are very sensitive and even one wrong move can cause a power outage. Only electricians have access to the electrical closets.

Both mechanical and electrical closets are locked. Nevertheless, remember reminding children to not play near these closets or shooing them away when they are too close to these closets will not hurt.

The communication duct

All the communication-related cables including the broadband, internet, and telecom cables, and their wirings are kept here, and meddling with them will cause great inconvenience for the entire society. Hence, keeping kids away from this duct is important for continued internet services and communications.

STP area

It is now mandatory that societies have Sewage Treatment Plants installed on their premises. An STP processes the wastewater and the recycled water can be used for gardening purposes.

Since STPs carry toxic waste, residents, especially children should be kept away from that area since the waste can cause health hazards.

Water tanks and pumping stations

Water tanks and their pumping stations are out-of-bounds to not only children but to adults alike. The pipes that push water can sometimes be fragile and can break when colliding with them while playing or moving around. Only plumbers know how to handle these pipes.

Also, the water moves with such force inside these pipes that if a pipe bursts, the gushing water that comes out can cause grievous injuries if it comes in contact with skin. Additionally, if any damages are caused, it will hamper the water supply to the entire community.

Lift maintenance room

Lift malfunctioning while you are stuck inside one can be nightmarish and no resident should go through that (well, power cuts are unavoidable and that is why we have generators!).

If children fiddle with it, it will cause the lift to malfunction and cause great inconvenience to other residents. To avoid such mishaps, children should be strictly prohibited from entering the lift maintenance room.

Gas cylinder storage area

If a society has such an area, then they must ensure that no one enters the area except for security. Even accidental gas leaks are risky and God forbid, if there is a spark, it can cause great damage to the society.

It is best to store cylinders in the open and prohibit children from coming near to these cylinders for obvious safety reasons.

Garbage area

Every society has a garbage collection area and the entire society’s dry, wet, and medical wastes are dumped here. For health and safety reasons, children should be forewarned and prohibited from playing near the garbage collection area.

Terrace area

Most societies restrict residents from accessing the terrace and the keys remain with either security or the management. Playing on the terrace may lead to accidents and for this very reason, children should be kept away from this area.

Break and storage rooms

A Break room is the only place where the staff take some rest and have their meal in peace. Causing disturbance over there while they rest and relax is unacceptable. To ensure that the maintenance staff are well-rested, children must not be allowed inside break rooms.

Likewise, storage rooms have chemical-laden cleaning agents, acids, cleaning, mowing, and other expensive equipment. It is best to prohibit children from playing in these or near these rooms.

Before you move into a new society, check with all the rules and regulations, restricted areas, and general guidelines. Move-in only after considering everything. Also, constantly remind children not to enter the restricted areas for safety reasons.

About ApnaComplex

Regarded as the No 1 society management app, ApnaComplex has 11 years of expertise in community management. Every feature offered by us is carefully curated to meet the needs of the management committee.

ApnaComplex is the only mature solution that has undergone modifications based on the feedback given by management committees, making the software for and by the management committee.

To know about the modules we offer and how they help streamline your gated community operations, please visit apnacomplex.com.

How to handle ‘smoking troubles’ in Societies?

Smoking and gated communities in India have never gone hand in hand, and according to STATISTA , there are around 14.8% smokers in the country.

From this 14.8%, there can be no denial that a substantial number of smokers are living in gated communities and the management can not ban them from smoking in their own house – which is their private space. And in the eyes of the smokers, banning it would be an utter sin and we really needn’t have to do that.

On the other hand, the management cannot give smokers free rein to smoke anywhere, anytime. After all, children, the elderly, and immunocompromised people also live in gated communities, and passive smoking can damage their health too which they never asked for.

So, in this case, what should the management do? In this article, we share some steps that the association can implement to meet the needs of all the residents keeping in mind the welfare of the others.

Implementing Smoking Regulations

The more we try to ban smoking, the more stubborn people will want to continue doing it. Therefore, regulating smoking in gated communities is a prudent thing to do.

Below, we bring a handful of steps the management can take to regulate smoking that will encourage coexistence amongst smokers and other residents.

– Prohibit smoking in common areas (anyway this is an offence according to the law). If you catch someone smoking, fine them heavily.

– Provide smokers with a designated area and see how their faces lit up! Build a ‘smoking room/area’ probably on the terrace or top floor of the building as smoke wafting down the building is negligible.

– Even though ventilation and air sealing in apartments can minimise the smoke, they are not of much help when smoke wafts via windows and doors. To deal with this, request residents who smoke to install smoke filters that have proper smoke ratings. These filters will prevent the smoke from wafting or recirculating other areas.

– Support can be the strongest bridge between smokers and non-smokers. Every community will have a handful of smokers who are attempting to quit smoking for good. Encourage them by having a reward system. Offer gifts to people who have gone without smoking for at least a week as an appreciation. You can even conduct programmes related to the ill-effects of smoking to create awareness and encourage the ‘quit-smoking movement’.

– Residents complaining of smoke entering their flat is a very common scenario in gated communities. As a first step, request them politely to close the windows, use air fresheners and install smoke filters. If they ignore your requests, go to the association and make a formal complaint and let the management deal with it. Even then if the problem isn’t resolved, consider legal action.

– Importantly, speak to children about the ill effects of smoking and why they shouldn’t smoke when they become older . Smoking isn’t hard to miss especially by the curious eyes. Educate them about the health hazards of active and passive smoking. This will encourage them to stay away from the smoking zone.

Studies have shown that passive smoking can cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and can even develop cancer. When expecting mums are exposed to tobacco smoke, the infants are likely to develop birth defects including respiratory illness, congenital abnormalities, may weigh less during birth, and in worse cases, there is an increased chance of stillbirth too.

Convey the health hazards of passive smoking to smokers and how they are putting others in danger too. Additionally, communicate about the severity of COVID 19 complications amongst smokers. This will propel them to at least consider quitting smoking.

The best approach towards smoking in gated communities is regulation, education, empathy, and awareness. With the right tools in hand, you can certainly make ‘smoking problems’ in your community a thing of the past.

apnacomplexnitin
January 4, 2022

Moving-in and moving-out – here are the do’s and don’ts to know!

Moving-in and moving-out are common scenarios in every gated society. If you are new to living in a gated community or if you are a part of a newly formed association, then it is vital to know and have standard procedures in place.

Having a criterion helps the management know about the new residents who are moving in and enables them to onboard the new residents into the Society’s system. Likewise, it also helps them keep a record of residents who are moving out.

The Association of GM-Infinite, Phase 1, Bengaluru, shares the basic procedures they follow with ApnaComplex which you can implement for your society as well. Keep reading to know about the do’s and don’ts of the move-in/out process!

The Do’s

– Before the tenants move in/out, the owners must inform the association and furnish full details at least a week in advance via email including the date of the move-in/out, new tenants’ details, etc.

– A small move-in charge can be levied on the new residents while they are moving in. For instance, GM Infinite levies a one-time payment of Rs.1000 via online or card payment.

– Have a rule that move-in/out can happen only during particular hours. GM Infinite allows move-in/out only between 8 am and 7 pm.

– The new tenants must furnish ID proofs, rental agreement, and/or owner’s Email to initiate their registration with ApnaComplex.

– They must furnish their vehicle’s RFID (if there is one), RC Book photocopy, ID proof, parking allotment copy, etc.

– The residents who are moving out must clear all their maintenance and other dues before initiating the move-out procedure.

– They have to return the RFID sticker (if applicable).

– The management must delete the moving out tenants’ records in the ApnaComplex app.

– The NOC from the Maintenance department must be submitted at the security gate before moving out.

Don’ts

The don’ts listed below are primarily applicable to the tenants and are pertinent to their stay inside the Society.

– Tenants must never take the Society or the association for granted. They must never violate Society rules that are stipulated.

– They must never fail to pay the maintenance dues.

– They must never indulge in any sort of commercial activities inside the residential premises. If the residents are found to be non-compliant, the association has all the right to take necessary action against the said tenants.

The above rules are applicable to most of the Societies and these do’s and don’ts can be altered depending on how each Society functions.

Having a guideline in place makes things easier for all the parties and streamlines the whole process. We hope you find the above guidelines useful. To know how you can efficiently streamline and automate your Society’s everyday operations, please visit our website – apnacomplex.com.

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apnacomplexnitin
December 12, 2021

Implement these 5 tips to brighten your home workspace!

The news of the Omicron outbreak – a new variant of the novel coronavirus and the increasing COVID-19 cases is forcing companies to postpone reopening offices and many have already extended work from home.

Though work from home (WFH) adds convenience to employees and their wallets are a little heavier than before, we cannot ignore the ramifications of WFH especially on mental health.

In this article, we share a few tips on what you can do to improve and brighten your home workspace and make the best of what you have.

Let your house and home office shine

Nothing is more calming and lively than a well-lit house. Keep your home and workspace ventilated and let sunlight bathe the rooms as much as possible. If your room doesn’t have enough ventilation, brighten it by adding twinkling lights and lamps. This will uplift your mood too.

Similarly, paint your house with light and cool colours that can reflect the sunlight better. According to studies, these colours are also soothing to the mind and aids in reducing stress.

Remove clutter

A cluttered house/home office will definitely add to the stress. Take time and declutter your workspace and house and keep your home pristine in general. These will have calming effects on your mental health and improve overall wellness.

Style your home office with minimal interior decoration and get rid of items you seldom use. Keep dustbin inside your office room so that junk doesn’t litter the ground and desk. These measures can have a profound impact on your health and can even up your efficiency.

Make comfort your priority

The office room is where you spend most of your day and therefore invest in furniture and chair that supports your back. An uncomfortable chair strains your back muscles. Likewise, add cushions and footrest for additional comfort.

Coming to the desk, ensure that its height reaches your chest while using it. This reduces overall strain. Importantly, stretch your body often throughout the day and indulge in some exercises that improve posture. Bad postures and constant sitting over a period of time will have long-term complications on the spine.

Be time conscious

One of the biggest disadvantages of WFH is not keeping a track of time. While engrossed with work, you are very likely to work overtime and doing this for months at a stretch will cause burnout.

Also, take 10 minutes every one hour. This will give sufficient rest to your mind and enable it to function better. It is also important to have ‘me time’. Indulge in things you love like reading, baking, watching video games or playing a sport inside your premises. This will do you a lot of good.

Include greenery and some quietness

Like sunlight plants also have invigorating effects. Indoor potted plants add aesthetics to the house and also, act as natural air purifiers and have mild detoxification effects. Sweet-smelling herbs can calm your mind and bring down stress.

Also, keeping the room quiet as much as possible is vital for efficiency. Too much noise distracts and affects performance. Eliminate this hurdle by making your room sound-proof or investing in good noise-cancelling headphones if you are living in a noisy neighbourhood.

One of the biggest downsides of WFH is is human interaction or the lack of it. In these times, it is unwise to step out of your house or community just or invite guests.

If you are living in a gated community, you can easily reduce the intensity of this negative implication. Interact with your neighbours and form clubs with like-minded people. A tool like ApnaComplex helps bring communities together through its robust Communication module.

Using ApnaComplex you can connect with other residents and start discussions, create groups for various purposes and interact with like-minded neighbours, absolutely clutter-free. The management can also send notices and broadcast important messages instantly. Additionally, ApnaComplex’s CORONA SHIELD helps you to covid-proof your society as much as possible. This adds an additional layer of safety to your community.

To know more about these features and modules, please visit our website.

Diwali 2021: the do’s and don’ts to bear in mind

Come Diwali gated communities across India indulge in week-long celebrations. For the safety, comfort, and consideration of all the residents, it is vital that the Management Committee and residents together make meticulous planning and conduct in the safest manner possible.

Below, we are listing out a handful of Do’s and Don’ts that you can consider following this Diwali.

Bursting Cracker

Do’s – Allocate a time and place to burst crackers and inform the residents beforehand. And for general gatherings, allocate a different place. This way, you will have a chance to control noise and minimise complaints from other residents.

Don’ts – Allowing residents and children to burst crackers as and where they please.

Clothing

Do’s – Always wear cotton clothes while bursting crackers. God forbid if there is an accident or burn, cotton will not stick to the body and give you respite. On the other hand, synthetic will melt and stick to the body if there is fire causing more damage. Also, ensure that you are wearing proper footwear.

Don’ts – Wearing synthetic clothes and barefoot while bursting crackers.

Precautions

Do’s – Before beginning to burst crackers, ensure that you have a few buckets of water or hose handy. If there is a fire, you can put it out easily.

Don’ts – Choosing crowded areas to burst and not being cautious.

Children-supervision

Do’s – In your society, ensure that the children or at least, pre-teens are accompanied by adults and not on their own.

Don’ts – Allowing children to burst crackers on their own.

Storing firecrackers

Do’s – Allocate the areas that you deem safe to burst and store firecrackers. Preferably, clean it beforehand. Also, store firecrackers several feet away from the bursting area.

Don’ts – Bursting and storing firecrackers near flammable materials like electrical cable, wood, fure, etc.

Handling firecrackers

Do’s – Take time to read the instructions that come in the package before bursting the crackers. Handle it very carefully for your and other’s safety,

Don’ts – Ignore the instructions and be careless.

Treating injuries

Do’s – When someone gets a 1st degree burn, run the affected area under cold water for several minutes and give first aid immediately. If it’s 2nd degree or more, take the victim to a physician to treat. The same applies to the eyes as well.

Don’ts – Ignore the injury.

COVID Protocols

Diwali is no reason to not follow COVID guidelines. In fact, you should follow it more diligently than ever since you are constantly around people while celebrating the occasion.

Below are some COVID Do’s and Don’ts concerning Diwali.

Wearing mask

Do’s – Even though you are in celebrating in your gated community, always wear a mask while stepping out of your house. This way, you are protecting yourself not only from crackers but from all the smoke too.

Don’ts – Not wearing a mask.

Sanitisation

Do’s – Carry your hand sanitiser always and sanitise your hands often when out or bursting crackers.

Don’ts – Not carrying our using hand sanitiser.

Temperature checks

Do’s – Checking the body temperature of all the residents and children who are taking part in the gathering and bursting crackers.

Don’ts – Not checking the body temperature.

These are some of the most important and basic protocols that you should follow to safeguard your society from COVID and general harm. Hope you find these useful.

ApnaComplex wishes you a very happy and safe Diwali!

Who are we?

ApnaComplex is an 11-year-old apartment management software that is being used by more than 6,000 societies across 80 cities. Our management modules are the only matured solution available today it caters to every need of a gated community and the Management Committees.

To know more about our modules and features, please visit https://www.apnacomplex.com/contact-us-for-demo?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=thoughtleader

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ApnaComplex
January 5, 2021

Expert Speaks On How To Co-exist With COVID-19

ApnaComplex is conducting a series of webinars in partnership with The Times of India. These webinars are exclusive only for members of Societies using ApnaComplex.

In these webinars, experts are speaking on important topics that focus on COVID-19. Since its advent in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress, fear and panic among people. And as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to loom and the lockdown restrictions have been eased in some parts of the state, life has somewhat gone back to normal (the new normal).

While the numbers of coronavirus cases are declining, the risk of infection is still prevalent as we get back to our new normal life. So, in this live webinar, Dr. Shashank Joshi, an Indian endocrinologist, diabetologist and medical researcher spoke to us on “How to co-exist with COVID“, where he shared the precautions to take in our daily routine as we start moving out.

In the first segment of the webinar, Dr. Joshi spoke about the history of coronavirus and how it emerged as a global pandemic. He further explained the difference between coronavirus and COVID-19; coronavirus is the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. He also spoke about the symptoms of COVID-19 which includes dry cough, high fever, shortness of breath, lack of smell and taste, secretions from the nose and sore throat.

Dr. Joshi also spoke about how COVID-19 is transmitted from one person to another. In fact, he mentioned that around 60-80% of people get coronavirus. He also stated that the different stages of COVID-19 are asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe and critical COVID.

Dr. Joshi has shared a list of lifestyle protocols that we should implement into our daily routine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Have your meals on time.
Eat a large breakfast, moderate lunch and light dinner.
Keep your body hydrated.
Eat your meal slowly.
Try to eat Sattvic food.
Stay physically active.
Try to get 7 hours of sleep; try to sleep between 9.30 p.m to 4.30 a.m or 10 p.m to 5 a.m.
Quit smoking and avoid drinking alcohol.
Stay positive and happy.

Dr. Joshi also spoke about the types of COVID-19 tests – RT-PCR test and antigen test. These tests will help in diagnosing the coronavirus infection in the body.

The post-recovery for COVID-19 includes taking utmost care of yourself, eating nutritious foods, doing yoga, pranayam and breathing exercises and staying connected with your doctor to help with the recovery process.

These are the key points shared by Dr. Joshi in the webinar:

To prevent from getting infected from coronavirus, wear a well- fitted mask that covers your nose and mouth properly and a zero power or a regular spectacle.
Choose a proper mask which will not allow you to blow a candle or you can’t see a bright light source through it. These are the signs of a good quality mask.
Wearing a mask is important as it puts you at a lower risk of contracting the virus even if you are in close contact with a COVID-19 infected person. The chances of contracting are less than .5%.
Maintain physical distancing.
Ensure proper hand hygiene which involves washing your hands with soap and water or using a hand sanitizer.
Do not touch your nose, mouth and eyes with your hands.
The highest transmission risk occurs when you are eating out so ensure that you maintain physical distancing.
In India due to COVID-19, the mortality rate is high among people who are above 50 years.
People with diabetes, hypertensive, heart disease, chronic lung, kidney and liver disease and organ transplant survivors are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
People who are undergoing chemotherapy and who are on steroids and immunosuppressant medications are at a higher risk too. Also, people with AIDS and congenital immunodeficiency disorders are more susceptible to get coronavirus.
Avoid crowded places and poorly ventilated rooms.
Homeopathic, allopathic and Ayurveda medicine will not prevent COVID-19.
Children are less susceptible to COVID-19.
Women are also less susceptible to COVID-19 because of the female hormone oestrogen.
Men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 as compared to women.

Here are some excerpts from the webinar:

What should you do if you think you have COVID-19?

Check your body temperature, monitor respiratory rate and pulse rate, monitor your blood pressure levels and monitor blood glucose levels to help determine if you have contracted COVID-19.

What are the treatment options for COVID-19?

Antiviral drugs, supportive care and prone positioning are some of the treatment options for patients with COVID-19.

Will you get immunity if you contract the virus?

If you get COVID-19, you will generate antibodies and after usually 3-6 months the antibodies will go away and you will get some immunity. However, this does not signify that you are immune to COVID-19.

What foods should you eat to help boost your immunity?

Consume Sattvic foods which can help boost your immunity as it consists of fresh fruits and vegetables and essential spices and herbs.

What are the atypical symptoms of COVID-19?

Diarrhoea, abdominal pain, lack of smell and taste are the atypical symptoms of COVID-19.

ApnaComplex conducts informative webinars on different topics. So, stay tuned to emails from ApnaComplex and ApnaComplex social media pages for upcoming webinars.

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apnacomplexnitin
March 8, 2019

Women’s Day Special: Exclusive interview with Super Women at ApnaComplex

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.”

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apnacomplexnitin
January 9, 2019

Standard Domestic Help Rates: Can it be Achieved?

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!

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apnacomplexnitin
January 4, 2019

Ensure Vehicle Safety with Vehicle Sentry

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:

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.

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.

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.

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apnacomplexnitin
October 6, 2018

Garage Sales: An event for the entire community

Garage sales are usually a great way to foster community bonding. Neighbours can get together to set up stalls and buy and sell household clutter that may be handy to someone else. Setting up stalls in the common areas or basements is a fun way to spend a weekend together.

In India, household items are often used to their absolute demise, at the end of which they are completely unusable. So, naturally, garage sales are typically not quite as popular. But with festivals like Dussehra and Diwali around the corner, most families should be gearing up for a home makeover. Typically this involves repainting the walls, changing the upholstery and a good top to bottom cleaning. This is the perfect time to fish out items that are not in use.

Setting up a Stall

1) Pick out things you want to sell
Garage Sales are built on the premise that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Anything from clothes, books, unused furniture, utensils, is fair game. This clutter can usually be found under beds, inside storage units, out on the balcony, in the storeroom, or on the terrace. The general rule of thumb of cleaning is to pick out things that have not been used in about three years.

2) Price everything fairly
Based on the condition and years of use, slash the prices of every item by 50 to 75%. Put price tags on all the products. It would also help if you put down the original price next to the selling price. Check online stores to check the current prices of similar products.

3) Set up your wares
Your customers are more likely to buy your products if you make them look presentable. Make sure all your items are clean and dust-free. Set up tables and stools to place your products on. If you’re selling clothes, put them on hangers or fold them up neatly. Make sure everything is visible and ready for easy perusal. Keep a register or notepad handy to track your sales easily. Also, remember to keep plenty of change on hand. This makes transactions simpler.

Garage Sale as a community event

Garage Sales are a fun way to bring the entire society together. It can be turned into a community event by setting up a number of stalls and turning it into a temporary mini market. Not only can you sell old used products, but artists and chefs can set up stalls for their homemade masterpieces. Involve children into the mix and help them set up a mini-games stall. It can be a fun learning experience in entrepreneurship and quite frankly, practical maths.

Make it for a good cause

Many of us usually donate used items to charity or to the needy. However, quite often these items go unused even in the charity. There are either no takers for that particular item or the product is totally unusable. Monetary donations are a preferred option. So take the money raised in your sale, (in part or whole) and donate it to a good cause of your choice. Not only will your apartment complex have fun, but you could bring a smile to somebody in need.

With the season of goodwill just around the bend, why not give this a go? ApnaComplex provides the perfect tools to help you organize the Garage Sales. Conduct a survey to gather other interested people, create a separate group and start a new discussion. Collaboration has never been simpler!

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Setting up a Stall

Garage Sale as a community event

Make it for a good cause