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ApnaComplex
June 15, 2010

Yes, Apartment Owners’ Associations CAN be run professionally

Reference to the article posted on Citizen Matters – Can Apartment Owners’ Associations be run professionally? , the author lists various hurdles in running Apartment Associations professionally and offers some suggestions that can help associations.

True, there are many hurdles to run association in a professional way. But leveraging technology would surely be a way to overcome some of the hurdles, if not all. This is exactly where ApnaComplex comes in. ApnaComplex neatly fits into the apartment management eco-system and provides tool set that just perfect for Apartment Owners Associations to manage their complex in efficient, effective and transparent manner.

Here’s how residents can Live a Perfect Life with ApnaComplex and how Managing Committees can ensure how every one Lived Happily ever after!

Back to Citizen Matters article – we will touch upon three key points metioned in the article and how some of the features of ApnaComplex can help.

“Communication” is the number one problem that most associations have

We could not agree more. That’s the prime reason why ApnaComplex was created. ApnaComplex solves this fundamental issue of communication by providing a platform that brings all owners/residents/managing committee together. Everyone sees and shares all information about the complex at one place. Any member can know the details of entire managing committee at one shot and reach out to them. The member directory provides information about all members in the complex at a central place, Managing Committee can reach out to any member any time. Broadcast Notifications through email can be sent to all members or subset of members (like only residents, only tenants etc.) at click of button – making it easier for managing committees to constantly communicate. In addition, there are SMS notifications too that can help MC send urgent messages.

Use formal action item register

Bang on! ApnaComplex provides Complaint Box which enables members to record all action items/issues/suggestions/complaints in a central place, assign them to owners and all relevant people including the managing committee can visibly see the progress of action items or complaints. This not only increases transparency but also the turn-around time to resolve complaints. ApnaComplex even allows residents to provide feedback on how effectively an issue is resolved and also on the vendors used in the complex there by establishing two way communication between residents and MCs.

Use a “Balanced Score Card” approach to show Managing Committee results

Another great suggestion. ApnaComplex offers reports that can sliced and diced in many ways . Reports of complaints resolved in each category, expenses of a given month, number of defaulters etc are available at the click of a button which enables MC to shwocase thier work and also provides visibility to rest of the association members on MC’s work.

While the above offer direct benefits for associations using ApnaComplex, the indirect benefits include reduced work load on the managing committee there by giving them more time to implement newer initiatives for betterment of the complex and even make more owners join the managing committee 🙂

Bottom line, YES! Apartment Owner’s Associations using ApnaComplex can be run professionally.

Want to use ApnaComplex for your association? Please submit details of your complex here and we would reach out to you to set up your complex’s portal online.

ApnaComplex
June 14, 2010

We all love to complain, don’t we? – We upgraded Complaint Box for you!

We have released an upgraded version of the “Complaint Box” module of ApnaComplex along with host of other enhancements.

Starting today our customers can experience the benfit of the new features. The key features of of this upgraded Complaint box are:

Category-wise Administration:

1. Administrators can now configure “complaint box administrators” for each category type of complaints. This will make it easier to assign owners for different aspects of managing the complex.

Screenshot of Category Admins for various categories - ApnaComplex

2. The “category owners” shall only see complaints related to the categories they own – the electrical guy no more need to even see the issues related to swimming pool. Of course, community adminsitrators can see all the complaints.

3. The category owners shall have the ability to reassign the complaint to a different category and/or to a different owner.

Complaint Re-opening and Rating

1. Closed complaints can now be re-opened by the originator or the administrator till specifed period of days after the complaint is closed. This has been the most requested feature till date and we are happy to satisfy the need now.

2. Residents can now provide feedback on the quality of the service provided on all closed complaints. Similar to the ratings of vendors in ApnaComplex’s Vendor Management module – the ratings will be on a scale of 1 (worst) to 7 (Best). Makes it very easy for managing committees to judge the real quaility of work. The ratings can be updated/changed till specified period of days after the complaint is closed.

Complaint Details View

3. The number of days a complaint can be re-opened or rated after its closure is configurable by the communtiy administrator.

Notification Enhancements:

1. Administrators can now configure if mails related to community complaints shall be sent to entire community or only to the administrators. This is again based on the need for some of our customers.

2. Formatting changes to bring in more readability to all the automated mails that get sent as a part of complaint tracking.

Searching & Sorting Enhancements:

A complaint box has never been so easy (and actually fun) to search and sort. Users and Administrators can practically search on every possible data element and sort on every element to easily find and manage the complaints and it is blazing fast.

Administrator's View of Complaint Box in ApnaComplex

Now that you have a fully loaded complaint box, is your facilities manager geared up to close all the complaints?

Want to use ApnaComplex for your association? please submit details of your complex here and we would reach out to you to set up your complex’s portal online.

1 Comment InApartment Management Apartment Management Software Housing Society Software Product News Software

ApnaComplex
June 10, 2010

ApnaComplex ties up with Magic e-mart

Today, we announced our tie-up with Magic e-mart , a unit of Magic Online Business, to provide our Bangalore customers special discounts when buying groceries and other retail goods online. As a part of the tie up ApnaComplex customers will be provided discounts on top of all the listed prices by Magic e-mart.

Please visit the ApnaComplex Advantage page to know details on utilizing this offer.

Shopping online for your routine needs should definitely help you to avoid traffic, parking problems, and the long billing queues – not to mention the total time spent. By utilizing this offer, we do believe our customers can not only save money, but save time and effort. We hope this will be of very good value and offer great convenience for our customers.

With this tie-up, we sure hope to have made life little better for you!

Document repository for Apartment Associations

We released new feature of “Document Repository” in ApnaComplex today.

Starting today, Administrators and members of a complex can upload documents of relevance in ApnaComplex secure repository. This shall enable the community members to easily locate association documents – such as bye laws, meeting minutes, welcome kits, photos, vendor quotations, contract copies, building plans, regulatory certificates and just about anything relevant.

We believe that this shall help both the members and the managing committees as this greatly improves accessibility of data to everyone at any time.

Efficient way of managing documents of an association

Efficient way of managing documents by an owners association

Any member can upload a document (up to 2 MB in size) along with a short description and select a relevant category. Members can search and sort for the documents based on the name, description, size or category making it easier to locate. No more issues of digging through emails or your personal desktops to find a particular document.

Any member can view or download a document and Administrators will have the ability to delete documents to ensure a clean repository.

With this feature, we sure hope to have made life little better for you!

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ApnaComplex
May 27, 2010

Vendor Management for Apartment Associations

We released new feature of “Vendor Management” in ApnaComplex today.

Starting today, Administrators can maintain the list of all vendors that association and apartment residents use in a central place. Details like vendor name, services offered, address, contacts and other details of vendors can be collected and made available for all the residents. This makes it easy for all owners/residents to know the details and also immensely helps for new comers into the complex who would typically need all contacts as they settle down in their new house.

List of Vendors used by Owners Association can be managed centrally using ApnaComplex

What’s more – the owners/residents can provide feedback about the services offered by the vendor and rate them on a scale of 1 to 7. We hope this helps to maintain the feedback about a vendor in a central place and also providing a forum for managing committees to take feedback from owners/residents on Vendors before they decide on renewing contracts with the vendors. Associations can now take informed decisions when deciding on a vendor and also provide more transparency to all residents of the apartment complex.

Wait! There’s more to this – the administrator can decide to mark the vendor details as “public”. Vendors marked as “public” will get listed on the complex’s home page along with the feedback and ratings by the members. This will be visible to everyone on the internet who views your complex’s home page (others on internet can only see the vendor details and ratings provided by the members of the complex, they will not be add their feedback or rating). Thus you can share your experiences with a vendor with other associations and learn theirs as well.

Details and Ratings of Vendors can be made available to other owner associations through ApnaComplex

In addition to vendor management, we have made subtle enhancements to our user interface to enhance you experience when using ApnaComplex.

We sure hope to have made life little better for you!

If you are considering using ApnaComplex for your association, please submit details of your complex here and we would reach out to you to set up your complex’s portal online.

1 Comment InApartment Management Apartment Management Software Housing Society Software Product News Software

ApnaComplex
May 21, 2010

And they lived happily ever after….!

Ask anyone in the Managing Committee of an apartment complex or a residential layout, and most of them will confess that it’s the most thankless job one can think of. What makes the job a challenge is the brickbats that follow even after having worked in the best interest of all. “You can never please everyone” is a truism that every apartment managing committee member learns early enough in their tenure!

But all’s not lost! If you’re a managing committee member, we are glad to reveal that there is a way you can actually reduce your work and even win some praise for the efforts you put in.

To begin, we’ll have to first understand where most managing committees stumble in getting along with the members/residents of the apartment complex or layout. Broadly, the issues that residents have with their managing committees can be classified under the following heads:

a. Communication

b. Complaint Resolution

c. Transparency in Expenses

We are sure you’ll agree that almost 90% of the criticism that members of owners association have against their managing committees fall under these three heads. When it comes to communication, the most common grouse is that the managing committee didn’t communicate early enough or clearly enough. When it comes to complaint resolution, there are always comments from other members of the association saying that no complaint gets attended in time, same issues keep happening and so on. As for expenses, the lesser said the better. Members will always claim that they do not know where the money is being spent, that the Association should have curtailed expenses under certain heads and got a better deal on something.

Now, if an Owners Association can “manage” to get these three aspects of their functioning in control then you could have a managing committee that will actually be loved… or let’s make it… accepted by the other members of the association and residents of the apartment complex.

So how do we go about doing it?

The answer is simple: use tools that help your Owners Association become efficient and thus more effective! At ApnaComplex we offer online technology solutions that help Managing Committees streamline their workflow and create better synergies with residents of the apartment. The Single Directory View of Members allows managing committee to view details of each owner and tenant in the apartment complex or layout. The powerful Notification features that we have ensures that you can use the power of SMS and emails to communicate with every member of your society – or broadcast to only specific segments of your members – like residents and tenants.

The online Complaint Box feature of ApnaComplex registers, tracks, and closes complaints from all apartment members in a central place. Complaints shall be filed under various categories and tracked till closure. Residents can know the status of a complaint anytime and also how many complaints are attended to by the maintenance staff. Sure, that makes the residents happier.

Apart from these, ApnaComplex offers rich features to support your billing and expenses. The Maintenance Charge Tracking feature allows the Treasurer to raise invoices for various charges and tracks payments made against them. To make the life of a Treasurer even simpler, the Income Tracking feature captures the details of income from maintenance collection and other revenue heads. The Instant Receipts Issuance feature not only enables speedy creation of receipts but also enables members to view/download the receipts at any time. In addition, the Expense Tracking feature tracks expenses incurred under various heads and the Publish Accounts Statement publishes statements at the push of a button to all members and on to the notice board. Now, that’s total transparency.

Finally, the Metered Billing feature ensures that invoices are generated for various metered utilities such as a piped gas or water meter against each house and their respective payments are tracked with in ApnaComplex!

If that covers 90% of all issues, we are glad to inform you that we haven’t missed out on the remaining 10% either. ApnaComplex has an Online Notice Board that ensures every one can post their needs to all members. Online Notice Board can be used by Managing Committee to ensure meetings and other events are known to everyone. To ensure that only authorized personnel can access the Management Committee features, ApnaComplex has an effective Role Based access control system. So while ApnaComplex can be used by all, the right to information and features is rigidly controlled.

If you are a member of an Owners Association or an owner/resident in an apartment complex or gated community, please register your complex now and experience how ApnaComplex can make your apartment management easier, efficient and effective. We are confident you are going to love what you see.

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ApnaComplex
May 14, 2010

Live a perfect life with ApnaComplex

As a member of a gated community, you would be enjoying a level of comfort and security that people on the other side of the fence can only dream of. While this exclusivity translates into peace of mind, convenience and higher returns in terms of increased property and rental values, there are always some niggles or the other that could make you say “if only this was possible it would have been perfect!”

An instance would be the time you missed an important society meeting simply because someone forgot to inform you about it! There might also have been occasions when you may have wanted to make a complaint or request permission to hold a function but just didn’t get the time to write to the Managing Committee. Or maybe you wanted to share an important announcement with your fellow residents but couldn’t get the approval of your Committee in time. Then of course there are those notices lost in transit, misplaced bill receipts, minutes of the meeting that didn’t reach you and so on. These are just a few of the many small but significant issues that leave you with a feeling that things could be so much better if only there was a more efficient way of handling them!

That’s exactly where ApnaComplex comes in. At ApnaComplex, we are dedicated to make the world you inhabit as complete as possible. For the sake of simplicity (another proof of our intention to make things better for you), we would categorize the benefits we offer in the following manner:

ApnaComplex - Residential Layout and Apartment Complex Management Software

a) Saving precious time

b) Keeping your identity and data private and secure

c) Making communication more efficient

d) Providing financial information at your fingertips

e) Improving social interaction with fellow residents

Now that we’ve listed the benefits, let’s take a quick look at how ApnaComplex actually makes them possible.

a) Saving precious time

The speed and connectivity of an online platform ensures that you can connect from anywhere, anytime to carry out all your correspondences and get updated on all activities in your complex.
Our focus on usability ensures that you spend the minimal amount of time on carrying out any activity: from responding to an email to posting an ad to checking your bill payments.
A Dashboard view ensures that all your transactions and communications can be accessed easily and quickly.
You can also save time and energy by booking your clubhouse facilities, library and other services online through ApnaComplex.

Consolidated view to a member of all activities in the complex.

b) Keeping your identify and data private and secure

With ApnaComplex, you can communicate with people within or outside your complex without revealing your email address. This ensures that while you are able to send and receive mails, your email id remains private until you choose to reveal it.
Others can also contact you directly without having to know your email id.
Your data is 100% secure even while transit. The entire portal is SSL enabled – which means peace of mind.

c) Making communication more efficient

You can receive important information such as your maintenance dues, emergency repair schedules, association meetings, etc. directly from committee members by email/sms.
You can raise, view, track complaints related to your house in one place. If you mange more than one house – whether within the same complex or outside – you can manage all activities using ApnaComplex in an integrated way.
You can view the directory of all members as well as know the members on your Managing Committee and communicate with them.
If you want to offer your house for sale/rent, you can simply put up an online classified ad in ApnaComplex that will be made available on the Internet. This ad can be accessed by people both within and outside the complex. This way, you not only save on the effort required to post your ad on various online sites you also save on hefty brokerage fees as you can get in direct touch with the lessee or buyer.

d) Providing financial information at your fingertips

You can enter payments made to your association online and get confirmation on validation by the Treasurer.
You can view a consolidated statement of all the charges and payments made for all the houses you own.
You can view as well as download receipts in PDF format for the payments you made, any time (did we hear a sigh of relief from the Treasurer there?).
You can see how the money is being spent on the complex maintenance with help of expense statement that Treasurers can publish every month.

e) Improving social interaction with fellow members

You can publish notices online that will reach all other members.
You can communicate with other members in your complex about upcoming events, meetings, and any other activity without having to know their email ids.
You can know and reach your managing committee members through our secure messaging feature.

This is just the beginning of what we’ve in plans for you. We are currently focusing on getting more information about local businesses and services at your fingertips and many more such features that offers you a little more convinience. We’ll keep you posted on the developments.

In the meanwhile please let us have your feedback on the features currently on offer. Good, bad or ugly – we’d love to hear from you. We’d also appreciate any ideas on features and functionality that will make ApnaComplex more useful for you. So please feel free to get in touch with us with your thoughts and comments. You can contact us here.

So, what are you waiting for? Register yourself and your complex. Now.

3 Comments InApartment Management Apartment Management Software Community Living Housing Society Software Product News Software

ApnaComplex
May 11, 2010

eLagaan offers 20% discount on tax filing for ApnaComplex customers

ApnaComplex has tied up with eLagaan to offer its customers attractive discounts for tax filing and various related services. Below is the list of offers

Discounts to residents/owners of the Apartment
* 20% discount on all online filing of individual income tax returns
* 10% discount on all offline filing of individual income tax returns

Discounts provided to Owner’s Associations:
* 10% discount on your Association’s accounting, auditing and tax filing services.
* Get PAN card for your association at a discounted price of Rs. 449/- for door step service and Rs. 249/- if you visit eLagaan’s office.

For more details and to avail this discount, check out our offers page – http://www.apnacomplex.com/offers

Hope this will benefit you!

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ApnaComplex
May 7, 2010