COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR APARTMENT MANAGERS

As reported by Rachelle Garbarine for the NY TIMES, John Nisi, a tenant at Trump Place, a luxury rental building on the West Side of Manhattan, notices the difference. His packages are rarely lost, and a leaky kitchen sink in his 15th-floor apartment that was causing water damage to a downstairs unit was repaired readily -- although he was out of town at the time.

What Mr. Nisi, 24, does not see is what is helping his superintendent and property manager run the 511-apartment building at 180 Riverside Boulevard more efficiently. It is a computerized information system that tracks more than 200 building activities and procedures. They include tenants' repair requests and data on shipping and receiving of packages and building supplies. The system also enables managers to maintain lists of current and former tenants and of who is permitted to enter the building.

The residential services and management software, called Building Assistant Manager, was introduced in June by Advanced Digital Internet of Manhattan, which provides high-speed Internet access to residential properties. Beyond 180 Riverside Boulevard, the system so far is being used at Tracy Towers, a 165-unit co-op at 245 East 24th Street. And it is being evaluated by managers and owners of other buildings.

In contrast with online systems that tenants use for a variety of purposes -- like staying in touch with building management -- the management software is specifically intended for building superintendents and managements and is not linked to the Internet. The building staff can obtain information from a computer screen rather than relying on handwritten notes or the memories of doormen or concierges.

Among the systems that Manhattan tenants are using are those of EdificeRex.com Inc, of Manhattan, which is linked to the Internet and allows tenants to obtain local services as well as to get management service. Another system, produced by Yardi Systems, of Santa Barbara, Calif., is intended mainly for management but is more comprehensive, ranging from leasing to financial record-keeping.

The Building Assistant Manager system is building-specific. "Our system was developed by a building superintendent specifically to help manage the building," said Thomas Josephson, the vice president at ADI. "This software runs locally. It is a one-stop system that is also safe and secure."

The superintendent who developed the concept behind the system was Alfred Neese, of Trump Place. The idea, he said, was "to streamline paperwork, increase productivity, keep everyone on the same page and respond more quickly to residents' needs." The system, he said, is simple, quick and, unlike some others, "focused just on taking care of the business of managing buildings."

That appealed to Advanced Digital Internet, which seven months ago bought the program from Mr. Neese. "We enhanced the number of functions, made it more generic and saw it as a commercially viable product," Mr. Josephson said, adding that it was flexible so that users could tailor it to their needs. It is also "a way to leverage our Internet service," he said.

Since the company's founding in 1998, it has wired 30 residential apartment buildings, most of them in Manhattan. It also operates in Atlanta and Philadelphia and over the next year will expand into a dozen more markets, where it will also promote the program. Though it initially geared the system to buildings with 100 apartments or more, there has been interest from smaller buildings, Mr. Josephson said.

Mr. Neese said Building Assistant Manger had enabled him to run his building at or below its budget. But Mr. Josephson said managers would see other benefits. They can more easily determine not only which apartments put in repeat maintenance requests but also which appliances need regular repair. And from a security standpoint, they can "have a history of everyone who enters and leaves the building and each apartment," he said. "It takes 45 minutes on average to install the system," he said. He added that it also was meant to be "pretty economical."

The cost to buy the software for two computers is $1,000, and $500 for any additional computer. There are option installation and training costs of $125 and $295, respectively. After the first year, there will be an estimated $200 annual fee, also optional, for maintenance and upgrades to the program. Mr. Josephson said the company was working on adding features to handle a portfolio of buildings via the Internet as well as local building code issues.

At 180 Riverside, said Andrew Weiss, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, "the system is working well and, once perfected, we are considering expanding its use into other buildings. Anything that helps us run the buildings more smoothly and provide more services to tenants, we see as an amenity."