Add Funeral
To add a Funeral to the LED, we will need to click the ‘Add Funeral’ button on the LED Dashboard.
We will see 10 tabs on the ‘Add New Funeral Service’ page, which will allow us to add details of the People involved, details of the Service and Financial details.
Main
The first tab that we will see is the Main tab, this is where we can add details of the deceased.
We can add a reference number, if we’re using them.
If they are already in the LED, we will be able to use Search in Diary and their details will be completed automatically for us. If they are not already in the LED, we will need to complete the details of the deceased.
We can also record whether the Green Form has been seen and any Special Information about them.
Key People
The Key People tab will allow us to add the person who is dealing with all the funeral arrangements, under Main Contact Person. We will also be able to add other Key People, such as children, spouse or siblings. We can add as many ‘Key People’ as we need to by clickiing the Add Key Person button, at the bottom of the page.
As with the deceased, if the Main Contact Person or any of the Key People are already in the LED, we’ll be able to use the Search in Diary to add their details.
Funeral Director
The Funeral Director tab will allow us to add details of the Funeral Director and any specific notes that may be needed.
We can use the Search in Diary, if the Funeral Director’s details have been added previously.
Any notes added in the Funeral Director tab are attached to the Funeral Director, not the service, so you shouldn’t add notes specific to the service here. They can be added in the Service tab.
Service
The Service tab will allow us to record details of the service, including the Date and Time, how many will be attending, who will be officiating, where the service will be held and any additional notes.
If we are adding details for a Separate Committal or Burial of Ashes only, and the Funeral service won’t be taking place in our church, we need to switch on the Separate Service Only toggle.
If the funeral is not taking place in our church, we will need to select our church in the drop-down alongside Parish of Responsibility and then select No for Service held at this church?.
This will give us the opportunity to add the details of the location that the funeral service will take place.
We can also add the names of any additional ministers that may be involved in the service, and the Role they will be fulfilling.
Separate Committal
The Separate Committal tab will allow us to specify whether there will be a separate committal, or not.
If there is to be a separate committal, we will need to select ‘Yes’.
We will then be able to add the details of the committal. Whether it will be a Burial or Cremation and when and where it will take place.
Burial of Ashes
The Burial of Ashes tab will enable us to indicate whether there will be a burial of ashes.
If this is to take place, we will need to select Yes, next to Is this required at this stage?. We will then be able to add details of when and where the burial will take place.
If this is to be in one of the churches in the LED, we will be able to select Yes next to Service in a Churchyard of a Church in your Diary?, and select the church from the drop down list.
If not, we will need to select No and enter the details of the burial location.
Documents
In the Documents tab, we can upload any documents that we might need to keep attached to the funeral. We’ll just need to click the blue upload button and then select the file from our hard drive. If we need to remove a document, we can simply click the red dustbin button to the right of the document.
Finance
In the Finance tab we can add costs for the Funeral. Costs and payments can only be added after our event has been saved in The Church Organiser.
There are a number of costs that are set by the Church of England and are standard across all Church of England churches, such as the cost of the Funeral Service itself. These costs have already been added to the LED and can easily be added to a service. We are also able to add our own Costs, such as the cost of an organist or an extra Verger.
We will see a list of all the set costs and any costs we have entered, on the left. Each cost item has a green + button alongside it. If we want to add a cost to the service, we need to click the green + next to the cost we wish to add, the cost will be moved to the right and the total will increase. We can click the + next to as many cost items as we need to add and the system will calculate the total cost for us. Once we have added all of our costs, we can click the Save button to save the costs.
We are able to request payments for the funeral, by clicking the Request Payment button.
This will open a new window where the costs will be confirmed and where we enter how much we would like to request. This can be a part payment or the full amount. We’ll then need to enter the email address of the person that will be making the payment, and enter a message to be included in the email.
When we click the Request Payment button, an email will be sent to the address we entered, that includes the message we added and a link which can be clicked, and which will take the person to a secure payment page. They will then be able to enter their card details and make the payment.
When a payment is made it will be recorded in the LED, allowing us to keep track of payments that have been made. While we are waiting for the payment to be made, the payment request will be shown and we will be able to resend the email, if necessary.
We can also record payments made by other methods, such as cash or cheque. We will need to go to the bottom of the list of prices where we will see the Add Payment button. We’ll need to click the button and, in the window that opens, add a description of the payment and the amount that is being paid. We can, then, click the Add button. We will see the payment appear and the total outstanding for the service will be decreased.
If we need to print the details for the payees records, we will need to click the View button and then the Service Profile button. This will produce a PDF file containing details of the service, including the costs added and any payments made, which can easily be printed or emailed.
Adding Costs
If there are any additional costs that we wish to add, such as the cost of an organist, we can add them by going to Settings, clicking Life Events Diary, making sure the Funeral tab is selected and clicking the Add Cost button at the top of the page.
We will need to give the new cost item a name so it can be identified when we are creating the service in the LED.
If this particular item is only to be available for a limited time, or is only available at certain times of the year, we can switch on the Set Validity Dates toggle and add Fixed From, and Fixed To dates.
If this is a fixed cost, switch on the Fixed Cost toggle and add the amount for the Cost. If it is variable, leave the toggle switched off. We can then add the cost when we add it to the service.
If more than one of this particular item can be requested, we can switch on the Allow Multiple Toggle. We can also add a description if we need to.
Service Plan
We are able to add a Service plan to the Funeral by going to the Service Plan tab.
Under Organise Plan by, we can choose how we want to organise the different Items on our plan. If we choose None, we won’t be able to add any timings to the different items in the plan. If we choose to organise by Duration, we will be able to set how long has been allocated for each item. If we choose to organise by Time, we will be able to choose the time that each item should begin.
We can then create our Plan by adding Sections and Items. Sections are a way of creating a header within the Plan that related Items can be listed under. For example, we may have a Hymns section that contains Items showing the hymns to be sung.
To add a Section, click the Add Section button and a text box will appear. Add the name of the Section in the text box.
We can then add Items below the section, by clicking the Item button. We will be able to add a duration or time for that item, depending on how we have chosen to organise our Plan, add a title for the Item and add any notes that relate to it. To add another Item click the Item button again and, to add another Section, click the Section button again.
Once our Plan is complete, we can click the Save button. When the Plan is saved, we will see a PDF button appear at the bottom right of the Plan. We can click this to generate a PDF file that can be emailed or printed.
To Do List
The To Do List contains a set of automated Processes that can remind us and our team to carry out certain tasks before, or after, an event.
If we want to alter the steps for an individual service, we can click the Edit button and click the pencil icon alongside the relevant step. This will allow us to change who the task is assigned to, the name of the task and the date it is due to be triggered. Once we’ve made our changes, we’ll need to click the Save button.
Once we reach the date that a particular step has been set to be triggered, the system will send an email to the person it has been assigned to, to remind them to carry out the task.
Notify
The Notify tab allows us to Notify different groups of people when a new service is added, or when changes are made to a service.
We just need to select which group, or groups of people we want to notify, by ticking the tickboxes alongside the relevant groups. When we save the service, an email will be sent to all those in the group to let them know that either a new service has been created or that a change has been made to an existing service.