Entry: Cemetery Management Solution

Cemetery Management Solution

Submitted by:: Anthony Field
Company:: Axiom Business Systems
Submitted on:: 15 Apr, 2011
Category:: Unique and Unusual Award

Screen shots showing map representation and real life photos

Site Location Map showing exact location of a mausoleum crypt within the cemetery

Company Profile

Axiom Business Systems is a Melbourne based information technology company, that has been in operation since 1983. From humble beginnings, Axiom has gone from strength to strength over the last 3 decades and now provides fully integrated cemetery management solutions to clients across Australia and North America. Recognised for our high levels of customer service and innovative products Axiom offers fully integrated software solutions that include Accounting, Cemetery Records and GIS mapping.

Axiom has been deemed “Highly Recommended” at the Australian Achiever Awards (which aim to recognise companies providing outstanding customer service) every year since 2004 and was in fact, the winner of the Australian Achiever Awards in 2003. Axiom was also recognised in an interview broadcast on CNN for its modern approach to all aspects of Cemetery Management.

In the last decade the company has expanded into the North American cemetery market and is now recognised as one of the top Cemetery Management Solution providers in the United States.

Executive Summary

Ferncliff Cemetery is one of New York’s most prestigious cemeteries, with its beautifully manicured grounds, brilliant mausoleums and respected crematory; Ferncliff has performed services for notables such as Thomas Armour, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Malcom X, Ed Sullivan and Christopher Reeve.

Until recently the entire front-end operation of the cemetery was managed through manual processes and hand written forms. As part of Ferncliff’s Information Technology Strategic Plan, Axiom Business Systems was engaged to convert all existing manual records (paper, cards, old maps and non-integrated databases) into an integrated, digitized format.

Axiom provided Ferncliff with an integrated end-to-end solution which encompasses GIS mapping (using Pitney Bowe’s MapInfo Professional), accounting and cemetery records. As most manual systems are, Ferncliff’s previous data solutions were littered with thousands of errors ranging from misspelt names to records that were completely missing from the databases. Some of the many benefits brought by Axiom’s solution included the identification of unused graves (“inventory”) in the cemetery grounds (which were thought to be sold out), being able to accurately record the history of each grave, and greatly improving the service Ferncliff can provide to their customers during a time of great need.

Business Challenge

In addition to its 63,000 traditional ground burial spaces, Ferncliff has three large mausoleums with a combined total of 45,000 individual niche and crypt spaces. Add to this the services performed by the crematory and Ferncliffs existing database amounts to ~400,000 records.

The challenges faced in converting all of these manual records to an integrated, digital solution were many. This included the labour intensive task of accurately measuring and mapping each inventory item with its exact location. Many months were spent, checking and rechecking the results to ensure these items were correctly represented in the map in their true relative geographical position.

The Solution

The first step for Axiom was to utilise Pitney Bowes MapInfo Professional product to build a GIS map encompassing all aspects of the cemetery, right down to the individual grave level. Axiom then embarked on a data cleansing and migration project which included converting all of Ferncliff’s manual records into digitised format and eliminating the many errors inherent in the data. Axom’s accounting and cemetery records package is fully integrated with the GIS mapping solution so that all of this data is available in real time when viewing the map.

Over the last two decades Axiom has built a variety of products using Pitney Bowes Software Map Xtreme technology including a cemetery specific desktop mapping product called Charon Mapping and a web based solution called eSearch. Ferncliff Cemetery is now able to use Charon Mapping to view their map and see real-time data from the cemetery records system that includes the current status of each grave, information about each of the deceased people interred in that grave and information about who currently owns the grave.

The Benefits

As a result of the audit of the now redundant paper based record system, Ferncliff Cemetery has seen a significant return on investment, and approximately $200,000 of unsold inventory has been returned to the cemetery. These sites, previously believed sold, many of which in prime cemetery locations, were quickly converted into cash revenue from new sales to client families.

The sales staff at Ferncliff Cemetery have also taken the opportunity to turn the GIS map into a proactive sales tool. Using a thematic map based on the status of each grave, the sales staff can easily see which graves in a certain area are still available for sale and then encourage the families who own the surrounding graves to “snap it up while they still can”.

Ferncliff Cemetery is now ready to embark upon a modern, accurate and progressive Point of Sale Client Service program, the likes of which have not been utilized in any other cemetery in New York. The system is capable of operating off mobile computer devices with digitized spatial images. This innovative and ambitious undertaking by Ferncliff Cemetery is now poised to provide a service level to its patrons that will set the benchmark in Cemetery Best Practice in the United States.

The emergence of countless books, internet sites and even TV shows, demonstrates the growing demand from society to have access to detailed family history. Many people who may have taken no interest in history at school, now find themselves delighting in researching their families past. History can often seem like nothing more than a series of dates with no real connection to a person’s life, but discover that your great uncle fought during the First World War, and the place that he fought suddenly becomes more than just another bloody battlefield.

The integration of Charon Mapping with Axiom’s web-based application called eSearch, will allow the public to search all interment records for a cemetery from their home computer. This ease of access to information can be seen as a positive public service provided by Axiom’s client, the cemetery. Combined with touch screen kiosks within the cemetery grounds, not only is record information now much more easily accessible to the public, but the burden placed on office staff within the cemetery is greatly reduced.

In the past whenever a family came to visit a loved one, the cemetery staff would have to look up the manual card records to locate the correct grave and then either draw a paper map or walk the family out to the correct location. This process could take anywhere from 5-15 minutes and during peak times the cemetery processes hundreds of these enquiries in one day. With the new system, all staff have to do is search for the person’s name in the map and print a 'Site Location Map' which gives the family detailed, step by step instructions on how to locate the grave, all of this takes less than a minute.