11/02/2023

HOW DO YOU DIGITIZE YOUR CEMETERY RECORDS?

In an earlier blog, we discussed why your cemetery should consider transitioning from paper records to digital records. Digitizing cemetery records is a valuable step for efficiency and accessibility. Here's a general step-by-step process to help you with the transition:

Assessment: Evaluate the current record system and identify what needs to be digitized. This may include burial plots, interment records, maps, and more. It's not uncommon to have interment cards and sales contracts in abundance. Knowing how many records you need to digitize is the first step towards assembling a transition plan.
Choose Software: Select cemetery management software or create a custom database. Ensure it meets your specific needs for record-keeping and retrieval. Your records need to be well organized and easily accessible. These should be the two most important aspects when deciding what cemetery system to implement and use.
Data Entry: Enter existing records into the digital system. This can be a time-consuming process but is crucial for accuracy. Using a company that specializes in digitizing records is a great way to simplify this task as it can be very overwhelming. Scanning individual records and making sure they are saved such that they can be easily imported into a system is critical.
Digital Maps: Create digital maps of the cemetery to help locate burial plots. GIS (Geographic Information System) software can be helpful for this. Paper maps are cumbersome so moving to a system that has interactive, digital maps will help your sales team and customers view plots.
Backup and Security: Implement data backup and security measures to protect against data loss and unauthorized access. Again, selecting and implementing the right cemetery software will mitigate your risk of data loss. Cloud-based software hosted on major providers such as Google or AWS will back up your cemetery data.
Accessibility: Make the records accessible through a user-friendly interface, possibly a website or a kiosk at the cemetery. Implementing a software where your records can be retrieved and reviewed quickly is very important. If the cemetery software takes more than 3 clicks to locate and view records, consider another system.
Training: Train staff on how to use the digital system effectively. The ease-of-use of a cemetery software is extremely important for staff to adopt the new system. However, making sure they're trained so they know how to access the correct information efficiently is critical for long-term success.
Maintenance: Regularly update and maintain the digital records to reflect new interments, changes, and corrections. It's not enough just to upload old records and save them. It's also important to make sure older records are updated with current information and policies.
Archiving: Keep physical copies of records as a backup and for historical purposes. Just because you're going digital doesn't mean you have to discard all your old paper copies. It never hurts to archive your paper records so you can go back to them if you need.
User Support: Provide support to visitors or genealogists who may need assistance using the digital records.
Privacy Considerations: Ensure that any personal or sensitive information is appropriately protected in compliance with data privacy laws.
Budget: Allocate funds for ongoing maintenance and software updates. This may be the biggest hurdle for cemeteries as the cost-to-benefit ratio of converting from paper to digital may seem too high. You may consider converting in phases so the cost is spread out over a longer period of time.

Remember that the specific steps and software choices will depend on the cemetery's unique needs and budget. It's important to consider your what your cemetery transition plan will look like, starting with a software like EverArk that will facilitate and organize many of your documents.