By Jessie Goggans, Product Marketing Manager for Passare

When a family walks through your door for at-need arrangements, it’s the first step in the long journey of planning and creating a meaningful service.

From that first call to the final service, your team is constantly moving. They’re guiding families through paperwork, preparing loved ones, and coordinating with vendors, all while the family is busy making life-changing decisions.

With so many moving parts, tracking a case across multiple systems is a recipe for disaster. When details are scattered, it leads to lost time, missed updates, and a disconnected experience for both your staff and your families.

What if you could manage a case from start to finish in one platform? With Passare, you can. 😎

Here's how you can use Passare during every phase of a case to work more efficiently and create a better experience for the families you serve.

Phase 1: Creating the case 

Every case begins with that first call, and the faster you get information into Passare, the better.

Once a case is created, all information, messages, documents, and more, are tied to that case in Passare.

With Passare, there are multiple ways to get a case started quickly:

• Manually: Enter details directly into the platform.
• First call integrations: Passare integrates with many answering services that can take the first call and create a case automatically in Passare.
• Preneed integrations: If you write preneed with Funeral Directors Life (FDL), you can easily convert a case from preneed to at-need.
• On the go: Start a case from your phone using the Passare Mobile app. This is perfect for directors receiving a first call after hours!
• With AI: Fill out vitals directly in Passare, or complete them on paper and upload using our AI scanner (no extra data entry!).

With the case created, it’s time to start working through planning the details.

Phase 2: Planning a meaningful service

The arrangement conference is where planning begins, but you don’t have to walk in and start from scratch. With Passare's online at-need planning tool, Planning Center, families can get a head start, so your time together is focused on meaningful conversations rather than paperwork.

Before the meeting:

• Families fill out vitals and service preferences in Planning Center.
• You can share merchandise with the Planning Center so families can browse options and pin their favorites ahead of time.

And when families are working in Planning Center, you’ll get notified of their updates, so you know what’s been completed before the meeting even begins.

During the meeting:

• Co-write the obituary with customizable templates, from scratch, or with the help of our AI writer.
• Collect signatures electronically with eSignatures.

Whether the arrangement happens in person or remotely, every detail lands in Planning Center, which then automatically appears in the case in Passare. And families can continue working on things like uploading photos, writing the obituary, and more after the meeting.

Phase 3: Organizing the details

After the arrangement meeting wraps up, the behind-the-scenes work begins. From ordering keepsakes to following up on a pending insurance assignment, you have a running to-do list for every case.

And chances are, you're managing more than one case at a time.

With Passare, you can keep all your tasks and notes centralized on each case so nothing gets missed and your entire team stays in the loop. Here are a few features in Passare that help you do that:

• Tasks let you assign and track what’s left to do on each case so your team knows exactly what needs to get done.
• Reminders help you set follow-ups so deadlines and important details don't slip through the cracks.
• Whiteboards gives you a visual overview of your week's schedule across all active cases at a glance.
• Notes lets you log updates on a case and flag critical details, so your entire team stays in the loop.
• Case Tags let you label cases with custom tags to quickly filter and find what you're looking for.
• Case Status track each case from active to closed, so nothing gets overlooked.

Every task stays connected to the case, giving your entire team visibility into what's done and what still needs attention.

Phase 4: Caring for the loved one

Caring for a family's loved one requires precision and clear documentation, especially when multiple team members are involved. Passare keeps all of that documentation tied to the case so your team stays organized and compliant.

• Track the movement of a loved one from pickup to final disposition in real time with Barcode tracking using the Mobile app.
• Keep up with a loved one’s personal items with Passare Mobile and document belongings you receive from hospitals or families.
• Log preparation details in the Care Center, including drivers, embalming steps, special care instructions, and more.
• Print an embalming report with a single click for your records or regulatory requirements.
• Add hair and makeup photos for your team to reference as they work to ensure cosmetics and dressing reflect the family’s wishes.
• Set a Preparation due date for body prep based on a scheduled event, so your team always knows when things need to be ready.

Care center and tracking documentation are just one side of all the paperwork. You also have to work with families on several different types of paperwork, which brings us to the next phase.

Phase 5: Completing documents and death certificates

Paperwork is often the most draining part of any case. Between death certificates, government forms, and insurance documents, there is a lot of room for error. Especially when you have to enter the same information into three or four different systems just to move one case forward.

Passare lets you enter information once and sync it where it needs to go:

• Information auto-fills on forms wherever needed after a family enters it in Planning Center or you enter it into the case in Passare.
• Send eSignature requests for documents that still need a signature without the hassle of printing, scanning, or mailing. You can even make certain fields required so you get complete paperwork on the first send.
• Death certificates can be filed from Passare through our integrations with the Pennsylvania and Georgia electronic death registration systems.

These features will help you complete paperwork faster without sacrificing accuracy. Which means you’ll have more time to focus on the details of the service!

Phase 6: Coordinating the service details

A meaningful service takes coordination, which can involve a lot of data entry. But with Passare, you can skip the repetitive data entry and let integrations do the heavy lifting.

Vendor & financial management:

• Pull from your digital Rolodex in Passare to quickly add contacts with their details already filled in, so you're not re-entering vendor information case after case.
• Write and print checks with the Checks feature, so you can create checks without leaving the platform.

Stationery, obituary & video:

• Design and order personalized programs and prayer cards through print integrations.
• Finalize the obituary with the family all in Passare, then email it to the newspaper. Plus, you can sync the published obituary to your website with the click of a button using website integrations.
• Take photos and videos that families upload to Planning Center and send them directly to Tukios to create memorial videos.

When you’re trying to make sure every detail is perfect, you don’t have time to re-enter data across multiple systems. Passare takes care of the data entry so you can focus on the family!

Phase 7: Delivering a meaningful service

When the day of the service arrives, there’s no room for error. You need answers in seconds, not minutes.

Whether you’re at the church or the graveside, Passare keeps the details at your fingertips so you can handle last-minute changes with total confidence.

• Check case details on the go via the Mobile app, including service times, vendor info, and family preferences.
• Communicate last-minute changes or family requests to your team instantly with Case Notes.
• Make sure you have everything ready for services with the Service set-up checklist tied to the case in Passare, or create a checklist of your own.
• Use Barcode tracking to confirm that the right items, personal belongings, and loved one are present at the service.

A scheduling mix-up, or really any kind of mix-up, is no one’s friend. These features help you and your team stay organized, avoid errors, and deliver a meaningful service for the family.

Phase 8: Closing the case

Once the service is complete, there are still important steps to wrap up. Passare helps you handle the final details efficiently while setting the stage for continued care.

Wrap up financials:

• Record inbound checks and cash with Batch Payments.
• Create and print Batch Deposits to simplify bank runs.
• Mark the case as "closed" once everything is accounted for.
• Sync financial information to QuickBooks (or one of our other accounting integration partners!) for accurate, quick bookkeeping.

Continue the relationship:

• Support families in the weeks and months ahead with Aftercare integrations
• Pull a monthly report of closed cases with contact information for follow-up care
• Generate personalized follow-up letters with Batch Forms, filtered by date range or case status

With these features, you can wrap up with confidence and continue providing personalized care for families after the service.

Save time with Passare

From the very first phone call to the final follow-up, every case involves dozens of tasks, multiple team members, and a family counting on you to get it right. When all of the work takes place in one platform, you spend less time switching between tools and more time doing what you do best: serving families with care and compassion.

Passare brings every phase of a case together in a single platform, so your team can work more efficiently, stay organized, and provide a meaningful service for families.

Ready to see how Passare can save you time in every part of your business? Get a demo to learn more.

Share the benefits of Passare with the rest of your team!

• For the funeral director → A funeral director's guide to Passare
• For the manager → A manager's guide to Passare
• For the admin → An admin's guide to Passare