Funeral home management software for the Macintosh Computer
A Database operating on the Macintosh application HELIX EXPRESS 4.5
The base Helix Express Program must be purchased separately.
Mac Funeral Home Manager is a fifteen relation database.
FHMac utilizes 15 different relations, one for each type or form or category of information needed by the integrated database system.
Relation 1 ...receives and stores textual data about the decedent along with details of his individual funeral service. It’s the largest section of the database and it automatically accesses data stored in relations 2 and 5.
Relation 2 ...receives posted data from Relation 1 and 3 and receives and stores directly keyed data regarding the individual charges that you make for this individual funeral service. Certain data entered here is accessed by Relations 1 and 3 and this relation searches relations 1, 5, 6 & 7 for data.
Relation 3 ...receives some posted data from Relation 1 and 2, receives some new data and outputs all letters and cover letters for bills, acknowledgement letters, questionnaires and collections letters. Based on the current status of payment, it won’t allow the operator to send the wrong collection or billing letter. It searches for data from relations 1,2 & 5.
Relation 4 ...receives and stores payment data and posts it to Relation 2 where it is automatically credited to the proper account. It accesses data from relations 1 & 2
Relation 5 ...receives and stores data:
- about the individual funeral directors at the funeral home using the database
- about the funeral home chosen by the family
- its branch locations
- the prices charged by each location, even if different from one another
- about local churches and clergy
Relation 5 data is accessed by Relation 2 as it calculates appropriate billing charges and Relation 3 when it designs the letterhead for every letter it writes along with the closing and signer for each letter.
Relation 6 ...receives and stores data about merchandise inventory (caskets, vaults and urns). This data is accessed by both Relations 1 and 2
Relation 7 ...contains only one record and it holds the wordings that are accessed by Relation 2 for the various billing statements that FHMac develops. Each funeral home can change those wordings to best suit his needs and quotation methods.
Relation 8 ...receives data about commonly used:
- Cemeteries including their phone numbers and prices
- Doctors including their phone numbers
- Local hospitals, hospice facilities and nursing homes and the Registrars of Vital Statistics of the municipalities that must be notified regarding deaths in those institutions.
Data from Relation 8 is accessed by Relations 1 & 3.
Relation 9 ...receives graphic files for display, when called for, on forms generated by any relation in the database, including letters and on envelopes.
Relation 10 ...receives PRE-NEED Funeral Data much like Relation 1 does about at-need data. Several preneed files are generated from this data. This relation interacts with Relation 11 much as Relation 1 interacts with Relation 2. Data, once entered in Relation 10 does not need to be re-keyed into Relation 1 at the time of death, rather it is electronically "dumped and loaded" with 3-4 keystrokes.
Relation 11 ...receives PRE-NEED Financial Data in conjunction with pre-need data entered in Relation 10. It easily prints a PRE-NEED Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected.
Relation 12 ...receives and prints maps (graphic files) to local cemeteries along with textual driving directions and contact information.
Relation 13a ...stores and lists the wordings for various Acknowledgement Cards, Prayer Cards and Memorial Folders. This relation is visited to copy the wordings chosen by the purchaser of cards. New wordings are easily added or changed.
Relation 13b ...stores and lists the setup for printing Register Book Pages and Title Pages.
Relation 13c ...receives data from Relation 1 and copied data from Relation 13a and it prints a "master page" which is photocopied onto actual Prayer Cards (4-up) or actual Acknowledgement Card paper or Memorial Folder Paper. It prints a direct bill for when charges for funeral stationery is not being added to the funeral statement.
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As you can see, there is a great deal of interaction between the various relations...the part that brings a smile to my face is that it all works...all the time. I haven’t yet had to clear my desk and go back to a pen and paper or to that hated typewriter. The only thing I find myself using the typewriter for is to produce an occasional oversize envelope or one-time form (‘cause it’s easier to roll my chair across the room than it is to change paper in the printer (and ‘cause I have a secretary who loves to type envelopes, if I ask nicely.)
If you’ll access this linked web page, it will describe some of the Forms and Reports that FHMac generates and prints.
If you are sincerely interested in purchasing Mac Funeral Home Manager, I am prepared to mail you a demo disk and a sample of the arrangement folder that I use when I make arrangements. The centerfold of the folder is a representation of the main (Relation 1) entry screen...a factor that saves a lot of time in the data entry process after the arrangement conference.
Here's some more information that you will want to know about.
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Operating Systems
These applications/databases operate on any PowerPC MACINTOSH COMPUTER using up to Mac OS 10.3.9 in Classic Mode...I haven't tried Tiger 10.4 yet but I have no doubts that Helix will operate well on it.
The Helix Databases also work on older Macintosh operating systems 9.0, 9.1 and 9.2. The HELIX Database is currently being developed as Version 6 to be native to Mac OS X.
Future UPGRADES:
Because I currently use this program daily, I will continue to enhance and upgrade it whenever I see a need. Such upgrades, STANDARD to the way I use them, are available at no additional cost...at any time...if you send me a ZipDisk and a request. Special programming may be necessary for them to be useful by you. That is, purchasers may have, at no additional cost, upgraded copies of the program as I use it at my office at any time they request a copy, however, special programming may be necessary to make it fit their needs. As the program is currently in use and is being enhanced and upgraded on an at need basis, I intend that UNSCHEDULED and UNANNOUNCED upgrades will be common.
Ongoing SUPPORT:
As long as I can grip a mouse and don't drool uncontrolably, I'm prepared to provide any assistance I can...and most of it will be free if you pay for the phone call.
Special Programming to adapt this program to fit any unusual requirement of your firm will necessarily be on a time/cost basis. There are some limitations to the program's ability to adapt to all methods of funeral price quotation and calculation so you might have to adapt to the way I operate my business.
If I can, will fix BUGS in the database that you document at no cost to you. More major "fixes" or some special "programming" can be accomplished and exchanged quickly through Federal Express but if a problem stumps me, it will necessarily take a little longer...but no problem has stumped me yet.
The cost of my hands-on "programming" time is:
- At your Funeral Home...$400.00 per day plus expenses.
- If I work on your program at my location...$60.00 per hour...but you and I can't work on it at the same time. While the "original" is in my posession, you will have to use a backup then transfer new data once you get the original back.
COST to Purchase:
The cost of “Mac Funeral Home Manager”...is currently $900.00 and includes:
- An "empty" copy of the database Mac Funeral Home Manager
- An "private" copy of the database Mac Funeral Card Printer
- An "empty" copy of the database Alpha Book
- Substantial supporting wordprocessing files and supporting spreadsheet files
- Telephone Support and Guidance
Also included:
...are supporting files that are integrated with the operation of the program including formatted files to print:
- A General Price List
- Estimate of Funeral Goods and Services forms (At Need, PreNeed and Cremation)
- Agreement or Contract forms
- Promissory Note forms
- ...and various other forms.
Not included in the BUNDLED package, but available are:
An integrated "interview guide" folder, i.e., a paper record for each funeral. This blank paper record is what I write on as I interview the family and from which I enter data to the computer. The center page is a close representation of the main data entry screen of FHMac.
The Macintosh Application known as Helix Express 4.5 You must purchase the application separately. Once it is installed on your computer, FHMac and the other databases I sell will operate. I will supply you with the source/seller's address.
ACCESS and Passwords
As one opens the program he is asked for a “user” so he can operate the database. There are four levels of access:
Prior to purchase, the "DEMO" user is the only access available without a password. It''ll show you (almost) everything but it won't let you print anything ...pretty worthless, huh? Except as a demo...:-)
One would choose "Staff Entry" Mode for the most accessible and easiest level of use. The Staff Mode's menus have been set up to allow (newcomers to the Macintosh and the Helix Express interface and those not entitled to access the bowels of the program) easy access to a limited use of the program’s capabilities and stored data.
The "Principal's" Mode menus allow greater/full access and require a more intimate knowledge of the program's and HEx's abilities. It is anticipated that the principal is willing to learn how to use this mode and the FHMac program itself. Most special reports are only available in the pass-worded Principal's Mode of operation. This mode represents a passworded intermediate mode between a low-level staff person and the owner of the funeral home who controls who can see what reports by deciding who is given various passwords.
The holder of the password to the "Programmer's" Mode holds access to all forms and reports along with the ability to program changes into the database itself (if he knows or learns how to operate Helix Express).
DEMO DISK
Upon your written request, I will send you a demo ZIP DISK (100 MB - iOmega) for the price of the disk itself, about $15.00 and a $3.85 Priority Mail Stamp...or you can send me one of your ZIP Disks and a Priority Mail Stamp and I'll send the demo file back to you at no cost. The file is "demo" because it won't let you print and without the ability to print, the program is worthless as an operating program. You can see and operate all the functions...you just can't get anything on paper. If you choose to purchase the program, I'll tell you the passwords on the phone so you may access and change the passwords and obtain access to the printing users.
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