BIFD choose Eulogica

As a sponsor of the BIFD, Eulogica Ltd were approached in 2007 to see if they could help with a database to hold member information.

The then 1st Vice President, Adrian Pink, had been running the Eulogica Funeral Management Software in his own company (A & D Pink Funeral Services) for approximately 9 months. When it was suggested that the BIFD approach Eulogica Ltd to see if they could help with the BIFD's database, Adrian added his comments that he had been very satisfied with their dealings with Eulogica.

A presentation was given by David Wright, Client Support Manager for Eulogica Ltd, who is also a BIFD member. L to R: John Coggins, Audrey Antoniuk, David Wright, Adrian Pink, Roger Clark, David Grainger and Simon Lewis.

A meeting was arranged at the offices of Eulogica Ltd in Lower Regent Street, London. A presentation was given by David Wright, Client Support Manager for Eulogica, who is also a BIFD member, and the requirements of the BIFD were discussed.

The data from the old database was tidied up significantly before it was entered in the Eulogica database and was installed at the BIFD's new administration offices in Derby (Trade Associations Services - TAS) on 12th December 2007. The team at TAS then spent the rest of the day being trained on the new software by David Wright. All said they found the new program very easy to use and it would be a major benefit to their management of the BIFD.

After a few weeks, David Wright called in at the administration offices to go through a few queries, make a few tweaks to the system and generally to see how the admin staff were getting on.

A further training day was set up when the National Secretary and National Treasurer would attend for further training on the system.

They also had the database installed on their own computers and were shown how to use the Eulogica synchronisation feature, something which is also available in the Eulogica Funeral Management software. This allows them to work off line (i.e. not connected to the main database), but then to synchronise any changes they have made in their local database with any changes that have been made on the main database via an internet connection. This feature allows both the National Secretary and treasurer to have an up to date copy of the database at all times.

With regards to what Eulogica can actually do for the BIFD, the following paragraphs explain a small amount of the features it can provide.

On the invoicing side of things, Eulogica can be used to generate and keep track of all invoicing. This includes member subscription fees, fees for attending conference, invoices to suppliers for sponsorship etc. These invoices, along with envelopes or address labels can then be printed off

Once the invoices have been raised and sent, Eulogica will then keep track of who has paid and who hasn't. For those who haven't paid, Eulogica can generate reminder letters if so desired. Obviously as payments are received, these can be entered into Eulogica and the account section of the individual members will be automatically updated.

Reports on outstanding invoices can then be generated to show what monies are owing to the BIFD at any particular time.

Letters which need to go to multiple members can also be created and automatically printed. For example, a letter may need to be sent out to all members of a particular region or perhaps all Student Members. Indeed, a letter can be produced which needs to go all Student Members of a particular region at the click of a mouse. Envelopes or address labels can also be printed at the same time. Once these letters have been printed and posted, they can be marked as sent and each member the letter was sent to will have this recorded in their own events section automatically.

L to R: David Wright from Eulogica, Lynne Vickers Admin Manager, Kevin Higgins TAS Director, Rachel Eyre Systems & Development Manager Lorraine Norton Financial Controller, Sofi Halliday Administrator, Audrey Antoniuk National General Secretary, Adrian Pink National President

As well as automatically recording letters and invoices created for a member or other contact, the events section can also be used to record any other details. For example, a member may telephone about a particular subject and details can then be entered into the system. A 'To do' event can also be created in a members or any other contact file as a reminder of something which needs to be done. These events can then be easily filtered out to see a list of outstanding things which need to be actioned.

Reports can easily be generated and filtered down to regions, member status etc. For example, it is now very easy for the administration staff to produce a report of members for each Region for circulation to the Governors of the regions. These reports can also generated in a PDF (Portable Document Format) an emailed if required.

A very simple report, but one that is vital, is the ability to produce an accurate address list for use in the production and distribution of the Journal. There are many other features and reports which Eulogica will generate and no doubt this will change over time as the needs of the BIFD change.

The Board of Governors see this installation as major turning point in the administration of the BIFD combined with a very professional company.

Of course, all this information is only as good as what gets entered into the system and also what is sent in by members if there are any changes to their contact details for example. So, if some part of your address is incorrect, please contact National Office by telephone, fax, email or post to let them know of the changes.