What Is This Feature?
Need Status isn't new, every contract has always had one, showing whether a purchase was made before a death occurred or because of one. What's changing is how it's set, and how detailed it is.
Before this update: The Need Status of a contract was decided for you, automatically, based on whether a deceased person had been added to the contract. There was no way to set it manually, and it only applied to the contract as a whole, not to individual items.
With this update:
- You now manually select the Need Status when you first create a contract.
- Need Status can now be tracked at the individual line item level, not just for the contract overall.
There are three Need Status options at the contract level:
- Pre-Need – The family is planning ahead, before a death has occurred. All line items will be Pre-Need status.
- At-Need – The family is purchasing because a death has already occurred. All line items will be At-Need status.
- Combination – The contract includes a mix of both Pre-Need and At-Need items. This allows you to choose which line items will be Pre-Need or At-Need
The new Combination option is for the less common cases where one contract includes both. For example:
- A family is at your cemetery to bury a loved one (At-Need) and, while they're there, decides to also purchase future plots for themselves (Pre-Need).
- A husband purchases a plot for his own future use (Pre-Need) on the same contract where he's also purchasing a headstone for a spouse who has already passed (At-Need).
In situations like these, you'll use Combination so each item can be marked correctly, instead of the whole contract being forced into one status.
A Note on Existing Contracts
For every contract created before this update, every line item has now been defaulted to match the Need Status that contract already had.
For example, if an older contract was already showing as At-Need, every line item on that contract has now also been marked At-Need.
Step 1
Choose the Contract's Need Status when creating a new contract
When you start a new contract (see How to Create a Contract in Management), you'll now be required to manually set a Need Status before you continue. Choose from:
- Pre-Need
- At-Need
- Combination
Step 2: If you chose Pre-Need or At-Need
If you selected Pre-Need or At-Need for the contract, every line item you add (plots, merchandise, services, etc. see How to Add Merchandise to a Contract) will automatically be set to that same status by default. You will not be able to change the Need Status on individual items (the dropdown will be locked).
Use this option when everything on the contract is either all Pre-Need or all At-Need.
Step 3: If you chose Combination
If you selected Combination, you'll now see a Need Status dropdown on each individual line item. This lets you mark each item as either Pre-Need or At-Need, item by item.
To set an item's status:
- Locate the line item on the contract.
- Click the Need Status dropdown for that item.
- Select either Pre-Need or At-Need.
Double-check every line item before signing
Take a moment to review each line item before moving the contract to Signed status. Once a contract is in Signed status, the need status will be locked for each item and cannot be changed. You will need to cancel and remake the contract if there was an error.
Once you choose Combination, the contract's overall Need Status will automatically display as Combination as well:
