In short
- Before the demos, note how many funerals you handle a year, who does what and the three tasks that take you the most time.
- Compare suppliers on the total cost over three years, with setup, data import and training, not on the monthly fee.
- Before signing, ask where servers and backups are and for the data processing agreement required by article 28 of the GDPR.
- Negotiate the exit before you enter: full export in open formats and no multi-year auto-renewal with penalties.
- Bring a real case to the demo and count how many times the same data is typed again, from the first call to the invoice.
This guide is for small and medium funeral homes looking for funeral home software: firms that work on paper, with an installed program or with industry software they are no longer happy with. For each of the 15 questions you will find why it matters, a good answer and a warning sign. At the end, a scoring table and a method for the demo.
Before the demos, note how many funerals you handle a year, who does what and the three tasks that take you the most time: measure the answers against those.
The guide was written for Italian funeral homes, so some examples (municipal forms, e-invoicing, the funeral expenses report) follow Italian rules. The questions work anywhere.
Data and everyday tools
1. Data and migration: how do my existing records come in?
Why it matters. Client records, past cases, price list, cemetery concessions: if they stay in the old program or in the binders, you work on two systems for months.
A good answer. "Send us a sample of your archives: we tell you what we import and how long it takes. We do the import, you check it before going live."
Warning sign. "You start from scratch", or the cost of the import shows up after signing.
2. Cloud or installed: can I work from my phone?
Why it matters. Much of the work happens away from the office: at the hospital, at the family's home, at the cemetery, at night. An installed program ties the data to one PC and to whoever looks after its backups.
A good answer. It runs in the browser on PC, tablet and phone, updates itself, and from the phone you can open a request or look up a case.
Warning sign. The phone version is "coming soon", or working from outside needs a remote connection to the office PC.
The service, from the first call to the signature
3. Case file and municipal forms: is everything written only once?
Why it matters. Much of the paperwork is the same data copied onto different forms: death registration, transport authorisation, burial permit. And the forms change from one municipality to the next.
A good answer. Data is entered once and ends up on every document. The forms of your municipalities are set up at the start, and a checklist shows tasks and deadlines.
Warning sign. "You upload the forms yourself", with no word on who keeps them up to date.
4. Phone and on-call: what happens at three in the morning?
Why it matters. If nobody answers at night, the family is left without a point of contact and may turn to another funeral home. And whoever is on call needs to know at once whom to call back and where to go.
A good answer. The call goes to the person on call, then to a second number, it is logged with its outcome and the call-back is tracked. Any automatic answering service says that it is automatic, collects only the useful details and gives no prices.
Warning sign. In the demo nobody shows you what reaches the on-call phone.
5. Documents: how do the family's papers reach the case file?
Why it matters. ID cards, health cards and certificates often end up in a personal chat and get typed again by hand. It is slow, and the data sits on channels the funeral home does not control.
A good answer. The family photographs the documents from a link, without installing anything. The data is read and proposed in the case file, and a staff member checks it before confirming.
Warning sign. Documents can be "attached", but the data has to be copied by hand.
6. Quotes, contract and signature: do they stay linked to the case?
Why it matters. Misunderstandings with families start from the quote. A price list change must not rewrite a quote already sent, and contract and authorisations must carry the same data as the case file.
A good answer. Quotes from your price list, with discounts within a limit you set. Acceptance opens the case, and contract and forms are filled in from the data already entered and signed on a tablet.
Warning sign. The quote is a separate file, to be copied again after acceptance.
Tax and administration
7. E-invoicing and the funeral expenses report: are they included?
Why it matters. In Italy an electronic invoice must be stored to legal standards by both issuer and recipient, and storage "is not simply saving the file on a PC" (Revenue Agency). Funeral homes that invoice funeral expenses must also report to the Revenue Agency, by 16 March, the previous year's data for each death, only for expenses paid with traceable methods (Revenue Agency).
A good answer. The invoice is created from the case file and sent to the Exchange System (Sistema di Interscambio, SdI). Legally compliant storage is included or entrusted to a provider named in the contract. The funeral expenses file is generated from the data already there, including the payment method.
Warning sign. In March the funeral expenses data is copied by hand.
Funeral home facilities, posters and obituaries
8. Funeral home facilities: are rooms and screens in the software?
Why it matters. Farewell rooms and viewing rooms are booked across several days, between visits and cleaning, and the screens in the room must show the right name and times.
A good answer. Rooms visible in real time, overlaps flagged when you book, screens updated from the case file. If you have no facility today, ask whether the module can be added later.
Warning sign. The room screens need another program.
9. Posters and obituaries: do they start from the case data?
Why it matters. They are prepared in a hurry, often in the evening, and a mistake in a name is the most visible one a funeral home can make.
A good answer. Data and photo come from the case file, the templates are yours, the obituary goes to the website and social media in one step. A text proposed by AI is not published without review.
Warning sign. The same name has to be typed again for the poster, the website and social media.
Organisation, privacy and artificial intelligence
10. Several locations and permissions: who sees what?
Why it matters. Even in a team of four or five, not everyone needs to see payments and margins. With several locations you need price lists and calendars per location, plus an overall view for the owner.
A good answer. A personal login for each staff member, permissions by role, a log of who changed what.
Warning sign. One password for the whole office.
11. Privacy, GDPR and backups: where is the data?
Why it matters. You handle identity documents and sometimes health information. Under the GDPR the funeral home is the controller and the supplier that processes data on its behalf is the processor: you need a contract with the contents of article 28(3). Among the security measures the regulation lists the ability to restore the availability of and access to data in a timely manner after a physical or technical incident (article 32), and it sets conditions on transfers to countries outside the European Economic Area and to international organisations (chapter V) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).
A good answer. The country or region of servers and backups is stated, the data processing agreement is handed over before signing, backup restores are tested.
Warning sign. "The data is in the cloud", without saying in which country.
12. Artificial intelligence: what does it do and who decides?
Why it matters. "AI" in a brochure can mean a lot or nothing. What counts is what it does, with which data and who checks the result.
A good answer. A concrete list (reads documents, writes drafts, summarises calls) and one rule: every proposal goes through a person. The supplier can say where the data is processed and whether it is used to train models.
Warning sign. The AI sends messages to families or publishes texts without a person approving them.
Costs, contract and support
13. Costs: what will I really spend over three years?
Why it matters. Besides the fee, there is the price per location or per user, extra modules, setup, importing your records, training and integrations (phone system, text messages, digital signature).
A good answer. A written quote with every item, what is excluded and how the price changes if you open a location or enable a module.
Warning sign. A "starting from" price, with onboarding costs revealed after the demo.
14. Contract and exit: how do I take my data with me?
Why it matters. The exit is negotiated before you enter. The GDPR requires the contract to provide that, at the end of the service and at the controller's choice, the processor deletes or returns all personal data and deletes existing copies, unless the law requires them to be kept (article 28(3)(g)).
A good answer. Clear term and notice, a full export in open formats (spreadsheets, PDF), a period to download everything after cancelling.
Warning sign. Multi-year automatic renewal with penalties, or a paid export.
15. Support: who answers when something goes wrong?
Why it matters. Problems come on Saturdays or on the eve of a funeral, and the first weeks decide whether the staff will use the software or go back to paper.
A good answer. Hours and response times written in the contract, people who know the industry, training for every role included, a contact person during onboarding.
Warning sign. Tickets only, with no stated hours.
Scoring table
Give each answer a score from 0 to 2: 0 if it is vague or missing, 1 if it is partial or only words, 2 if it is clear and you have seen it work. Multiply by a weight from 1 to 3, depending on how much the topic matters to you, and add up. A 0 on a topic with weight 3 matters more than the total.
| Topic | Weight | Supplier A | Supplier B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Records | |||
| 2. Cloud and phone | |||
| 3. Case file and forms | |||
| 4. Night calls | |||
| 5. Documents | |||
| 6. Quote and signature | |||
| 7. Invoices and funeral expenses | |||
| 8. Funeral home facilities | |||
| 9. Posters and obituaries | |||
| 10. Locations and permissions | |||
| 11. Privacy and backups | |||
| 12. Artificial intelligence | |||
| 13. Cost over three years | |||
| 14. Contract and exit | |||
| 15. Support | |||
| Total |
How to test funeral home software in a demo
- Bring a real case. A past funeral, with names and tax codes changed: have it redone from the first request to the invoice and count how many times the same data is typed again.
- Test the night. Have them simulate an unanswered call outside office hours and see what reaches the on-call phone.
- Ask to export your data. Open the file: if it is complicated in the demo, it will be just as complicated on the day you cancel.
- Bring the person who does the invoices. They see problems the owner does not.
- Before signing, get the documents: contract, data processing agreement, full quote and support terms.
How Refuneral answers
Refuneral is cloud management software with artificial intelligence for funeral homes, developed by Redergo, an Italian software house since 2019. In short:
- it runs in the browser, on PC and phone; data is kept on servers in the European Union, with nightly backups and tested restores, a change log and 4 permission levels;
- the case file produces the municipal forms already filled in; the family photographs the documents and the AI reads them, with a review before confirming;
- at night, if nobody answers, the assistant says it is automatic, collects the details and alerts the person on call, without giving prices;
- e-invoicing and the funeral expenses report are built in; funeral home facilities, posters and obituaries have their own modules;
- the AI prepares drafts and proposes data; texts, quotes and case data are always confirmed by a person;
- the price is per location, with modules enabled when you need them; setup, data import and training are included.
The expected result is up to 80% less time on paperwork, because data is written only once. Read more about features and pricing, or book a demo with one of your cases.
Sources
All accessed on 2 November 2026.
- Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate), information page on the funeral expenses report, in Italian
- Revenue Agency, how electronic invoices are stored, in Italian
- Revenue Agency, free services to prepare, send, store and view electronic invoices, in Italian
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), articles 28 and 32 and chapter V, official English text on EUR-Lex
