Tracking - Cremation Body Tracking

Tracking Codes

Each case that will be moved through the tracking process must be assigned a unique Tracking/QR code.   Your system can be configured by Halcyon to automatically assign a sequential Tracking Code when a case is added OR you may prefer to assign a Tracking Code for each case.  When your system is configured by Halcyon you will tell us if you want to enter tracking codes for each case or if you want them auto-assigned.  You may change your tracking code assignment preference at any time by contacting Technical Support.

If you are configured to have your Tracking Codes auto-assigned, a Tracking Code will be assigned to a case when you add the case or if you have a Trade Partner that is using the Partner Portal feature to add requests. 

If you do not have your Tracking Codes configured to auto-assign you may enter them when the case is added or on the Overview screen for the case.

Screen Controls

Click the gear icon to toggle between grid/list view and show/hide empty locations.

Locations will be color-coded to designate their status.

Search

There is a search option a the top of the Tracking screen to help you quickly locate a case.  This can be especially helpful if you have quite a few cases in progress. 
 

Display Order

You can choose the display order of the bodies on the Tracking screen.
 

There are several options to choose from such as Due Date, Weight, etc...  The selected order will be the order that all users see but it can be changed at any time.

Tracking Basics

Halcyon's crematory management tracking has crematory processing steps and locations within those steps. As part of your initial configuration, you tell Halcyon what are your processing steps and the locations are within your processing steps.  The crematory's processing steps are shown across the top of the screen.

The processing steps can be very detailed or less detailed. There is a trade off between simplicity and control. 

Locations will be highlighted in green if the cases in that location are able to be moved. Blue locations designate empty, available locations. Click the gear icon to select whether you want to show/hide empty locations. You will be unable to move cases in locations that are highlighted in red (which indicates that the case is currently on Admin Hold or Location Lock (see the Client Maintenance and Location Lock Out sections of this help manual for more information on these topics) or if there is a required checklist that is incomplete.

Click on a step's name on the top of the Tracking Overview screen to jump to that step.

The number of occupied locations in a step will display next to its name in the green box. Clicking the arrow in the top-right corner of a step will collapse/expand it.

The Ready for Reception step is a pseudo-step where cases go that have been enabled for cremation tracking but not yet received. The Ready for Reception step cannot be removed, but you can contact Halcyon customer support to request the step be renamed to one of your choosing. 

The first processing step and the last processing step have an unlimited number of cases and there is no specific location for bodies. Every processing step between the first and last may have specific locations named OR you may be configured to have an unlimited number of cases in no specific location. If you do give specific location names they must be unique; they cannot be the same between processing steps.

Receive a Case

A decedent can be received directly when added (see Case/Add) or later from either client summary (See Case/Overview) or the tracking screen. You will be prompted to scan the Decedent QR code, after which you may click "Receive Decedent" to continue. The case will now be in the next step.

Pet Fast Track

Pet systems can utilize a feature called Pet Fast Track to speed up their Tracking process.  With Pet Fast Track, users are only required to scan into locations on the Tracking screen. Admin can enable it here at anytime (there is no need to move your pets out of Tracking first): Admin > Tracking Maintenance > Pet Fast Track Maintenance

Step Detail

Your tracking system can be setup for details. This is a way to have some segregation of decedents or pets for different processing, statuses or different locations.  
 

Halcyon must turn on the option for Step Details as part of your configuration but you may maintain the detail options for a step via the Admin menu.  The values for step details are specific to a step; the step detail value does not transfer to the next step when you move a body.  The Step Detail in the image below is Cold Room.  Clicking on a step detail link will allow you to change the value to another value in the step's detail list. 

Step details may be used however you wish; however, you may not use step details on your cremation/aquamation step if your cremation/aquamation step is configured to allow multiple bodies in one location.

Checklist

The checklist icon will open the checklist associated with that processing step. You may check these boxes to indicate that they have been completed. The date, time, and user who made the changes will be recorded for chain-of-custody purposes. See the Tracking Checklists section of this manual for more information on maintaining these checklists.

Mandatory Hold Time
 

When you configure your checklists you may optionally set a mandatory hold time that must expire before the body can be moved into the Cremation/Aquamation/NOR step.   See the checklist maintenance help article for more information.
 

Move a Case

Click the move decedent icon (arrow) to move a case. You will be prompted to scan the tracking ID (aka case QR code) and location, after which you can click "Move Decedent". You will then be prompted to scan the tracking ID/QR code again and enter the destination location. Click "Move Decedent" again to finish moving the case.

Multi-pet Processing
 

If your cremation or aquamation location has been configured to allow multiple pets to be cremated at one time the movement of pets through the cremation/aquamation step is different to allow for multi-pet processing.  If you are configured for multi-pet, your location will have a down arrow/ "load" icon. 

Click the arrow/load icon to add your pets to the location.  You will need to enter the tracking code and the placement for each pet and then click the Add button.  The placement can be what ever you like, such as, Left, Center, Bottom Left, etc..  You can add communal pets to the same placement location and they will be processed as a lot.

Pet Crematories can distinguish between private cremations and communal cremations. When a communal cremation is placed into a crematory unit that can handle multiple bodies then a lot is automatically created. The lot number is automatically generated by Halcyon.  You may not mix cremation types within a lot.

There are two options to add more pets the a lot.  If you wish to add another pet to a pre-existing lot click the green plus sign next to the pet that is currently in the lot you would like the next pet to be added to.  The Placement field will auto-fill.  Scan in the Tracking code for the pet and click the green Add button.

If you want to add a pet to a different lot you should add the pet by entering in the tracking code and placement and clicking the green "Add" button in the blue data entry area.

If you need to pause a load you can click the "Pause Load" button.  This will allow you to perform other operations and come back later to finish loading your location.

Click the Start Processing button when you are ready. You will be required to confirm your request to start processing since once you start processing you may not add any more pets to the location.

The image below shows that Unit #1 is in progress and Unit #2 is in the loading process.

When the cremation/aquamation process is complete, click the down/"unload" arrow.  If a checklist has been configured for this step you will need to complete it before the pet(s) can be unloaded.  You will see the "Move" arrow when the cremains can be unloaded.

The image below shows the screen after the move arrow was clicked.  Enter the next tracking location for this pet or communal lot and then click the green Move button.  Just as with the load process, you can click the Pause Unload button if you need to Pause the unload process.

Trade Partner Multiple Release
 

If there are bodies that are Ready for Release from one or more trade partners in the Ready for Release step you will see a drop down at the top of the Ready for Release step.

Upon selection a dialog box will appear listing all of the cases that are ready for release for that trade partner.  Check off the bodies you would like to release.  After your selections, you will be asked to confirm your choice.  Note that any information such as the container and who the cremated remains will be release to should have been previously entered since you will not have the opportunity to enter the data as you would if you were releasing the bodies individually.  If necessary you can always visit the Overview screen and enter the information.

Communal Pet Release Settings
 

When your system is initially configured communal cases can have a default system setup to be auto-released when cremation/aquamation is complete.  This is because typically communal cases are not returned and it saves some work for the crematory operators.  If you prefer to track your communal cases through any remaining steps and release simply contact us and we will enable detailed lot tracking for you.

Special Option for Pets 
 

If you do not have any checklist items for your cremation/aquamation step AND the immediate next step after Cremation/Aquamation is Ready for Release you will see the option to "Unload All" all pets in the unit.   Clicking and confirming your choice for Unload All will move all Private pets out of the unit and into the Ready for Release step. 

If you have Detailed Lot Tracking enabled (see paragraph above) you will see each pet in your communal lot(s) in Ready for Release step and you will be able to Release each individual pet you previously added into a Lot.

By default, Detailed Lot Tracking is NOT enabled so when you click and confirm Unload All your communal pets will be auto-released and they will not appear in the Ready for Release step.

It is not required that you use the Unload All option.  It simply provides for a quick way to move multiple pets into Ready for Release with a single click if you don't need completion of a cremation checklist.

Remove a Case from Tracking

To enable crematory operators to remove a body from the tracking process at any point prior to entering the cremation/aquamation process, enable the option in Admin > Tracking Maintenance > Removal Authorization Setting. If you do not authorize this function then all removals from tracking must be performed by users with Administrative access via the Case Maintenance option in the Administrative menu. If Tracking Removal Authorization has been enabled, a small "X" will appear in entries on the Tracking screen that will enable you to remove the body from tracking. You will then be required to select a reason for removal from tracking. The items that appear in this dropdown list are maintained via your Admin panel under Tracking Removal Reasons.

Messages

You can send email messages to contacts or trade partners for cases in the Ready for Release tracking step. Click the message icon for the desired client to send a message.

 

Select whether you want to send your message to a contact or the case's trade partner (if relevant). If you have case contacts with email addresses set up, you will be able to select them from a dropdown list. If there are no contacts with email addresses associated with the case, you will have the option to click an "Add/Edit Contact" button that will take you to the case's contacts tab.

Once you have selected the recipient for your message, you will have the option to select from your list of available templates under a dropdown menu. Note that you will only see templates available based on case type and recipient type- visit the Message Template help section for more information.
Alternatively, you can type your message from scratch by clicking "Preview Message" to continue to next screen where you can enter text.

Select an email address to designate for replies and to copy on the message.  The reply to will list the email of the currently logged in user as well as any and all email addresses you have entered under Admin > Company Maintenance >Company Information.

Click "Preview Message" to view a preview of your message before sending and edit if desired. 

Any data tags used in your message template that do not have information to fill with (see example above) will trigger a warning message so you can fill that information in or erase the tag if desired before sending the message. Once you click "Send Message", you will receive a notification informing you of a successful send.

Email message details will appear in your note/messaging history on the case overview screen.