The cemetery is more than just a place of remembrance and rest. It is a complex ecosystem in which a multitude of different players and data streams come together. From information about green spaces to data about the deceased, graves, trees, tasks, dates and costs – the diversity and complexity of the data that comes together in a cemetery is remarkable.
Over the past few years, PBSGEO has developed 14 different interfaces for the common cemetery programs alone. So it was time to create a standardized solution that simplifies and optimizes data exchange with these programs. The answer to this challenge comes in the form of friedhof.api. This interface technology, developed by PBSGEO, is more than just a combination of various interfaces – it represents a generalization that standardizes the handling of cemetery data.
What exactly is friedhof.api?
It is an advanced interface based on REST technology. This means that communication between systems is based on a standardized and user-friendly protocol that enables information to be exchanged and processed efficiently.
Another key aspect of friedhof.api is its security. Integrated with Auth0, a leading provider of identity and access management, the interface is robustly secured. This ensures that only authorised individuals or systems have access to the cemetery data, thus protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the information.
PBSGEO’s innovative interface, friedhof.api, has not only created a solution for cemetery programs, but has also opened a door to seamlessly interconnect a variety of other programs and applications. This interface not only provides access to cemetery data, but expands its scope to include green space management programs, undertaker programs, accounting systems, mourning portals, and much more.
But what does this mean in concrete terms for the actors in the cemetery?
Grave and deceased data can be shared very easily and can be accessed via mobile devices in the cemetery. This allows the cemetery administration to decide whether the data should only be used internally or shared with external parties such as the trades, citizens and survivors. At first, the cemetery administrations were reluctant to publish deceased data on the Internet. It is now clear that many administrations are already publishing the data on the Internet, or at least are planning to do so soon.
The advantage is obvious: the quality of service provided by the cemetery administrators to their customers is significantly increased, but at the same time the workload is reduced, as survivors and trades can call up grave and deceased information on their own in the online information service.
Online Calender Appoint
Another example of the successful integration of friedhof.api is the online calendar Appoint, which complements the PBSGEO software ecosystem as a funeral calendar.
Appointt is a customizable calendar platform that can be configured specifically for use in public administrations. The structure of Appointt allows integration with existing organisations to help coordinate appointments such as funerals, weddings, citizen consultations or vacation planning for employees. Using Appointt, workspaces can be organized and calendars can be easily shared with team members. The calendar view keeps users in control of their appointments, allowing them to create, edit and delete them as needed. Various view options and the ability to customize appointments with colors and patterns provide additional customization options for: In order to represent individual management processes, Appointt enables users to intervene in different system points in order to optimize and automate processes. For example, users have the option to set rules so that appointments are only created if certain criteria are met. There is also the option for customers to design their own appointment form to receive only the information they need for that purpose. The integration of Appointt into PBSGEO’s systems enables the implementation of an online funeral reservation system. Appoint is an excellent example of how the intelligent interface technology of friedhof.api can be used: in combination with online grave reservation, a grave can be selected and reserved online according to certain criteria. The next step is to: to reserve the selected grave a suitable burial date, also online.
This makes it possible to digitize and optimize collaboration between undertakers and cemetery administrators a further step. This helps to significantly reduce time-consuming coordination processes and ensure efficient coordination of funerals, even outside regular opening hours.
Source: Friedhofskultur, January 2024
