# What Lethra is

> How a case moves through Lethra from the first call to a closed file, which part of the platform handles each step, and what the nine case stages mean.

Lethra is one workspace for the whole of a funeral case: the family, the
paperwork, the schedule, and the dozens of small follow-ups in between. Instead of a case living across a notebook, a shared mailbox and three
folders on a desktop, it lives in one file that everyone in your firm can see.

This page is the map. It explains the shape of a case, names every part of the
platform, and points you at the guide for each one.

## The shape of a case

Almost every case follows the same path, whatever the family chooses.

1. **A call comes in.** Often out of hours. Lethra can answer, take the
   essentials and open a record so nothing is lost before you get to it.
2. **You open a case.** One record for the deceased, with the family contacts,
   the key dates and the service you are arranging.
3. **The admin starts.** Documents to gather, declarations to file, suppliers to
   confirm. Lethra keeps this as a list of real tasks rather than a memory
   exercise.
4. **The family talks to you.** Mostly by email. Every message sits on the case,
   so anyone picking it up sees the full conversation.
5. **The service is scheduled.** Viewing, ceremony, burial or cremation, with the
   people and places attached.
6. **The file closes.** Everything stays searchable, so a question two years
   later takes a minute instead of an afternoon.

## The nine stages

Every case carries a **status**, which is how you and your colleagues know where
it stands at a glance. These are the stages a case moves through.

(Screenshot: The top of a case: the name and dates, Invite Family, and the stages from First Call to Aftercare, with Arrangements Confirmed selected.)

| Stage | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| First Call | The death has been reported to you. Often only a name and a phone number so far. |
| Arrangement Conference | You are sitting down with the family to decide what happens. |
| Arrangements Confirmed | The family has decided. The shape of the funeral is now fixed. |
| In Care | The deceased is in your care. |
| Pending Documents | You are waiting on paperwork before something else can move. |
| Service Scheduled | Date, time and place are set. |
| Service Complete | The funeral has taken place. |
| Aftercare | The service is done, but the file is not. Ashes, follow-up. |
| Closed | Everything is finished. The file stays searchable. |

You set the status by hand, and you can move backwards as easily as forwards.
Nothing is locked. Your firm's list of stages is part of your company settings,
so if your own process uses different names, the stages can follow it.

## The parts of the platform

Down the left of the screen are seven places. That is the whole navigation, and it
does not change from firm to firm.

(Screenshot: The Lethra sidebar, showing Assistant, Cases, Inbox, Contacts, Meeting Notes, Growth and Documents, with Cases selected.)

- **Assistant** is where you land when you sign in. Lethra's chat, for questions
  about a case or about your firm.
- **Cases** is where your cases live. One record per deceased person. This is where
  you will spend most of your time.
- **Inbox** is everything that needs a person: drafts to approve, questions from
  the agent, families to call back. The conversations themselves live on each
  case.
- **Contacts** is one list of everyone your funeral home deals with: families,
  people planning ahead, enquiries and newsletter subscribers.
- **Meeting Notes** keeps notes from arrangement conferences and other meetings.
- **Growth** covers the commercial side: the people who have been in touch, where
  they came from, and the campaigns you are running.
- **Documents** holds your templates and the files generated from them.

Underneath sit **Your Company**, for the firm's settings and your team, and
**Your Account**, for your sign-in email and your own connections, such as your
calendar and your Gmail.

Phone calls, leads and ad campaigns all exist, but they are reached from inside
Growth and from the cases they belong to rather than from their own place in the
sidebar.

> **Note:** A note on words. A **case** is one record per deceased person: the funeral you
> are arranging. A **lead** is a family who has been in touch or started a plan,
> listed under **Growth**, and becomes a case once you take on the funeral.
> **Contacts** is the list of everyone your funeral home deals with, whatever
> their role.
## Who sees what

There are two completely separate ways into Lethra.

**Your team** signs in at the staff sign-in and sees everything above.
Colleagues join by invitation.

**Families** sign in to the **Family Portal**, which is a different door
entirely. A family sees only their own case, and only the parts you have chosen
to share. They never see your inbox, your other cases, your internal notes or
your numbers. See [Sharing with the family](/docs/getting-started/family-portal/).

## Where to go next

If you are new, read these in order.

1. [Signing in and your workspace](/docs/getting-started/signing-in/)
2. [Creating your first case](/docs/getting-started/first-case/)
3. [Working with the agent](/docs/getting-started/the-agent/)
4. [The inbox](/docs/getting-started/the-inbox/)
5. [Sharing with the family](/docs/getting-started/family-portal/)

Source: https://lethra.ai/docs/getting-started/what-lethra-is/