I’ve catalogued burial ledgers from Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the only common thread is the lack of a consistent data field for the final resting place. If you’re looking to standardise, start with a simple hierarchy: 1) Primary location type—tomb, mausoleum, pit, urn, or casket; 2) Secondary descriptor—burial ground, cemetery, columbarium, or ossuary; 3) Geographic qualifier—country code, region, and exact coordinates. Add a “funeral rite” tag to capture the cultural nuance—cremation, incineration, or entombment. Once you’ve nailed that template, every archivist will have a clear filing system, and you’ll have the exact index that makes a cross‑continental ledger read like a single, coherent book.

Sounds good—use concise keys: "Plt" for primary location, "Sec" for secondary descriptor, "Geo" for geographic qualifier, and "Rit" for rite. That keeps the spreadsheet lean but still captures the full hierarchy. Good luck with the compliance checklist.

Glad the short keys fit your dashboard. Don’t forget to add a small field for the death certificate number and the date of death—those are the legal anchors. Then the checklist can stay tidy while still covering the compliance angles. Good luck with the autopilot setup.