Convert a Gift Choice Menu into Approved Variant Requests

At a gift-menu decision point, count each recipient’s current authorized selection once and keep unanswered cases visible. A notebook choice followed by an accepted change to a tote creates one current tote request. An unanswered invitation creates no choice to count unless the programme owner has separately established and approved an applicable rule.

Use a recipient-choice state and final-variant request ledger for the named campaign. Its purpose is to turn the actual menu responses into a request the buyer can review. It does not reserve stock, guarantee the selected gifts or place an order.

Fix the menu and the decision point

Identify the menu version participants were offered, the gift variants it described and the programme’s approved choice conditions. State whether the invitation allows one gift, an explicit no-gift response or another arrangement. If the terms are unclear, resolve them before interpreting a response as a procurement instruction.

Record the buyer’s chosen cutoff with its date, time and time zone where relevant. Also record how changes received near or after that point will be considered and who can decide exceptions. There is no universal cutoff period. The actual decision should reflect the programme’s approved arrangements and confirmed purchasing constraints.

Keep an offered option connected to its full relevant variant. If the menu distinguished notebook colours or tote designs, retain those identities. A later summary labelled only “notebooks” may conceal selections that need separate supplier confirmation. Do not infer a new variant from a vague reply or substitute a different option because it looks similar.

Resolve the current choice without erasing the earlier one

Use one stable programme key per eligible selection record through the agreed process. The key helps connect a change to its earlier choice; it does not establish that a real record is anonymous. A forwarded message and the original response may describe the same choice, so establish the relationship before counting both.

For each change, preserve the earlier selection, the requested replacement and the decision accepting the change under the programme’s rules. A later timestamp alone does not settle an ambiguous response. Ask the authorized choice owner to resolve whether the message is a replacement, a question or an additional request outside the menu.

When a change is accepted, place the new selection in the current column and the old one in the superseded column. Only the current selection contributes to the proposed variant request. Retaining the earlier value supports review; it does not create a second gift entitlement.

Work the thirty-person notebook-and-tote case

Everything in this example is fictional. Assume an approved programme offers one gift to each of 30 participants. Before the decision point, its record contains 18 confirmed notebook selections, seven confirmed tote selections and five unanswered cases. One notebook chooser then requests a tote, and the fictional programme owner accepts that change before finalizing the request.

The grouped rows below summarize distinct synthetic keys. They are not extra recipient records to add to the underlying list.

Notebook requests become 18 − 1 = 17. Tote requests become 7 + 1 = 8. The accepted change leaves 17 + 8 = 25 current selections, with five unanswered cases still visible. Together, 25 selected plus five unresolved accounts for all 30 participants in this teaching example.

Counting C18’s old notebook as well as the new tote would create 26 gift requests from 25 current choosers. Assigning notebooks to the five unanswered cases would instead create a 22-notebook and eight-tote mix that the stated choices never authorized. Neither adjustment follows from the record.

The result is a request for review comprising 17 notebooks and eight totes, plus five unresolved cases. It is not evidence that those variants are in stock or that 25 units must be newly purchased. Actual supply and the buyer’s purchase authorization remain separate.

Give unanswered and exceptional cases their own decision

Distinguish “no response received” from an explicit selection of “no gift,” if that option exists in the approved programme. Also distinguish a response that cannot be interpreted from one awaiting the owner’s acceptance. A blank cell cannot safely stand for all three.

The owner may decide to seek clarification, leave a case outside this request or apply a separately approved programme rule. Record that actual decision and its scope. Do not invent a default to make the total equal the invitation count. Silence supplies no notebook or tote preference.

If a change arrives after a request has been sent for quotation, preserve it as a pending amendment until the owner decides how to treat it. Establish the current commitment state before promising that a revision can be accommodated. An internal choice correction does not establish a supplier’s acceptance, cancel an existing order or guarantee a replacement gift.

Keep the purchasing summary limited and usable

A provider preparing a variant quote may need the approved variant counts and specifications without needing the people behind them. Use that limited summary where it is sufficient and arrange any necessary recipient-level transfer separately with the authorized contact.

The ICO’s UK data-minimisation guidance relates the information held to the purpose and notes that its guidance is under review. It is bounded background, not evidence of lawful sharing or a compliance assessment for this programme. This worksheet does not create permission to reuse or send a recipient list.

Before passing the summary onward, ask the programme owner to confirm the menu version, current choices, accepted changes and unresolved cases. Give the purchasing owner that approved basis and ask which actual offer can meet it. If the offered variant differs from the menu, return the difference for a decision rather than silently rewriting recipients’ choices.

The promotional gifts guide covers the broader stages after the request is defined. For a gift quote enquiry, provide the approved variant summary, intended campaign and open option questions without sending recipient spreadsheets. A completed choice ledger makes the request traceable; the commercial commitment still needs its own confirmed scope and approval.