FUNNEL ENQUIRY PAUSE AND REOPEN WORKSHEET
Companion: Plan when your enquiry funnel should pause and reopen

Purpose: plan a deliberate acceptance decision before inviting a new request.
This does not implement a pause switch, counter, waitlist or integration. It
does not establish working CFAI behavior or change product/publication gates.
All four fictional examples are NOT RUN. Customer details do not belong here.

1. CHOOSE THE INTAKE AND RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE

Service / project / intended product:
Exact page and receiving route covered:
Other known links/embeds to that intake:
Excluded services / support / existing CF2 routes:
Decision owner:
Backup who has agreed to take responsibility:
Who can make the authorized implementation change:
Who verifies the receiving result:
System-of-record location for existing enquiries (no customer data):
Existing-enquiry owner:

2. DEFINE THE DECISION BASIS

Review window (start/end, dates and timezone):
Unit of work (for example initial review, not booking):
Limit or explicit owner decision rule:
Basis for that limit / who confirmed it / when:
Work already committed within that same window:
Nominal remaining amount, if counts are meaningful:
Other capacity constraints / unknowns:
Owner available and backup accepted?:
Pause trigger:
Reopen conditions:
Authority to decide:
Next internal review (exact date/time/timezone):
Public return time (only if separately confirmed; otherwise UNKNOWN):

An internal review time is not a reopening promise. Nominal spare capacity does
not establish an owner, receiving behavior or permission to open the route.

3. FOUR FICTIONAL CASES — PINE DESK GARDEN DESIGN

Invented business/people/workload. Three initial enquiry reviews per review
window is an illustrative internal limit, not a benchmark or CFAI product limit.
Mina is the decision owner; Jules is the proposed backup. A review is not a
confirmed appointment, accepted project or promised response time.

A01 — Capacity available, verification pending
Committed: 2 of 3 reviews. Nominal remaining: 3 - 2 = 1.
Mina available. Receiving checks unperformed.
Decision: Plan to accept only after owner capacity confirmation and passing
receiving checks. No live acceptance claimed.
Execution result: NOT RUN

A02 — Deliberate pause, no confirmed return
Committed: 3 of 3 reviews. Nominal remaining: 3 - 3 = 0.
No next window confirmed.
Decision: Plan a pause for new enquiries; no invented return date.
Proposed page copy: New garden-design enquiries are paused. We have not set a
reopening date.
Existing enquiries: Keep their responsible owner and record location.
Execution result: NOT RUN

A03 — Proposed next window, reopen check unfinished
Committed: 1 of 3 reviews. Nominal remaining: 3 - 1 = 2.
Mina available. Reopen check unfinished.
Decision: Keep paused pending receiving check and owner approval.
Internal decision appointment: Tuesday morning, with exact date/time/timezone
to be filled for real use. This is not a public reopening time.
Conditional next decision: Reopen only if current capacity, owner, receiving
behavior and page copy are checked and approved by the authorized owner.
Execution result: NOT RUN

A04 — No responsible reviewer
Committed: 0 of 3 reviews. Nominal remaining: 3 - 0 = 3.
Mina absent. Jules has not accepted backup responsibility.
Decision: Keep paused until responsibility is accepted and other conditions pass.
Do not infer capacity from the count alone.
Execution result: NOT RUN

4. WRITE THE STATE MESSAGES FOR YOUR OWN INTAKE

State: ACCEPTING (proposed until verified)
Known facts and date checked:
Proposed invitation / next-step wording:
Receiving behavior required to support those words:
Fact and implementation owner:

State: PAUSED — RETURN TIME UNKNOWN
Known reason / facts checked:
Proposed concise pause message:
Any confirmed route for existing enquiries:
Who owns that route and has confirmed it works?:
What must not be promised?:

State: PAUSED — CONFIRMED RETURN PLAN, IF ANY
Confirmed return time, date and timezone, or UNKNOWN:
Basis / owner for that statement:
Proposed message:
Who changes it if the return plan changes?:

State: REOPEN REVIEW PENDING
Internal review date/time/timezone:
Unfinished condition:
Next question / person responsible:
Visitor message while still paused:

Do not add an email alternative, waitlist, automatic notification, retained
drafts, “fully booked” or response-time promise without an approved real process
and factual basis. Do not display an internal check-in as a public return time.

5. RECEIVING BOUNDARY POLICY

Exact routes covered by the pause:
What happens to a form loaded before the pause but submitted afterward?:
Approved policy (accept for review / clearly decline / unresolved):
Implementation owner and proof required:
How a saved request is distinguished from failed or unknown receipt:
What the visitor should be told for each actual result:
What happens to enquiries received during the change:
Existing-enquiry record location and owner (no personal data):
Who reconciles transition records:
Unresolved issue / escalation owner:

Removing a button is not proof that the receiver stops accepting requests.
Existing enquiries are not cancelled or deleted by this planning decision.
Do not blindly resubmit if receipt is unknown.

6. AUTHORIZED CHECK LOG — COPY FOR EACH CHECK

Check ID and expected state:
Environment / exact route / approved synthetic case:
Permission and receiving owner confirmed:
Check time/timezone:
Expected page message:
Expected receiving behavior:
Actual page result: NOT RUN
Actual receiving result: NOT RUN
Evidence reference (no customer data):
Mismatch / question:
Reviewer / next owner / next action:

Planned checks, all NOT RUN until executed:
- Fresh visit during the pause: agreed page message and receiver behavior.
- Form opened before pause, submitted afterward: approved boundary policy.
- Known old link/embed: included behavior or explicitly documented exclusion.
- Authorized reopen: current message and agreed receiving result both checked.

7. REOPEN DECISION RECORD

[ ] Current workload checked in the correct review window.
[ ] Decision owner available or backup responsibility explicitly accepted.
[ ] Receiving implementation and agreed checks have actual evidence.
[ ] Page wording matches the approved state and known next step.
[ ] Existing and transition enquiries retain responsible owners.
[ ] Unresolved issues have a named owner; none silently marked complete.

Decision: KEEP PAUSED / APPROVE AUTHORIZED REOPEN / UNRESOLVED
Decision maker / date/time/timezone:
Evidence used:
Authorized change owner:
Post-change evidence:
Next internal review:

Sources (design/technical guidance, not product behavior):
https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/service-unavailable-pages/
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Form_validation