Projected headcount

A planning number for your guest list, people still in the collection inbox, and extra guests who might still be brought.

Projected headcount is a planning number on Analytics, under Operations. It starts from the people already on your guest list, then lets you add two kinds of people who are not on the list yet: guests still waiting in the collection inbox, and extra-guest spots that are still open.

Nothing you tick here is saved, and nobody is invited. Untick a box and the number goes back. The Ceremony and Reception cards further down the Analytics page stay the real guest list and the real response rate. The plan lives in Projected headcount: the big number, the RSVP bar under it, and the By function list.

What you can include

Three checkboxes. A box is shown only when it would change the number.

• "Guests from the collection inbox." Shown while contact collection is on and someone is waiting to be reviewed. It starts ticked. Those people count as no response, because you have not asked them to RSVP yet, and the same people are added to every function. The note under the total says the figure is not final, because you may still reject some of them. Collecting those details is covered in Collecting guest details with a QR code.
• "Count extra guests from those who haven't responded." Open extra-guest spots held by people whose reply is still outstanding.
• "Count extra guests from those who are tentative." Open extra-guest spots held by people who replied tentative (Maybe). The circled "i" beside this box opens the short version of the rules below.

Extra guests who would come with someone attending, or with someone who declined, are left out of this plan. A spot that has already been used is a named guest on your list, so it is not added again.

How an extra-guest spot is counted

The number of extra guests you allow is set on the group. With Shared RSVP on, that number is one pool for the whole group. With Shared RSVP off, each guest who is not themselves an extra guest has their own pool. Plus-ones are covered in Groups, shared RSVPs, and plus-ones.

Each open spot is counted once in the total.

In By function, that same spot is counted again on every function the people who could bring them are already invited to:

• In a shared group, that is every function anyone in the group is invited to.
• For everyone else, that is the functions that guest is invited to.

Two people on the same function still produce one spot for a shared pool. A person who is also invited somewhere the others are not adds that same spot on the extra function. Add the function rows together and you will count one person twice. The total does not.

A function receives the spot under a checkbox only when the strongest reply on that function matches the box. The total uses the strongest reply the group has given anywhere. Attending outweighs tentative, tentative outweighs no reply yet, and no reply yet outweighs declined.

When a guest later adds the extra person for real, that person is invited to the functions of whoever adds them. The projection is wider than that on purpose: it shows every function the group already touches, so you can see where the spot might land before anyone has added a name.

Alice and Bob

Alice and Bob are in one group. Shared RSVP is on, and the group is allowed one extra guest. Nobody has used that spot yet.

Alice is invited to the Ceremony and the Reception. Bob is invited to the Ceremony only. Both have replied tentative.

Your guest list is the two of them. Before you tick anything, Projected headcount shows:

• Total: 2
• Tentative: 2
• Ceremony: 2
• Reception: 1

Tick "Count extra guests from those who are tentative". The card then shows:

• Total: 3
• Tentative: 3
• Ceremony: 2 now → 3
• Reception: 1 now → 2

The total increases by 1 because the group has one shared spot, and the total counts that person once.

Ceremony increases by 1, and Reception increases by 1, because Alice is invited to both the Ceremony and the Reception. The spot is counted on every function someone in the group is invited to. Bob is invited to the Ceremony as well, but the group shares one pool, so Ceremony still increases by 1 rather than by one for Alice and one for Bob. Reception increases by 1 because Alice is on it. Bob's absence from the Reception does not remove that spot, and it does not add a second one.

Both functions take the spot from this checkbox because the strongest reply on each of them is tentative. On Ceremony that is Alice and Bob together. On Reception that is Alice alone.

If neither of them had replied yet, those same increases would appear when you tick "Count extra guests from those who haven't responded", and the tentative box would leave the numbers where they are. If Bob had not replied and Alice had, Alice's tentative reply would still be the strongest, and the tentative box would show the same figures: total 3, tentative 3, Ceremony 3, Reception 2.

When their replies differ

Suppose Bob changes his Ceremony reply to attending, and Alice stays tentative on both functions. Attending outweighs tentative, so the group's strongest reply is attending.

This group's spot is no longer tentative, so the tentative checkbox does not add it. If Alice and Bob are the only people with an open spot, that checkbox disappears. The total stays 2, Ceremony stays 2, and Reception stays 1. There is no checkbox for extra guests of people who are attending, or of people who declined, so the spot stays out of the plan until the reply that leads it changes.

If they did not share RSVP

Leave the same invitations and the same tentative replies, but turn Shared RSVP off and allow one extra guest each. Alice and Bob then have a spot each.

Tick the tentative box and the card shows:

• Total: 4
• Tentative: 4
• Ceremony: 2 now → 4
• Reception: 1 now → 2

The total increases by 2, one spot for Alice and one for Bob.

Ceremony increases by 2 because each of them is invited to it, and each has their own spot. Reception increases by 1 because only Alice is invited to it, so only Alice's spot is counted there.

The collection inbox

The inbox box is separate from extra guests. Say four people are waiting to be reviewed, and Alice and Bob are still the whole guest list. With "Guests from the collection inbox" ticked, which is how it starts, the total is 6. Ceremony goes from 2 to 6, and Reception goes from 1 to 5. Those four people are added to every function, including a function this group is not invited to. They count as no response.

Tick the tentative box as well and the extra guest from the shared group is added on top. The total is 7, Ceremony goes from 2 to 7, and Reception goes from 1 to 6. Untick the inbox and you are back to the Alice and Bob figures, with the one possible extra guest still included.