Audit which details a college canteen's loyalty form really needs

The canteen wants loyal customers, not a database. You are testing each field on the form against one question: what would the canteen actually do differently if it knew this? Anything without a clear use is a risk with no reward.

• What is the one decision the canteen wants to make with this data, such as who comes back on weekdays?
• Could a paper stamp card make that decision just as well, and what would it miss?
• If the sheet of forms were left on a table, which field would hurt a student most in a stranger's hands?
• Who at the canteen would read the forms, and where would they be kept?

A one-page table with one row per field, its possible use, the harm if it leaked, and a clear keep-or-drop verdict, followed by a short note on what the smallest useful form looks like and whether a stamp card is enough.

Keeping a field because it might be useful one day. A birthday feels harmless, but if the canteen has no plan to send a birthday treat, it is just one more detail to lose.

• A list of the fields on your imagined form: name, phone number, birthday, plus any others a real canteen might add
• Two or three loyalty cards or forms you have actually filled in at a shop or cafe, from memory or a photo of a blank one
• A short chat with a canteen worker or friend about how rewards are tracked today, if you can manage one

AI must not claim what a real canteen does with its data or quote what any law requires. The uses and harms in your table come from your own reasoning and what you saw, and the form itself is clearly labelled as imagined.

1. 3.1 Write the canteen's one decisionCLAUDE CHAT

   Why this tool: A short back-and-forth helps you pin down a single purpose before you judge any field against it.

   Describe the canteen and ask Claude to question you until the purpose fits in one sentence. Write that sentence at the top of your table.

   Prompt to copy · fill in the [brackets]Copy

   I am auditing a loyalty form for [your college canteen, in a few words]. It asks for name, phone number and birthday. Ask me up to five short questions, one at a time, to help me write in one sentence the decision the canteen wants to make with this data. Do not suggest the answer yourself.

2. 3.2 Build the field tableGOOGLE SHEETS

   Why this tool: A plain table keeps every field judged on the same four columns.

   One row per field. Columns: field, how it might help the decision, harm if a stranger read it, keep or drop. Fill every cell yourself before asking AI anything.

3. 3.3 Let Claude challenge each fieldCLAUDE CHAT

   Why this tool: Claude is good at asking 'why do you need this?' over and over, which is exactly the test each field must pass.

   Paste your table. Read each challenge and decide whether it is fair or ignores how a busy canteen really works. Change a verdict only if you agree.

   Prompt to copy · fill in the [brackets]Copy

   Here is my table of loyalty form fields, with uses, harms and my verdicts:
   [paste your table]
   The canteen's one decision is: [your sentence]. For each field, challenge my verdict in one or two lines. Ask what the canteen would do differently if it knew the answer. Do not invent facts about any real canteen.

4. 3.4 Write the closing noteCLAUDE CHAT

   Why this tool: Asking Claude to tighten your own draft keeps the judgement yours while making it read cleanly.

   Write three or four sentences on the smallest form that still works and whether a stamp card would do. Ask Claude only to point out unclear lines, then fix them yourself.

• Every kept field has a use that connects to the canteen's one decision
• The harm column names a real situation, such as a stranger messaging a student, not just 'privacy risk'
• You compared the final form with a stamp card and said honestly what the card misses
• Every challenge from Claude that changed a verdict is one you can explain in your own words
• Every cell in the table has a source you opened yourself
• Like is compared with like (same period, same unit)

AI tends to defend every field with a vague use such as 'personalised offers'. If a use does not lead to a specific action the canteen would take, treat it as no use.

• The one-decision sentence at the top
• A table row for every field with use, harm and verdict
• A closing note of a few sentences
• A line saying the form is imagined, not a real canteen's

One page: the decision sentence, the table with keep rows in one colour and drop rows in another, and the note at the bottom.

Say which field you dropped that most people would keep, and the question that convinced you. That shows you can think about data as a cost, not just a resource.