In AutoRFP.ai, an Intake is the optional first step that lets your sales or SME team submit an RFP or security questionnaire for triage before it's committed to a full Project.
While in Intake, the record sits in a separate workflow (Pending → Approved → Created, or Rejected → Archived).
On submission AutoRFP also runs Project Analysis against the uploaded files — an AI pass that surfaces scope, compliance, commercial terms, and any analysis categories you've configured — so reviewers can decide quickly whether to take it on.
Intakes can be created manually from the dashboard or pushed in automatically from Salesforce.
Enabling Intakes
Intakes are gated by the intakes organization feature flag (available for Admin under Organization → Feature Flags ).
In that screen enable:
projectAnalysis— runs the AI Project Analysis automatically on every intake's uploaded files once configured
If you integrate with Salesforce a related toggle worth enabling at the same time:
Intake Team — under Account → Teams, mark one or more teams as an "Intake Team". When intakes arrive from Salesforce (or any external source) without an assigned project owner, the Teams are auto-assigned.
Creating an Intake
From your dashboard, click Intake or from the Intake module click on + New
1. Upload RFP Files:
Drag and drop, or browse to upload. Supported formats:
Word (.docx) and Excel (.xlsx): previewed inline as HTML.
PDF: stored and downloadable.
ZIP: uploaded as-is; unzip after creating the project.
You can add more files while the intake is Pending. Once Approved, Rejected, or Archived, the file list is read-only.
Auto-fill on upload
AutoRFP runs an AI pass over your files and pre-fills:
Project Name (from the document, max 30 chars)
Customer Name
Project Description (1 to 2 sentences)
Edit any of them before approving. Empty if nothing is found, never guessed.
With projectAnalysis enabled, the same upload also starts the full Project Analysis in the background (1 to 2 minutes).
2. Fill in the missing details not populated by AI:
Project Name (Required): Name to identify this opportunity
Customer Name (Required): Organization issuing the RFP
Project Due Date (Required): Timeline for the RFP
Project Owner: Person overseeing the RFP response
Customer Owner: Person tracking customer updates
Description: Any additional context or notes
Value: deal/opportunity amount. If your org has Show Values in Millions enabled, this displays in $M.
CRM Link: paste the Salesforce / HubSpot / other CRM URL; renders as a clickable link on the intake for easy access
3. Click Create
Managing Intakes
Navigate between different Intake states or search for keywords.
The sidebar exposes four tabs plus filter controls. Switch between tabs to see intakes in any of the following states:
All: any of the following states.
Pending: new intakes awaiting review. Inline edits auto-save.
Approved: accepted but not yet imported into a Project.
Created: accepted and imported; the underlying Project is now active.
Rejected: declined, with a categorized reason.
Archived: closed-out and stored.
Search matches intake name, customer/issuer, project owners, and customer owners. Toggle My Intakes to limit the list to intakes where you're a creator, owner, or contributor (admins only see this toggle — non-admins are already restricted to their own intakes).
Available Actions
Action availability depends on the intake's current state:
State | Available actions |
Pending | Edit, Reject, Approve, Approve & Create Project |
Approved | Revert to Pending, Create Project |
Created | Open Project |
Rejected | Archive, Revert to Pending |
Archived | Restore (back to Pending) |
Edit: only in Pending. Auto-saves as you go.
Reject: pick one of five categories (Poor Strategic Fit, Low Win Probability, Insufficient Resources, Unfavorable Terms, Unrealistic Timeline) plus an optional comment.
Approve: blocked while any required custom field is empty. Tooltip lists what's missing.
Approve & Create Project: approves and jumps straight into the import wizard.
Create Project: take an approve intake through the project creation flow
Revert to Pending: sends an Approved or Rejected intake back for another look.
Archive: closes out a Rejected intake.
Restore: brings an Archived intake back to Pending
Open Project: jumps to the Project created from this intake.
After Approving an Intake
Approving an intake does not automatically create the Project — it just flips the intake status to Approved and notifies project owners. The actual import is a separate step:
A project owner clicks Create Project (or the original reviewer uses the Approve & Create Project shortcut to do both in one go).
The Create RFP wizard opens, pre-filled from the intake: files, owners, contributors, tags, milestones, custom fields, value, CRM link.
The owner walks through Project Details → File Selection → Import.
Once import completes, the underlying RFP transitions from
intaketo Active. The intake itself stays visible under the Created state, linking to the new project.
Notifications
AutoRFP keeps the right people in the loop without anyone having to chase updates. Three things trigger notifications, sent by email and also via Slack or Microsoft Teams if your org has them connected:
New intake submitted: project owners get notified so they know there's something to review.
Intake ready for import: once an intake is approved, project owners are told it's ready to turn into a Project.
Intake rejected: customer owners are told it was declined, along with the reason, so they can follow up with the customer if needed.
Prefer fewer pings? Each person can turn off any of these notifications, per channel, in their personal notification settings.
If you use Slack, your Daily Digest also includes a "Your Intakes" section listing the intakes you own, right alongside your active projects.
Permissions
Out of the box, everyone on your team (Admins, Content Managers, and Users) can create intakes, edit them while they're Pending, and move them through the workflow (Approve, Reject, Archive, Revert, Restore).
If you'd like to tighten this up, Admins can adjust who can do what under Account → Role Config. For example, you might let everyone create intakes but only let Managers approve or reject them.
What people can see:
Admins see every intake in your org.
Everyone else only sees intakes they created or are involved in as a Project Owner, Customer Owner, or Contributor. This keeps the dashboard focused on what's actually theirs.
Creating an Intake from Salesforce
If the AutoRFP Salesforce package is installed, an intake can be created directly from an Opportunity record in SFDC. When that happens:
The Salesforce Opportunity ID is stored against the intake.
CRM Link is auto-populated so anyone in AutoRFP can jump back to the SFDC record.
The submitting Salesforce user is matched by email to an AutoRFP user and auto-assigned as Customer Owner.
Project Owners default to all members of your Intake Team (configured in Account → Teams).
Custom fields with an External ID mapped to a Salesforce field are populated from the Opportunity. Admins configure these mappings under Account → Settings → Project Details Fields.
See Integrating with Salesforce for installation and field mapping details.
Project Analysis on Intakes
When projectAnalysis is enabled, AutoRFP runs an AI pass over every intake's uploaded files using your org's configured Analysis Categories (e.g. Scope, Compliance, Commercial Terms, Security). From the intake page you can:
Browse categorised AI answers with source quotes and confidence levels.
Filter by category, including a Custom Questions view.
👍 / 👎 each answer to feed back into future runs.
Ask a custom question against the uploaded files at any time.
Regenerate the analysis after editing the file list.
Export to DOCX for sharing with sales or leadership.
See Project Analysis for admin setup.