A client intake form that becomes a useful project brief
Short answer: ask for the information that changes whether and how you can deliver: objective, scope, approver, inputs, timing and commercial status. Separate the client's desired outcome from a commitment you have accepted. This form is for small service projects, not regulated medical, legal or financial intake.
Open the editable form with a completed example. It is a plain-text document with copyable questions, not a hosted form or an automatic import. No signup required. Names and amounts are fictional.
The fields, completed for a website refresh
| Field | Juniper's fictional answer | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | Refresh five service pages before the December campaign | What changes on the site; no promised revenue outcome |
| Scope | Five pages, two review rounds; no ecommerce or copywriting | Match to the actual agreement |
| Approver | Rowan Lee | Confirm Rowan can approve scope and delivery |
| Input contact | Casey Morgan | Name the owner of copy, brand assets and access |
| Target and dependency | Reviewed build by November 20; inputs by November 5 | Agree a feasible plan after checking dependencies |
| Fee and payment status | USD 6,000 agreed; deposit unconfirmed | A quoted or agreed fee is not received payment |
| Systems | Existing CMS and brand folder | Request named invitations, not passwords |
| Review method | One consolidated response per round | Record the version and real response |
| After delivery | Casey maintains content; support terms unresolved | Resolve the support boundary before handover |
Turn answers into work without inventing the gaps
- Review the response and mark each item confirmed, proposed or unknown. Ask about contradictions before copying them into a final brief.
- Create the account and relevant people. Confirm who approves and who supplies inputs; those may be different people.
- Copy agreed scope into the project brief. Put uncertain timing and support terms under Open questions.
- Create tasks for required inputs, each with an owner, target date and done condition. "Access checked" is stronger than "login requested".
- Use the client onboarding checklist once start conditions are met. Keep the original response as a source for the brief.
If the approver is missing, do not ask an assistant to infer authority from a job title. If the budget is unknown, leave it unknown. If the answer contains a new request outside the agreement, treat it as a scope question rather than an accepted deliverable.
Adapt it to your service
For a consultant, ask which decision the engagement must support, which stakeholders should be interviewed and which data is available. For a design retainer, ask for the monthly deliverables, review cadence and treatment of unused capacity. For a website project, keep page count, content ownership and system access explicit. Remove questions that will not change your delivery plan.
Do not collect credentials or sensitive records simply because the form has a notes field. Ask for the minimum needed to assess the engagement; arrange appropriate access separately. Explain to the client how their answers will be used and who receives them.
Use it in Flori
Copy the reviewed answers into the client record and delivery brief. Core inquiry forms can collect new inquiries, but this downloadable document does not create a form, connect a service or populate a project by itself. Preview the onboarding project template to see the next set of tasks.
FAQ
What is the difference between intake and onboarding? Intake gathers and clarifies the information needed to assess or start an engagement. Onboarding confirms start conditions and turns accepted scope, inputs and responsibilities into a delivery plan.
Is this a live form I can embed? No. It is an editable document with questions and a completed fictional example. Copy the fields into your chosen form tool and review its privacy and access settings.
Should a client intake form ask for passwords? No. Request named invitations or another appropriate access process separately. Record which access is needed and whether it has been tested, without storing secrets in the form.
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