File client requests as project tasks
New intake requests arrive as tasks in Client Requests, with the stated scope and deadline already filled in.
New submission on your project intake form
Create a task in the Client Requests project with the requested scope in custom fields and a due date based on the deadline answer
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
Agencies and internal services teams live or die on how work arrives. A request made in a corridor or a forwarded email thread leaves the project manager reconstructing scope from memory. An intake form asks the same questions every time, and this flow turns each answered set into a task waiting to be prioritised.
The deadline answer becomes the Asana due date, so the request sorts itself against everything else on the board before anyone has read it. Budget and deliverables sit in custom fields, which makes the weekly triage meeting a matter of assigning rather than asking.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish your project intake form and keep Project Deadline as a date field, since Asana rejects a due date it cannot parse.
- 2
Create the Client Requests project in Asana first, with custom fields for budget, deliverables and requesting company, so they are selectable in Zapier.
- 3
In Zapier, start a Zap with formformform's New Submission trigger and point it at the intake form.
- 4
Add Asana's Create Task action, pick the workspace, and set Project to Client Requests.
- 5
Map Project Name to the task name and add Company alongside it, so a project manager can tell two similar requests apart at a glance.
- 6
Set the action's Due Date to Project Deadline, and Start Date to Desired Project Start Date if your board shows timelines.
- 7
Map Budget (USD) and Expected Deliverables to their custom fields, and put Project Objectives, Success Criteria and Constraints or Dependencies into the description.
- 8
Submit a real request as a test, confirm the due date landed in the right timezone, and switch the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Project Scope Request Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Asana |
|---|---|
| Project Name | Task name, prefixed with the requesting company |
| Project Deadline | Task due date |
| Budget (USD) | Budget custom field on the Client Requests project |
| Expected Deliverables | Deliverables custom field |
| Project Objectives | Task description |
| Client Name | Task description, as the requester to chase for detail |
Variations worth knowing
Areas Involved in This Project tells you which discipline owns the work. Use Zapier Paths to set the Assignee on the Asana task from that answer, so design requests reach the design lead and build requests reach the engineering lead without a manual handoff.
Add a filter that only creates the task directly when Budget (USD) sits under your sign-off threshold. Larger requests take a second path that files them in an Awaiting Approval section, where a director reviews the scope before the work is scheduled.
If something isn't arriving
Asana stores due dates against the workspace timezone while Zapier passes the date through as text. Insert a Formatter by Zapier step set to Date/Time, output format YYYY-MM-DD, and set the to-timezone so it matches your Asana workspace.
Custom fields must exist on the Client Requests project itself, not only in the workspace library, before Zapier will list them. Add them to the project, then reload the Asana action step so the new fields appear in the dropdown.
Frequently asked questions
Can the client see when their request moves to In Progress?
Not through the form. Data travels one way, from submission into Asana, and nothing is written back. Keep clients updated with an Asana rule that emails them on a status change, or a second Zap that sends the update from your own tooling.
What happens if the same client submits two requests?
Each submission creates its own task, so you get two. The Create Task action has no deduplication. If repeat requests are a real problem, add a Zapier Find Task step first and only create a task when that search comes back empty.
Can the form collect a brief document with the request?
Yes. An upload field takes the brief itself, up to 2 MB per file, and it stays with the submission where you download or preview it. A deck heavier than that is better kept in your shared drive, so leave a URL question beside the upload and map whichever link the client gives you into the task description.
Related automations
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Each bug report lands in the Bugs project's Triage section with reproduction steps already in the description.
- Turn wholesale orders into shipping tasks
Orders arrive as tasks in the Fulfillment project, assigned to operations with a due date for dispatch.
- Add every RSVP to your confirmed guest list
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Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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