Project Intake & Prioritisation template

This Project Intake & Prioritisation template gives you a single, structured place to capture new project ideas, score them consistently, and steer them through triage to approval. Record the why, what and how for each proposal, align to strategy, and compare business value versus effort using built-in RICE and WSJF scoring. Simply tailor the fields, stages and views to mirror your governance process.

Use Calendar Screens to visualise key dates like estimated start/end or decision deadlines, and Board Screens to track proposals by status or stage gate (e.g. ‘Gate 0 Idea’ → ‘Gate 3 Business Case’). Configure Workflows to alert reviewers when a request moves to ‘In Review’, when information is missing, or when a decision date is approaching.

Understanding project intake & prioritisation

Project intake sounds simple: capture ideas and decide what to do first. In practice, it’s where strategy meets reality. Requests come from everywhere, benefits aren’t always quantified, and teams need a fair, transparent way to compare options.

Effective intake means centralising proposals, standardising the information you collect (problem/opportunity, costs, benefits, risks), and applying an objective prioritisation framework. That’s how you move beyond opinions and anchor decisions in data.

Prioritisation frameworks such as RICE (Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort) and WSJF (Business Value + Time Criticality + Risk Reduction ÷ Job Size) help you balance value, urgency and complexity. Combined with stage-gate checkpoints and clear ownership, you’ll build a repeatable path from idea to approved project.

Gridfox brings this together in one place, so your PMO, sponsors and delivery teams can collaborate on a portfolio that’s aligned, achievable and outcome-led.

Why Gridfox Project Intake & Prioritisation?

Gridfox is designed to be powerful yet approachable. This template includes the fields, views and formulas you need to stand up a robust intake process in minutes, without heavyweight portfolio software. Adapt it freely: add fields, tweak scoring, rename stages, or expand approvals as your governance evolves.

Unlike rigid, off-the-shelf tools, Gridfox lets you iterate. Start with the essentials, then refine filters, charts and workflows as your pipeline grows. Whether you’re a lean product team or an enterprise PMO, you’ll have the visibility and control to make confident prioritisation decisions.

Here’s a breakdown of the key template features.

The Breakdown

• Project table (ready for triage): Capture core details like Title (unique), Summary, and the Problem / Opportunity. Tag each request with Business Unit (Sales, Marketing, Operations, Product, Finance, HR, IT, Other), plus Sponsor, Requester and Proposed Project Owner to ensure clear accountability from day one.
• Strategic alignment & approach: Indicate how a proposal supports organisational goals via Strategic Alignment (Revenue Growth, Efficiency, Customer Experience, Compliance, Risk Reduction, Innovation). Choose a Delivery Approach (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid) and set Estimated Start and Estimated End dates for roadmap planning.
• Costs, benefits & risk: Quantify investment with Capex (£) and Opex (£), and estimate value with Expected Annual Benefit (£) and Benefit Type (Revenue, Cost Saving, Risk Avoidance, Qualitative). Assess Risk Level and Complexity, and record key Dependencies and Confidence % to highlight uncertainty.
• Built-in prioritisation scores: Drive objective decisions with automatic calculations: RICE Score = (Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort) and WSJF Score = (Business Value + Time Criticality + Risk Reduction / Opportunity Enablement) ÷ Job Size. A separate Priority Score field lets your PMO apply an overall rank when needed.
• Value & effort inputs: Capture Effort (person-weeks), plus the WSJF inputs: Reach, Impact, Business Value, Time Criticality, Risk Reduction / Opportunity Enablement and Job Size. These fields feed the formulas so scores stay consistent across teams.
• Governance & stage gates: Track lifecycle via Status (New → Needs Info → In Triage → In Review → Approved / Deferred / Rejected) and Stage Gate (Gate 0 Idea, Gate 1 Outline, Gate 2 Feasibility, Gate 3 Business Case). Use Decision Date and Decision Notes to maintain a clear audit trail.
• Approvals sub-table: Log reviews from PMO, Sponsor, Finance, Architecture, Security, Data/Privacy or Other. Record the Reviewer, their Decision (Approve, Reject, Defer, Info Requested), Decision Date and Comments. Attach evidence and business cases via Attachments (up to 10 files).
• Risk & compliance visibility: Flag sensitive initiatives with Regulatory / Compliance Impact and Privacy Impact indicators so specialist reviewers can be engaged early.
• Portfolio-friendly IDs: Every record gets a unique Project ID (e.g. PRJ-0001) for easy cross-referencing in reports, presentations and roadmaps.
• Dashboards & views: Use charts to see proposals by Status, Stage Gate, Business Unit or Strategic Alignment. Calendar screens surface upcoming Decision Dates and planned starts; Kanban boards let you drag-and-drop through stages. Filters provide focused lists e.g. “High WSJF & Medium Risk” or “Compliance impact this quarter”.

Who’s going to love it?

PMOs, portfolio managers, product leads and department heads who need a consistent, transparent way to evaluate competing requests. Finance and architecture teams who want early visibility of cost, value and risk. Sponsors who need a clear line of sight from idea to decision.

Whether you manage a quarterly roadmap or a cross-functional change portfolio, this template helps you compare diverse requests on a level playing field, align to strategy, and communicate decisions with confidence.

Think of it as your fast start for building a scalable intake process, one that grows with your organisation.