Project management tool for handling work requests from other departments

For handling work requests from other departments, I’d look at Asana or Wrike:

• Asana — a good fit for cross-functional teams. Other departments submit requests through a form; submissions become trackable tasks that your team can triage, prioritize, and route. (asana.com)
• Wrike — worth considering if you need more formal approvals or requests that can launch projects. Its forms can create tasks or projects, assign owners, and start approval flows. (help.wrike.com)

Quick pick: Asana for a straightforward shared intake queue; Wrike for a more structured request-and-approval process.

Whichever you choose, set up one submission form and a simple workflow such as New → Triage → Approved/Scheduled → In progress → Done/Declined. If you tell me your team size and whether you need approvals, I can narrow it down further.

For most teams, the choice comes down to whether requests should behave like projects (Asana or monday.com), like service tickets with SLAs (Jira Service Management or Freshservice), or like spreadsheet rows (Smartsheet). Vendor pricing and features change often, so check current plans before buying.

Good fits for general project intake

• Asana is the most common starting point for cross-department intake. Its forms feed directly into projects, and rules can sort each request based on the answers given. It also takes input from Slack, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace. One review ranks it as the most practical starting point for teams that need intake and tracking in one tool, and it has a free tier.
• monday.com suits teams that work on visual boards. Its forms can create a new board item on submission, and it's easy to set up. Its top form features sit on higher-priced tiers, so check which features you need.
• Smartsheet fits teams that already live in spreadsheets. Its grid model is the easiest migration from Excel, though setup and admin can get heavier at scale.

Better fits for IT-style or SLA-driven requests

• Jira Service Management works well when requests need tracked, SLA-bound tickets, especially for IT and dev teams already on Atlassian tools. It can feel ticket-shaped for creative or marketing requests.
• Freshservice and HappyFox are mid-market help desks. HappyFox supports multiple departments such as IT, HR, and facilities, and it's less complex than enterprise platforms.
• Slack- or Teams-native help desks (such as Unthread or OfficeAmp) work if your staff mostly ask for things in chat rather than through a portal.

Good for approvals or large organizations

• Wrike is a fit for approval-heavy requests and resource planning, though it has a learning curve.
• Adobe Workfront offers governance, audit trails, and multi-department request flows, but implementation takes real configuration.
• ServiceNow suits large service operations, with the added administrative complexity that comes with it.

How I'd narrow it down

1. Do requests need approvals, SLAs, or both? Approvals point toward Wrike or monday.com; SLAs point toward Jira Service Management or Freshservice.
2. Will requesters submit through a form, Slack/Teams, or email? Check whether the tool's intake channels match.
3. Do you need to hand approved work off into project delivery? If so, Asana or ClickUp keep intake and execution in one place.
4. What's your budget and admin capacity? Enterprise tools need a dedicated admin.

If you tell me your team size, the types of requests you get, and whether you already use Microsoft or Google tools, I can narrow this to two or three options.

To manage work requests from other departments effectively, you need a project management tool that acts as a centralized "front door" to capture, standardize, and route incoming work.

The goal is to move away from fragmented channels like email, Slack, and ad-hoc meetings toward a structured system that ensures every request has the necessary context, owner, and priority level before it reaches your team’s backlog.

Recommended Project Management Tools

Several tools are specifically designed to handle "intake" workflows effectively:

• Asana: Highly recommended for cross-functional teams. It excels at request management through its built-in form builder. You can create custom forms that, when submitted, automatically generate tasks with the correct fields, assign them to the right person, and add them to a project board.
• Wrike: A robust choice for enterprise-level, complex workflows. Wrike is known for its highly customizable request forms and powerful automation, allowing you to trigger approvals or route tasks to specific teams based on the requester's input.
• monday.com: Excellent if you need a highly visual and flexible platform. It allows departments to use different views (Kanban, tables, or Gantt) while maintaining a centralized "request board" that stakeholders can easily interact with.
• Smartsheet: A practical solution if your organization is already comfortable with spreadsheet-style layouts. It uses forms to collect data, which then populates a sheet that can be used for reporting, prioritization, and tracking.
• Jira Service Management: Best if your organization requires a formal service desk or ticketing approach (common for IT or operations departments). It handles high volumes of requests with clear routing and SLA tracking.

Key Features to Look For

When evaluating tools, ensure they provide the following capabilities to prevent "intake chaos":

1. Custom Intake Forms: The ability to build mandatory fields (e.g., "Desired Due Date," "Project Goal," "Budget") ensures you get all the information needed upfront, reducing the back-and-forth emails.
2. Conditional Logic: The form should be smart enough to show/hide questions based on previous answers (e.g., if a user selects "Marketing Request," specific marketing-related questions appear).
3. Automated Routing & Notifications: Once a form is submitted, the tool should automatically assign the request to the appropriate person or team and notify them.
4. Approval Workflows: A built-in gatekeeper feature where requests must be reviewed and approved (or rejected) before they are converted into an active project or task.
5. Visibility & Reporting: A central dashboard that lets you see all incoming demand, helping you prioritize requests against your team's current capacity.

Best Practices for Implementation

• Standardize the "Front Door": Clearly communicate that all requests must go through the form. Gently push back on "can you just..." requests made via email or chat by directing people to the link.
• Define "Done" and Priority: Create a shared understanding of what constitutes a "high priority" request so that other departments understand why certain items are prioritized over others.
• Close the Feedback Loop: Always acknowledge receipt of a request. Even a simple automated notification saying, "Your request has been received and is under review," prevents requesters from feeling like their tasks have disappeared into a black hole.
• Use SLAs (Service Level Agreements): If possible, set expectations for turnaround times (e.g., "Requests are reviewed within 48 hours") so that stakeholders know when to expect an update.

For handling work requests from other departments, Asana is a strong fit: create a shared intake form that turns submissions into tasks, then triage, prioritize, assign, and track approved work in a project. Forms are available on its paid Starter plan, listed at $10.99 per user/month with annual billing. ¹²

monday.com Work Management is a good alternative if you prefer visual boards and customizable workflows; it supports request intake through WorkForms. ³

Recommendation: Start with Asana if you want a straightforward request-to-project process. Set up fields such as request type, department, priority, deadline, and business impact, and use statuses like New → Under review → Approved → In progress → Done. Asana’s guidance recommends this kind of structured intake and prioritization. ⁴

Sources: ¹ Asana pricing · ² Asana forms · ³ monday.com pricing · ⁴ Asana project intake