AI Request Intake Checklist for Small Businesses

When to use this

Run this intake when someone wants to create a new AI prompt, connect a new AI tool, automate a recurring task, summarize customer notes, draft customer-facing copy, or publish AI-assisted website content. The goal is to approve useful experiments without letting unowned, unreviewed AI tasks spread through the business.

AI-REQUEST-INTAKE-READY

Copy/paste AI request intake card

Field	What to write before approval
Request name	Plain-English task, not a tool name: “draft missed-call replies” or “summarize weekly customer feedback.”
Business outcome	Time saved, quality improved, faster response, safer handoff, or better owner visibility.
Approved source data	Documents, CRM fields, policy pages, price sheets, job notes, or examples the AI is allowed to use.
Forbidden data	Private customer details, payment data, legal/medical/HR facts, unapproved pricing, or anything outside the tool boundary.
Customer-impact level	Internal only, customer-facing draft, public website content, pricing/policy, or high-risk decision support.
Owner and reviewer	One person who owns the workflow and one person who signs off on facts, promises, and tone.
Definition of done	What a good output must include, what must be checked, and where the final approved result is stored.

Approval checklist

Does the request solve a real workflow problem? Reject vague “use AI more” requests until the requester names the task and outcome.
Is the source material current? Check policy pages, pricing sheets, service limits, and customer notes before allowing AI to draft from them.
Can a human review the output quickly? If review takes longer than doing the work manually, simplify the request or pause it.
Is there a stop rule? Name the exact conditions that require owner review, manual handling, or no send/no publish.
Is success measurable? Pick one metric: minutes saved, response time, edit rate, fewer missed handoffs, or fewer reopened tasks.

STOP AUTOMATION rules

Stop if the request would let AI invent customer history, approvals, prices, discounts, deadlines, policies, legal wording, hiring decisions, or outcomes.
Stop if nobody owns the final review or the requester wants outputs to send/publish automatically.
Stop if the source data includes private customer details that have not been approved for the tool or workflow.
Stop if the request changes a business promise, refund/warranty policy, service-area rule, or pricing detail without owner approval.

Copy/paste owner-review prompt

You are helping review a small-business AI request. Do not invent customer history, policies, prices, permissions, approvals, legal language, or outcomes. Use only the request card below.

Request name:
Business outcome:
Source material approved for AI:
Forbidden data or topics:
Customer-impact level:
Owner:
Reviewer:
Definition of done:
Stop rules:
Success metric:

Return:
1. Approve, simplify, pause, or reject.
2. The biggest factual, privacy, promise, or workflow-fit risk.
3. What source material is missing or stale.
4. One human-review question before the request can proceed.
5. One safer first test that does not auto-send or auto-publish.

How this connects to the Small Business AI Profit Kit

This checklist is useful by itself for a weekly operations meeting or a one-off AI request. If the team needs a broader rollout system, The Small Business AI Profit Kit includes workflow selection worksheets, prompt libraries, rollout planning, and human-review rules for practical small-business AI adoption.