Project requests and work orders often start in email, chat, or spreadsheets. That can work for a small team, but it quickly becomes hard to track what was requested, who owns it, what status it is in, what files were submitted, and whether the requester has been updated.

Airtable is a strong backend for this workflow because it can store structured requests, statuses, assignments, due dates, attachments, approvals, and internal notes. With miniExtensions, you can add the front end: public request forms, internal intake forms, work order portals, client status portals, and update workflows.

What You Can Build

You can use this setup for:

  • Project request intake
  • Work order management
  • Service request forms
  • Maintenance requests
  • Creative briefs
  • IT or software requests
  • Operations requests
  • Client project status portals
  • Internal approval workflows
  • File upload and document collection

The basic pattern is simple: requesters submit work through a miniExtensions Form, your team manages the work in Airtable, and clients or requesters can optionally track status through a miniExtensions Portal.

Recommended Airtable Setup

Create these Airtable tables:

  • Requesters
  • Project Requests
  • Work Orders
  • Tasks
  • Files
  • Approvals
  • Team Members

The Requesters table stores the people or clients submitting requests.

Useful fields in Requesters:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Company
  • Phone
  • Requester type
  • Status
  • Internal notes

The Project Requests table stores the original intake submission.

Useful fields in Project Requests:

  • Requester
  • Request title
  • Request type
  • Description
  • Priority
  • Desired due date
  • Attachments
  • Request status
  • Assigned team member
  • Internal notes
  • Submitted date

The Work Orders table stores approved or active work.

Useful fields in Work Orders:

  • Requester
  • Related request
  • Work order number
  • Work order type
  • Status
  • Assigned team member
  • Start date
  • Due date
  • Completion date
  • Public status notes
  • Internal notes

The Tasks table stores smaller steps inside a work order.

Useful fields in Tasks:

  • Work order
  • Task name
  • Owner
  • Status
  • Due date
  • Notes

If requesters will log in through a Portal, make sure requester-facing tables include a linked record field back to Requesters. For example, Project Requests, Work Orders, and Files should each have a linked record field such as Requester.

Step 1: Create the Project Request Form

Use a Form when people need to submit new requests.

  1. In miniExtensions, create a new Form.
  2. Select the Airtable base that contains your request and work order tables.
  3. Select the Project Requests table.
  4. Add requester-facing fields such as:
    • Requester name
    • Email
    • Company
    • Request title
    • Request type
    • Description
    • Priority
    • Desired due date
    • Attachments
  5. Hide internal fields such as:
    • Request status
    • Assigned team member
    • Internal notes
    • Approval result
    • Internal priority score
  6. Make important fields required, such as requester name, email, request title, request type, and description.
  7. If requesters need to upload files, add an Airtable attachment field to the form.
  8. Click the attachment field in the form builder and configure upload settings if you need to restrict file types, file counts, or file size.
  9. Customize the confirmation message so requesters know the request was received.
  10. Use the Share menu to copy the form URL.
  11. Add the form link to your website, client portal, internal wiki, or operations page.

This gives you a structured intake form instead of collecting requests through email or chat.

Step 2: Create Views in Airtable for Internal Work

Inside Airtable, create views that help your team manage requests.

Useful views include:

  • New requests
  • Waiting for approval
  • Approved requests
  • In progress
  • Blocked
  • Completed
  • Requests by assigned team member
  • Requests by priority

These Airtable views help your internal team work from the same source of truth while miniExtensions handles the public or client-facing parts.

Step 3: Add an Approval Workflow

If requests need review before becoming work orders, use an approval status field in Airtable.

A simple approval setup:

  1. Add a Request status field to Project Requests.
  2. Use status options such as:
    • Submitted
    • Needs review
    • Approved
    • Rejected
    • More information needed
  3. Add an Approvals table if you need a separate record for each approval decision.
  4. Link Approvals back to Project Requests.
  5. Add fields such as approver, decision, notes, and decision date.
  6. Create a miniExtensions Form on the Approvals table if approvers should submit decisions through a form.
  7. Select the same Airtable base.
  8. Show approval fields such as decision and notes.
  9. Hide fields that approvers should not edit.

This keeps approval decisions structured and tied to the original request.

Step 4: Turn Approved Requests Into Work Orders

Some teams keep everything in one Project Requests table. Others create a separate Work Orders table after a request is approved.

Use a separate Work Orders table when you need:

  • Work order numbers
  • Assigned technicians or team members
  • Start and completion dates
  • Task lists
  • Client-facing status updates
  • Internal work notes
  • Multiple work orders tied to one request

In Airtable, link each Work Orders record back to the original Project Requests record and to the Requester.

This makes it easier to expose work order status in a Portal later.

Step 5: Create a Requester Portal

Use a Portal when requesters or clients should log in to view their own requests and work orders.

  1. In Airtable, make sure Project Requests has a linked record field to Requesters, such as Requester.
  2. In miniExtensions, create a new Portal.
  3. In the Portal create modal, select Project Requests as the first data table.
  4. Then select the linked user field on that table, such as Requester.
  5. miniExtensions uses that linked field to identify the Requesters table as the users table.
  6. In the Portal editor, go to Tables.
  7. Configure the Project Requests table.
  8. Show requester-facing fields such as:
    • Request title
    • Request type
    • Submitted date
    • Request status
    • Public notes
    • Attachments
  9. Hide internal fields such as:
    • Internal notes
    • Assigned team member
    • Internal priority score
    • Approval comments
    • Admin-only fields
  10. If requesters should create new project requests from inside the Portal, enable record creation for Project Requests.
  11. Configure the create form with fields such as request title, type, description, priority, due date, and attachments.
  12. There is no need to add the Requester linked field to the create form just to connect the request to the requester. Records created from inside the Portal are automatically linked to the logged-in requester.

Step 6: Add Work Orders to the Portal

If requesters should track active work, add the Work Orders table to the Portal.

  1. Make sure Work Orders has a linked record field to Requesters.
  2. In the Portal editor, go to Tables.
  3. Add the Work Orders table.
  4. Show fields such as:
    • Work order number
    • Work order type
    • Status
    • Start date
    • Due date
    • Completion date
    • Public status notes
  5. Hide fields such as:
    • Internal notes
    • Assigned team member notes
    • Private cost fields
    • Internal scheduling fields
  6. If requesters should only view work orders, keep fields read-only.
  7. If they should update limited information, enable editing only for the fields they are allowed to change.

Requesters automatically see records linked to them. You do not need to add a separate “only show records for the logged-in user” filter.

Step 7: Add File Uploads and Follow-Up Messages

Many project requests need files: briefs, screenshots, design assets, contracts, photos, PDFs, or reference documents.

You can support this in two ways.

For initial intake:

  1. Add an attachment field to the Project Requests table.
  2. Add that field to the public request form.
  3. Configure attachment upload settings if needed.

For follow-up files after submission:

  1. Create a Files or Project Files table.
  2. Add a linked record field to Requesters.
  3. Add a linked record field to Project Requests or Work Orders.
  4. Add this table to the Portal.
  5. Enable record creation.
  6. Configure the create form with fields such as file, description, related request, and notes.
  7. Do not add the Requester linked field to the child create form just to connect the file to the logged-in requester.

Files created from inside the Portal are automatically linked to the logged-in requester.

Step 8: Add Internal Task Tracking

If your team needs to break work orders into smaller steps, use a Tasks table.

  1. In Airtable, create a Tasks table.
  2. Link each task to a Work Orders record.
  3. Add fields such as task name, owner, status, due date, and notes.
  4. Keep the Tasks table internal unless requesters need to see task-level progress.
  5. If tasks are exposed in a Portal, show only public fields and hide internal notes.

This lets your team manage detailed work internally while showing requesters a simpler status.

Step 9: Share the Workflow

Use the Share menu depending on the extension:

  • Share the public request form URL for new intake.
  • Share the Portal URL with requesters or clients.
  • Send login links if requesters should access a private portal.
  • Embed the form or portal on your website if needed.
  • Use a custom domain for a branded client-facing experience.

Requesters do not need Airtable accounts or miniExtensions builder accounts.

How Portal Record Access Works

For Portal workflows, miniExtensions uses the linked user field selected during Portal creation to determine which records belong to the logged-in user.

Once that relationship is set, requesters automatically see records linked to them. Records they create from inside the Portal are also automatically linked to them.

Why This Works Well

Airtable stays your operational database. miniExtensions gives requesters and clients a clean front end for intake, uploads, status tracking, and follow-up.

Your team can keep internal workflows, assignments, approvals, and task management in Airtable while giving external users a simple way to submit and track work.