How does your firm actually track new matters before they become a ‘deal’?

I’m curious how this works in practice across firms.

At my firm (and others I’ve spoken to), new matters tend to come in via a mix of emails, web enquiries, and phone calls. Before anything is “official”, a junior or associate usually ends up piecing together facts from scattered emails, call notes, and follow-ups.

I’m not talking about deal management software or case management once a matter is live — I mean the messy pre-matter stage where you’re still working out:

•	what the client actually wants

•	whether it’s even viable

•	what info is missing

•	who should look at it

Is this just handled via Word docs + inbox triage everywhere?

Do firms have any consistent intake process at this stage, or is it mostly tribal knowledge + juniors “owning it”?

Genuinely interested in how others see this.