The Blank Project Method: How To Start A Project In Olive

Overview

This article walks you through how to create a new RFP project in Olive from scratch using the Blank Project method. Once your project is created, you'll use Olive's built-in AI chatbot — Ask Olive — to rapidly build out your requirements, project overview, vendor shortlist, and stakeholder surveys.

The Blank Project method is ideal when you're starting a new evaluation from the ground up and want AI assistance to accelerate the process.

At a Glance: Full Setup Workflow

Here's the complete process from start to finish. Each step is covered in detail below.

Step	Task	Where in Olive
Step 1	Create your blank project	Projects page → + Create Project → Blank Project
Step 2	Launch Ask Olive	Opens automatically in the new project
Step 3	Generate requirements (4 prompts)	Ask Olive chatbot → Requirements tab
Step 4	Create the project overview	Ask Olive chatbot → paste into Overview tab
Step 5	Get vendor recommendations	Ask Olive chatbot → Solutions tab
Step 6	Create a stakeholder survey	Ask Olive chatbot → Surveys tab

💡 Tip: Work through the steps in sequence — requirements first, then overview, then vendor recommendations, then surveys. Each step builds on the previous one, giving Ask Olive more context to work with.

Step 1: Create a Blank Project

To create a new project, start from the Projects section in the left navigation sidebar:

1. Click 'Projects' in the left sidebar to open the Projects page
2. Click the '+ Create Project' button at the top right of the page
3. Select 'Blank Project' — the Create Project panel opens on the right
4. Enter the Name of your project
5. Choose your Sub-Account from the dropdown
6. Choose a Category for the project from the dropdown
7. Click 'Create Project' to create it

The Projects page — click '+ Create Project', select Blank Project, fill in the details, and click 'Create Project'

Your blank project will be created and you'll be taken directly into it. The project will open on the Requirements tab, and the Ask Olive AI chatbot will be available to help you build it out.

💡 Tip: Give your project a clear, descriptive name — for example, 'CRM Platform Selection 2025' — so it's easy to identify on the Projects page and recognisable to any vendors you later invite.

Step 2: Use Ask Olive to Build Your Project

A new blank project — the Ask Olive AI chatbot opens automatically with quick-start prompt suggestions

Once your blank project is created, the Ask Olive AI chatbot opens automatically on the right side of the screen. Ask Olive is your AI assistant for building out the project. You can use it to:

• Generate project requirements
• Create your project overview
• Recommend potential vendor solutions
• Create stakeholder surveys

The chatbot provides quick-start prompt suggestions (e.g. 'Help me start a new project', 'Summarize this project') — or you can type your own prompts directly into the text field at the bottom.

💡 Tip: If the Ask Olive chatbot doesn't open automatically, look for the Ask Olive button in the interface and click it to launch the panel.

Step 3: Generate Project Requirements

Use the following four-prompt sequence to have Ask Olive build out a comprehensive set of RFP requirements. Send each prompt into the Ask Olive chatbot and wait for a response before moving to the next. Do not skip steps — each prompt builds on the previous one.

Here's a summary of what each prompt does and what to check before moving on:

Prompt	What it does	What to check afterwards
Prompt 1	Generates recommended requirement categories	Review the list in the chatbot before proceeding
Prompt 2	Adds the categories as sections in the project	Check they appear in the Requirements tab
Prompt 3	Writes 8–10 requirements per section	Review requirements in the chatbot before proceeding
Prompt 4	Adds all requirements to the project	Go to Requirements tab to review everything added

Prompt 1 — Get recommended requirement categories

✦ Prompt 1 I need to write a thorough list of requirements to include in this evaluation. They should be both high level business requirements and functional requirements that are relevant to <Technology Name> solutions. Can you start by recommending a list of requirement categories that I can include in this project? Replace <Technology Name> with the type of software you are evaluating — for example: HCM, CRM, ERP.

Ask Olive will suggest a list of relevant requirement categories or sections. Review them in the chat before sending Prompt 2.

Prompt 2 — Add the categories as sections

✦ Prompt 2 Now add these as new sections to the project and NOT as requirements

Ask Olive will add the recommended categories as sections in the Requirements tab of your project. Navigate to the Requirements tab to confirm they have appeared before continuing.

Prompt 3 — Generate requirements per section

✦ Prompt 3 Now write 8 to 10 requirements for each section

Ask Olive will generate 8–10 requirements for each section it created. Review them in the chat before sending Prompt 4.

Prompt 4 — Add requirements to the project

✦ Prompt 4 Now add these requirements to the relevant sections in the project

Ask Olive will add all generated requirements to their corresponding sections in the Requirements tab. Navigate to the Requirements tab to review what has been added.

💡 Tip: After Ask Olive adds your requirements, review them in the Requirements tab and remove, edit, or add requirements as needed to make them specific to your organisation. AI-generated requirements are a strong starting point, but your team knows your business best.

Step 4: Create Your Project Overview

Use Ask Olive to draft the project overview content for the Description sub-tab in the Overview tab. This gives vendors the context they need to understand your organisation and the purpose of the RFP.

Prompt — Generate the project overview

✦ Prompt Please go through the requirements of this project. And also go through these challenges that we have <mention the technological challenges>. And create a project overview, with basic sections like: Strategic Goals and Objectives, Desired Future State, Current State, Current Systems and pain points associated with them, Benefits Replace <mention the technological challenges> with a brief description of your current technology pain points.

Ask Olive will generate overview content for each section. Review the generated content in the chatbot. If you'd like changes, ask Ask Olive to modify specific sections. Once you're happy, copy the content and paste it manually into the Overview tab.

📌 Note: Automatic transfer of overview content from Ask Olive directly into the Description sub-tab is not yet available. You will need to copy the content from the chatbot and paste it into each section manually.

How to paste the overview into your project

1. Go to the Overview tab and click the Description sub-tab
2. Click 'Add New Section' to create a section (or use an existing one)
3. Double-click the heading to name it
4. Expand the section and paste the relevant content from the Ask Olive chatbot into the text area
5. Repeat for each section of the overview

Step 5: Get Vendor Recommendations

Once your requirements and project overview are in place, ask Ask Olive to recommend relevant vendor solutions for your evaluation.

Prompt — Recommend solutions

✦ Prompt Based on the requirements in this project and the project overview, please recommend some solutions/softwares along with their websites

Ask Olive will suggest a list of relevant vendors along with their websites. You can refine the results with follow-up questions — for example:

• "Please recommend North America based vendors only"
• "Can you suggest vendors suitable for mid-market organisations?"

Once you've reviewed the suggestions, you can either ask Ask Olive to add them directly to your project, or add them manually via the Solutions tab using the '+ Add Solution' button.

💡 Tip: Use Ask Olive's recommendations as a starting point. You can always add vendors from your own research or from your Olive library on top of what Ask Olive suggests.

Step 6: Create a Stakeholder Survey

Ask Olive can generate a stakeholder survey based on your project requirements. This survey can be sent to internal stakeholders to gather their input on which requirements matter most to them — helping you prioritise and star-rate requirements with real business input.

Prompt — Create a stakeholder survey

✦ Prompt Based on the project requirements, create a survey that can be sent out to project stakeholders to gather their opinion and insights on the requirements. Also put an option for the stakeholders to mention the importance they feel should be attached to a requirement.

Ask Olive will generate a survey and add it to the Surveys tab of your project. Navigate to the Surveys tab to review and customise it before sending it out to stakeholders.

How to send the survey to stakeholders

1. Go to the Surveys tab in your project
2. Find the survey Ask Olive created and open it
3. Review the questions and make any edits needed
4. Send the survey to your stakeholders using the distribution options in the tab

💡 Tip: Sending a stakeholder survey early in the process helps you prioritise requirements and star ratings based on real input from the people who will use the new system — making your evaluation criteria stronger and more defensible.

What's Next?

Once you've completed all six setup steps, your project is ready for vendor evaluation. Here's what to do next:

1. Review and refine your requirements in the Requirements tab — edit, remove, or add anything that doesn't fit your needs
2. Invite vendors to submit their responses through the platform
3. Configure Administration settings — set your Scoring Scale, Star ratings, and Section and Department Weighting before your team begins scoring
4. Use the Comparison tab to evaluate vendor responses and pricing side by side once submissions are in

Need help? Contact your Olive project administrator or reach out to Olive support.