Information Management and Technology - Programme Management Office
How to complete a mandate
What is a mandate for?
The purpose of a mandate is to provide IMT’s Projects Review Board with a clear understanding of a
customer’s project idea for their consideration.
For small projects or discrete pieces of work as part of a larger project a mandate is submitted in
order to obtain authorisation from the Projects Review Board to proceed with the work. For large
projects the purpose of a mandate is to gain approval from the Projects Review Board to submit a full
business case to the IT Project Board for approval to proceed with the work.
Who will see the mandate?
The mandate will be reviewed by a variety of decision makers including non-technical staff, therefore
it must be written in a way that it will be understood by all. Avoid technical terminology and acronyms
where possible but where they are used ensure they are adequately explained.
Step by step guide to completing a mandate
1) It is the Initiator’s responsibility to complete the mandate template. This includes identifying
stakeholders who should provide input into the mandate, prior to submitting the mandate to
the IMT Programme Management Office (PMO). A Business Analyst from the PMO can
provide advice if necessary.
2) The Initiator must submit the mandate to the PMO by the final submission date.
3) The Business Analysis Team will review the mandate received, liaise with the initiator and
update the mandate as necessary.
4) The Business Analyst team leader will submit the mandate to the IMT Executive Management
Group for review and approval.
5) Once approval and comments are received from the Executive Management Group the
Business Analyst will update the mandate and inform the initiator.
6) The Initiator or Project Sponsor will be invited to present the mandate at the Projects Review
Board meeting.
7) The Projects Review Board will provide their decision at their next monthly meeting.
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How to complete a mandate
Guidance for completing individual sections of the mandate
The following table includes guidance specific to individual sections of the mandate
Section
Guidance
Mandate
To be completed by IMT. Whether the mandate is for a work package or a
project. A work package is a discrete piece of work as part of a large
project.
Title
Title of the project or work package
IMT ref. no.
IMT unique reference number - To be completed by IMT
Initiator
The name of the person making the request to IMT
Email
Email address of the initiator
Phone
Phone number / extension of the initiator
Owner / Sponsor
The person responsible for the project or work package, e.g. Departmental
Manager, Director
Service / Dept. / Division
The service / department / division making the request
Business analyst
The business analyst assisting with writing the mandate - to be completed
by IMT
Date
The date that the mandate was initiated
Dependent project(s) /
work package(s)
This section lists any project or work package dependencies.
Relationship
Indicate whether the project or work package is:


a parent (i.e. this mandate depends on the other project / work
package) OR
a child (i.e. the other project / work package depends on this mandate)
Leave this section blank if there are no known relationships with other
projects / work packages.
IMT Ref. No.
The unique IMT reference number assigned to the dependency
Title
The title of the dependency
Correlation
This shows whether the relationship is:



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strong o this mandate is dependent on completion of the other project /
work package, if it is a parent relationship, or
o the other project / work package is dependent on the
completion of this mandate, if it is a child relationship)
medium o the implementation of the other project / work package
influences this mandate, if it is a parent relationship, OR
o the implementation of this mandate influences the other project
/ work package, if it is a child relationship
weak –
o the implementation of the other project / work package may
influence this mandate, if it is a parent relationship, OR
o the implementation of this mandate may influence the other
project / work package, if it is a child relationship
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This mandate has been
discussed with the Head
of Division or Divisional
Representative and it is
in line with divisional
strategy and operational
plans.
Set this to “checked” if relevant.
This mandate has been
reviewed by the named
Owner / Sponsor.
The Owner / Sponsor must review the mandate prior to submission. Note
that the responsibility of this task resides with the mandate Initiator.
Project / work package
size (to be filled in by
business analyst)
This is a ballpark estimation of the project or work package size, e.g. large,
medium or small.
N.B. The actual size of a small project and that of small work package will
be significantly different.
Priority allocated by
owner / sponsor
The priority (“high”, “medium” or “low”) set by the owner of the mandate will
be used by IMT to assess the relative priority of projects / work packages.
N.B. It is advised that mandates are submitted to the PMO within good time
of the work requiring completion, this will allow IMT the time needed to
prioritise.
Project Manager (if this is
a work package)
If the request is for a work package (i.e. a discrete piece of work which is
part of a larger project managed outside of IMT) this is the name of the
project manager.
Training
By ticking this box you flag up a potential need for support or guidance from
IMT Training,
1. Background
This describes the current situation triggering the request and / or the
rationale behind the request.
2. Objectives and
Requirements
This is a bullet point list of the high level objectives and requirements for
this project.
3. Benefits
List the benefits of the project; these could be at the level of team,
department / institute / division or School.
Benefits can include but are not limited to:
- reduced and avoided costs
- increased revenue
- operational efficiencies
- improved student / customer experience
- increased job satisfaction
- increased staff retention
- improved management information
- increased organisational reputation
- improved results in university rankings.
Both tangible and intangible benefits can be recorded (i.e. both measurable
and unmeasurable benefits.)
4. Project approach
This is a high level outline of how the project will be progressed. At this
stage, it may just be an indication that an evaluation exercise and cost
benefit analysis will be required, for example. Include details of the main
phases of the project if appropriate.
5. Systems and / or
This lists systems and / or interfaces, which the implementation of the
mandate is known to impact. It is only a provisional list and is subject to
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How to complete a mandate
interfaces affected
amendment when further details of the project or work package are known.
6. Stakeholders affected
This is a provisional list of stakeholders affected by the implementation of
the mandate.
7. PCI-DSS Compliance
1. Does the project involve implementing or amending any systems that
process credit or debit card payments from customers?
2. Does the affect the underlying infrastructure involved in the processing of
credit or debit card payments from customers?
If the answer is yes to either of these questions you will need to ensure you
have consulted with the PCI-DSS Compliance Group. Contact Keith Adams.
8. Timescales
This indicates the sponsor’s preferred completion date for the work outlined
within the mandate. Include timescales for the main phases of the project (if
appropriate).
9. Funding
This section provides the Projects Review Board with details of who is
funding the project and how much funding is required.
Budget code
This is the code allocated by Finance.
Narrative
This is the short description of the budget code.
Amount (in GBP)
This is the amount of funding available, specified in GBP.
10. Technical complexity
Representatives from Infrastructure and Applications to make an initial
technical complexity assessment of the project based on the below criteria.
Use the comments section to highlight the salient point(s) to justify your
selection.
Low complexity
Medium complexity
High complexity
Straightforward schedule with no
dependencies on other systems
or business processes
Schedule has few dependencies
on other systems or business
processes
Complex schedule with many
dependencies
Low total cost
<£10
Intermediate total cost
£10k - £50k
High total cost
>£50k
Tested technology, techniques
and procedures
Untested technology, techniques
or processes
Impacts single department
Impacts more than one
department
Extensive impact across multiple
departments
Personnel involved from a single
department
Personnel involved from more
than one department
Personnel involved from multiple
departments
Minimal supplier or external
consulting activities
Intermediate vendor and/or
external consulting activities
Extensive vendor and external
consulting activities
11. Resources where
business case is required
Where a business case will be required subsequent to mandate approval,
this indicates the level of resourcing required in order to complete the
business case, e.g. small, medium or large.
N.B. The values are in man days and not calendar days.
Programme Management
Office (Business Analyst)
This indicates the level of business analyst resource required in order to
complete the business case.


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Small - less than 5 days
Medium - between 5 to 10 days
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
Infrastructure
This indicates the level of Infrastructure resource required in order to
complete the business case.



Applications
Large - greater than 10 days
Small - less than 1 day
Medium - between 1 to 2 days
Large - greater than 2 days
This indicates the level of Applications resource required in order to
complete the business case.



Small - less than 2 days
Medium - between 2 to 4 days
Large - greater than 4 days
Appendix to the mandate – Supporting documentation may optionally be added to the mandate as
necessary.
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How to complete a mandate
Guidance on how to use the controls within the mandate
Choose an item
 Where the phrase “Choose an item.” is displayed, if you want to select a value, click on the text
to display the “combo box”.

Click on the down arrow () to display the dropdown list
and click on the appropriate value. E.g.
When you click on another location on the document, the combo box will disappear and only the
selected value will be displayed.
Click here to enter a date
 Click on the text
to display the date selector.

Click on the down arrow () to display the calendar.
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How to complete a mandate
If necessary, use the left arrow () and right arrow () at the top of the calendar to scroll through
to the month required, and then click on the day required. E.g.
When you click on another location on the document, the date selector will disappear and only
the selected date will be displayed. E.g.
Checkbox – to change its value to “checked”

Where there is a checkbox (
), right mouse click on the checkbox to display a pop-up menu.
Then click on the Properties option.
This will display a pop-up screen for Check Box Field Options.
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How to complete a mandate

Select the
and then
and the
radio button “Checked”,
the
button. This will close the pop-up screen,
box will then be displayed as checked. E.g.
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