The Project Mandate

Do I need a template for a Project mandate? No, not really. There are no format or content recommendations to the Project Mandate in PRINCE2. But, if you are able to standardize a project mandate approach in your organization, you should use the opportunity to make sure the project mandates capture information in a way that makes it easy build on in the Project Brief. Why not use the first part of the Project Definition? That is what the suggested Project Mandate template in the PRINCE2 Templates section is doing.


The Project Mandate triggers a controlled Starting Up process in a PRINCE2 project. The Project Mandate doesn't officially start the project. This sounds like a paradox, but the project doesn't start until  the Starting Up process is completed and Project Brief, Outline Business Case and Initiation Stage Plan are all approved.


It is tempting to build too much into a Project Mandate Template. The more you have in the project mandate template, the easier it is to build the Project Brief and Business Case, but a too extensive Project Mandate template will stall triggering a Starting Up process and will potentially tempt stakeholders to avoid the Project Mandate step altogether.




Related articles:

• Project Mandate template on the PRINCE2 Templates page 
• A Brief PRINCE2 Project Brief Template
• PRINCE2 Project Brief Template

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