Clients and mandates

A prospective client becomes active when the partner confirms the relationship and billing terms. The engagement manager then records a named mandate with the client, lead consultant, owning organization, fee value and budget hours. Retained and contingent assignments both use the mandate record; the mandate type names the commercial model. Dates and status let the team distinguish a proposed search from active delivery or a search on hold.

• Source record. Keep client ownership and billing terms on Clients; put the assignment value, budget, dates and lead consultant on client mandates. Organizations groups the practice responsible for the work.
• Named owner. Client Partner confirms the commercial terms before Engagement Manager moves the mandate into delivery. Practice Lead uses the same mandate baseline to review budget use.
• Visible outcome. Check the source status and linked evidence before the next person acts.

Agree who can change fee value, budget hours and mandate status. Use the client code and mandate code as stable identifiers during migration. Link the lead consultant and owning organization before asking the team to record delivery. Review active and on-hold mandates separately so a paused search is not treated as available work.

For example, a client asks for a retained search with a fee value and a fixed delivery window. The partner checks the client record and its billing terms. The manager records the mandate and its lead consultant. If the scope changes, update the mandate only after the commercial owner agrees the new value and hours. The margin desk then compares the contracted amount with delivered, approved and invoiced delivery. It helps the practice lead see whether the budget is being consumed before the fee is collected.

If the client changes the search window, compare the new dates with the lead consultant’s plan. Keep the original fee agreement available to the partner when updating the mandate. The manager should check that delivery lines refer to the revised assignment rather than a similar search for the same client.

Keep the client’s payment terms on the client record, since a mandate may change while the relationship continues. This lets finance verify the agreed terms before creating a linked fee payment.

• Proposed Mandates — Compare proposed searches by client and lead consultant before activating the assignment.
• Active Clients — Find the client relationship and billing terms that support the mandate.

See the related process and review the record model.