1.16 The Department issued the Statement of Business Requirement to bidders in 1997, requiring the successful supplier to deliver a single national system which all Magistrates' Courts Committees would be expected to use. Although the IT system would require standardisation of some business processes, the Department did not attempt to dictate what working practices Committees should follow. The Department expected Committees to adapt their processes to the system as part of the migration process. The Department considered that a standard IT system would determine some business processes but would also leave scope for local variations in the way a unit organised or the IT systems would be used.