Not only is it practical, but it's actually been done. Ian Martin went to the head of the formal formation of the mission and wrote a report that essentially informed headquarters as to what the viable outcomes could be. Libya fell apart, but that isn't a shortcoming of that process. Actually, that is an example of a relatively low-cost light touch but very effective way to write a mandate.
I think if you would have done a different mandate on Libya without that, there would have been a very different sense of where the political entry points were in the periphery.
Sorry, I see the paper again. I seem to get to the paper fast.