Approval Delegation

Nilesh Pol
Kilo Sage
Kilo Sage

Hi All,I am working on the scenario: When a manager (approver) is on leave, approvals should not get stuck.
So the manager can assign a delegate for a specific period, and during that time:

Approval requests automatically go to the delegate

System still remembers who the original approver was

Audit/history clearly shows approval was done on behalf of someone.

 

please assist me with any suggestion will be appreciated.

4 REPLIES 4

Kieran Anson
Kilo Patron

Delegation, inclusive of approvals, is an OOTB capability and is available on the docs. Depending on what you're wishing to delegate, granular delegation may also be an option. Depends on the complexity

 

https://www.servicenow.com/docs/csh?topicname=t_DelegateApprovalsTasks.html&version=latest 

adityahubli
Mega Guru

Hello @Nilesh Pol ,

ServiceNow provides an out-of-the-box (OOTB) Delegation feature that allows a user to define a time period during which another user can approve requests on their behalf. Using delegation, you can control from when to when the delegate can act, and also configure whether the delegate should receive approval, notifications and task assignments.

I have attached reference images that demonstrate this configuration for better understanding.

 

Regards,

Aditya,

Technical Consultant

 

 

 

Screenshot 2025-12-30 170923.pngScreenshot 2025-12-30 171051.png

Dhanraj B
Tera Expert

Yes you are right, if "Senior Manager" is on leave, the approval should be routed to the "Manager" as per the delegation. But I'm not sure with ServiceNow's logic on this. I think, ServiceNow didn't include the part of checking delegations before sending the approvals.

 

Or else you can DIY, by adding lookup for the delegates before sending the approval. Use flow variables or something (I just assumed that you are using the flow designer) and assign the approval accordingly.

 

-Dhanraj.

Brian Sorensen
Tera Guru

You may have answered this, but how does SN know they are on leave?

We had this as a block too. Our solution was tied to geofence requests. 
when a person requested access outside of their zone, we put an option on the form to delegate approvals and let them pick who to send them to. 
in the flow we then routed approvals during that time.