Understanding Delegation

Delegation is when a person authorizes another to serve as a his or her representative for a particular task of responsibility. With the Delegation feature, users can authorize other users to perform managerial tasks on their behalf by delegating authority to initiate or approve managerial transactions.

Delegation of authority to perform managerial transactions is usually prompted by one of these scenarios:

A manager takes leave and wants to delegate authority of managerial transactions to another person while away from the office.
A senior executive does not have the time to process transactions and wants to delegate this authority to another person, such as an assistant.

For more information, see the video feature overview on PeopleSoft Fluid Delegation

Video: PeopleSoft Fluid Delegations

Note: By default, Fluid Delegation is enabled for all PeopleSoft applications. However, HCM applications can still choose to implement classic delegation. If classic Delegation Framework is enabled for your PeopleSoft HCM application, then refer the classic Delegation Framework documentation in the HCM Application Fundamentals book.

Delegation Terminology

The following terms are important to the understanding of Delegation feature and are used throughout these topics:

Term	Definition
Delegation	The act of delegating one's authority to another user.
Delegator	A person that delegates authority to another user.
Proxy	A person granted authority to act on behalf of another user.
Delegate Initiation	The Delegation Framework allows you to separate the task of initiating a transaction from approving the same transaction on someone's behalf. Delegator may delegate authority for a proxy to only initiate or submit a transaction on the delegator's behalf.
Delegate Approvals	The Delegation framework allows you to separate the task of initiating a transaction from approving the same transaction on someone's behalf. Delegator may delegate authority for a proxy to only approve or deny a transaction on the delegator's behalf.
Delegated Authority	The rights and privileges that are delegated from the delegator to the proxy.
Delegation Request	A request from the delegator to the proxy to take on delegated authority.
Delegation Period	The time range in which the delegated authority is in effect.
Delegation Administrator	The system administrator who is responsible for configuring, managing, and maintaining delegated authorities.
Revoke	When a delegator or delegation administrator withdraws delegated authority.

Delegation Framework

The core of the Delegation feature is the Delegation framework. The Delegation framework manages a proxy's authority over a delegated transaction. When a proxy has delegated authority, the Delegation framework temporarily assigns the proxy a unique role that is specific to the delegated transaction. The role enables the proxy to access the components and pages associated with the delegated transaction. When the proxy no longer has delegated authority, the Delegation framework removes that role and thus prevents the proxy from performing the transaction.

The Delegation framework supports the following types of delegation:

Downward delegation of authority to a direct report or another person lower down in the reporting hierarchy.
Upward delegation of authority to a manager or another person higher up in the reporting hierarchy.
Lateral delegation of authority to a peer either within the same division or in a different division within the reporting hierarchy

Integration with the Approval Framework

The Delegation framework integrates with the Approval Framework. This integration provides several benefits. First, the integration between the Delegation framework and Approval Framework makes the Approval Framework aware of delegated authorities in the system. Second, the Delegation framework uses the Approval Framework to manage the acceptance and rejection of delegation requests.

Delegation Request Creation Through Self-Service

The Delegation framework is a component of the PeopleSoft self-service solution. Users can create delegation requests for selected transactions through self-services pages.

When creating a delegation request, the delegator can:

Delegate only the transactions to which they have access.
For example, an employee who is not a manager does not have access to manager self-service transactions and, therefore, cannot delegate manager-specific transactions.
Delegate to only one proxy per delegation period per transaction.
Delegate all transactions to a single proxy, or delegate different transactions to different proxies.

Delegation Administration

Delegation administrators can use the administrative components for delegation to perform several useful tasks. They can:

Create delegation requests on behalf of delegators through the Adding Delegation Requests by Administrator component.
Review delegation requests and, if necessary, revoke them on behalf of delegators through the Administer Delegation Page
Process all delegation transactions in batch daily through the Maintain Delegated Authorities Page.

Notifications

The system uses email and worklist notifications to notify managers and proxies of new delegation requests and transactions pending approval. The system creates a worklist item only on the proxy's worklist, not on the delegator's worklist (provided that you have set up worklist items as a preference for receiving notifications). The system sends email notifications for approval to the proxy and, if approval framework is configured correctly, the system also sends the delegator a courtesy email notification. Delegation administrators can use the Generic Templates component to configure different email templates for the proxy and delegator.

See Reviewing Delivered Notification Templates for Delegation.

Requests Statuses and Delegation Statuses

The Delegation framework manages delegation requests through request statuses and delegation statuses. A request status defines the status of the delegation request. A delegation status defines whether a proxy's delegation authority is active or inactive. The combination of these two statuses determines how the Delegation framework handles delegations.

This table lists request statuses for delegation and describes how the Delegation framework handles a delegation depending on the delegation status associated with each request status:

Request Status	Delegation Status	Description
Submitted	Inactive	When a delegator creates a new delegation request the system sets the request status to Submitted and delegation status to Inactive.
Accepted	Active	When a proxy accepts a delegation request, the system sets the request status to Accepted. The delegation status becomes Active only when the following two conditions occur: The proxy accepts the delegation request. The system date is greater than or equal to the From Date and less than or equal to the To Date of the delegation period. Once the delegation status becomes Active, the system reassigns all pending transactions from the delegator to the proxy. The system also assigns the proxy a temporary permission list and role for the transaction, which grants the proxy navigation access to the online transaction. If the To Date of the delegation request is blank, the request status remains Active until revoked by delegator or administrator.
Accepted	Inactive	If the proxy accepts the delegation request but the delegation request is future-dated, the delegation status remains Inactive until the system date is greater than or equal to the From Date.
Rejected	Inactive	When a proxy rejects a delegation request, the system sets the request status to Rejected. The delegation status remains Inactive.
Ended	Inactive	When the delegation authority period for the proxy expires, the system sets the request status to Ended and changes the delegation status to Inactive. This change occurs when the system date is greater than the To Date of the delegation authority period. The system reassigns all pending transactions from the proxy to the delegator. The system also removes the proxy's temporary permission list and role, which removes the proxy's navigation access to the online transaction.
Revoked	Inactive	When the delegator revokes a delegation request or the delegation administrator revokes the delegation request on behalf of the delegator, the system sets the request status to Revoked and changes the delegation status to Inactive. The system reassigns all pending transactions from the proxy to the delegator. The system also removes the proxy's temporary permission list and role, which removes the proxy's navigation access to the online transaction.

Implementation Considerations for Delegation

When implementing Delegation functionality, you should consider the following:

The important considerations are:

Should you enable delegation functionality?
What transactions should you enable for delegation?
What hierarchy should you enable for delegation?

You should also analyze the following security needs and create a plan that covers these needs:

Analyze delivered permission lists and roles for delegation components to decide if the implementation will use the delivered objects or create new objects.
Decide how to define a standard user profile for the delegation administrator that contains the relevant roles.
Decide how to define a standard user profile for the delegator that contains the relevant roles.
Decide how to define a standard user profile for the proxy that contains the relevant roles.
Decide if the delegator and proxy should have the same or different profiles.

Steps to Set Up Delegation

To implement transactions in the delegation framework:

Register delegation transactions for workflow on the Workflow Transactions Page.
Set up delegation permission lists and roles through PeopleTools Security components.
Define installation settings for delegation on the Installation Settings Page.
Configure transactions for delegation on the Configure Delegation Transaction Page.

Steps to Synchronize Portal Security

You must run the Portal Security Synchronization process for users, who have permission, to access some Delegation pages.

Navigate to:
- (PeopleToos 8.58) PeopleTools > Portal > Portal Security Sync
- (PeopleToos 8.59) PeopleTools > Portal > Sync Portal Security
The Synchronize all portals and Delete invalid security check boxes don't need to be selected.
In the Portal Name field, enter the portal that is giving you the "You are not authorized to access this component." message.