Delegate work overview

Last update: October 22, 2024

CREATED FOR:

  • User

When you plan to be out of the office for a short period of time, you can temporarily delegate your work to other users to ensure that your absence does not become a roadblock to work being completed.

For example, if certain tasks are due before you return but you do not have the time to complete them before you leave, you can delegate your tasks to another user so they can complete them on time and not delay the completion of the project until after you return.

You can delegate the following objects in Adobe Workfront:

  • Tasks assigned to you

  • Issues assigned to you

  • Project, task, or issue approvals assigned to you.

    TIP
    You cannot delegate timesheet, document, or proof approvals.

This article contains general information about delegating tasks and issues assigned to you.

For information about delegating project, task, and issue approvals, see Delegate approval request.

For information about how to delegate tasks and issues, see Delegate tasks and issues.

Delegate tasks and issues overview

Consider the following when you delegate tasks and issues:

  • Your Workfront or group administrator must enable the Delegation preferences in the Setup area before you can delegate your work to others.

    For information, see Configure system-wide task and issue preferences.

  • You can delegate tasks and issues only from the Home area.

  • When delegating work, there are exceptions for the following license types:

    • You can delegate work to Reviewers or Requestors, although Workfront doesn’t recommend it.
    • Reviewers can delegate work to others. They cannot view work items in their Home area. They can view only approvals.
    • Requestors cannot delegate work to others. They cannot view work items in their Home area

  • You can only delegate the tasks and issues assigned to you. You cannot delegate tasks and issues that are assigned to other users, teams, or job roles.

  • You can only delegate tasks and issues that are not completed before the delegation’s start date.

  • If a work item completes during the delegation time frame, the item remains in the Home area of the delegate and of the assignee for 2 weeks before Workfront automatically removes it.

  • The users that you select as delegates receive the same permissions as your permissions on the tasks and issues you delegate to them. The permissions must work within their access levels, and sometimes their access levels might be lower than yours.

NOTE
For items that are assigned after the delegation already started, it can take up to one hour after the item was assigned for Workfront to share the newly-assigned items with the delegate.

  • If additional tasks and issues are assigned to you during the time you have selected to have your work delegated to other users, the new assigned work is automatically delegated to the same person for the time frame you selected if the task or issue dates are within that time frame.

  • The same user can be selected as the delegate by multiple users.

  • Delegated tasks and issues do not display in resource management tools, like the Workload Balancer or the Resource Planner for the delegated users.

  • You can view delegated work and delegates names in several areas of Workfront. For more information, see the section “Locate delegated work and delegates information” in the article Delegate tasks and issues.

    IMPORTANT
    If a user has only View access to tasks in their access level and you have Manage permissions on the tasks you delegate to them, they receive Manage permissions to the tasks you delegate to them. However, they will not be able to perform the same actions as you on the delegated tasks. They must request Edit access to Tasks from the system administrator to be able to update tasks in your absence.

  • Stopping delegation does not remove the permissions given to the delegated users on the tasks and issues they have been delegated on.

  • If a system or disables the Allow users to delegate their tasks & issues setting in the Setup area, the currently delegated users are removed from the tasks and issues they have previously been delegated to. Their permissions to the tasks or issues are not removed.

Differences and similarities between assignments and delegations

ActionAssignmentsDelegations
An assigned or delegated user can edit or delete the work item they are assigned or delegated toBased on permissions and access levelBased on permissions and access level
An assigned or delegated user displays in the work item’s headerYesYes
The assigned or delegated tasks or issues display in the assignee’s or delegate’s Home areaYes, until the item is completedYes, only for the time frame of the delegation
You can assign or delegate work to users from the Home areaYesYes
You can assign or delegate work to users using theYesNo
You can assign or delegate work to users in a list, or from a work item’s headerYesNo
Any user can assign or delegate other users with work items that they are not associated withBased on permissions and access levelNo. Only the assignee can delegate their own items.
Planned, Actual, or Budgeted Hours for work assigned or delegated to a user display for that user in resource management toolsYesNo
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