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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-02-21
Concept: Act On Behalf Of Another User

Concept: Act On Behalf Of Another User

Workday makes it easy for you to manage and perform delegated tasks.

View Delegated Tasks

You can view your delegated tasks using:
  • My Tasks
    Advanced Search
    . Select
    Delegated to Me
     in the Assignment prompt.
  • The
    View My Delegation Assignments
     report.

Perform Delegated Tasks

When tasks are delegated to you, you switch accounts to perform the tasks on behalf of another user. Workday displays the Switch Account option in:
  • The menu displayed when you click your name or photo in the application header.
  • Delegated items in My Tasks.
Selecting
Switch Account
 displays a list of users who have delegated My Tasks items or initiating actions to you. Select the user for whom you want to act as a delegate.
If you start a proxy session as a user that has tasks delegated to them, you won't be able to select
Switch Accounts
.
After you switch accounts, Workday displays:
  • On Behalf of
    , followed by the name and photo of the delegator at the top of the page.
  • The Delegation Dashboard, which includes the
    Delegated Actions
     worklet, and from which you can take initiating actions on any business processes that have been delegated to you by the user on whose behalf you are acting.
  • My Tasks, which (when selected) contains only the My Tasks items delegated to you by the user on whose behalf you are acting, and from which you can view the details and complete the tasks.
Delegated My Tasks items are displayed in your My Tasks area for your own Workday account as well. The action item titles display
On Behalf of
, followed by the name of the delegator to indicate that they are delegated tasks. However, you can’t view the details or complete the tasks until you switch accounts. You also can’t view the details of or complete delegated tasks steps, such as those found in the Onboarding business process.
To switch back to your Workday account, select
Switch Account
 again, and select your own name.

Security Considerations

When a delegate performs a task after they
Switch Account
 to act on behalf of the delegator, Workday knows that the delegate is acting on behalf of the delegator and, for the scope of this task, evaluates security for the original owner. Ensure the business process type delegation configuration doesn’t contain additional permissions for the delegation.

Notifications

When tasks are delegated to you, Workday sends you a
Workday Delegated Tasks Update
 notification.
You might not receive this notification immediately after the delegating user submits the delegation request in their tenant. Depending on how Workday is configured and which tasks you’re delegating, the request could first require reviews and approvals. If applicable, Workday sends both the worker and either the delegate or the alternate delegate receives confirmation notifications when the delegations are approved and go into effect.

Excluded Tasks

When you configure an Action, Approval, or To Do step to exclude My Tasks notifications and you delegate the task, the:
  • Delegate and delegator won't be able to access the excluded task from My Tasks.
  • Task won't display in My Tasks when the delegate switches account to act as the delegator.
  • Delegate won't be able to run the
    Business Process Transactions Awaiting Me
     report as the delegator.
Workday recommends that you don't configure the exclude functionality on tasks that are delegated often.