I would like to know if Frappe/ERPNext provides any built-in delegation feature that allows users to temporarily delegate their responsibilities, approvals, or assigned tasks to another user during their absence.
For example, if a manager or approver is on leave or unavailable, they should be able to delegate their approval responsibilities to another authorized user for a specified period.
I would appreciate guidance on the following:
Does ERPNext have a standard delegation of authority feature?
Can users temporarily delegate their workflow approvals and assigned tasks to another user?
Is it possible to configure delegation with a start date and end date, after which responsibilities automatically revert to the original user?
Can delegated users approve or reject workflow requests on behalf of the original approver while maintaining a proper audit trail?
If this functionality is not available out of the box, are there any recommended approaches, customizations, or existing Frappe apps that support it?
I would prefer to explore existing ERPNext/Frappe capabilities before considering custom development.
Any guidance, documentation, or implementation examples would be greatly appreciated.
There’s nothing like this out of the box, and it would be complex to implement because permissions can be assigned in a number of different ways (role, user, doctype-defined, etc.)
Just off the top of my head, I suspect the best way to implement something like this would be to extend the “impersonate” functionality. Impersonations are all logged, so it would be auditable, though the UI doesn’t always highlight impersonated actions as such.
I had tried Delegation, but had multiple use case to be handle and functionally not correct.
You can create a form that fetches all Roles applied to a User and sets it to Delgation User.
In the same Manner, you’ll also have to handle the User Permission, where you need to fetch user permission from main user and create the same for Delegated User.
With the above approach, your major of Delegation requirements get completed. But then comes the questions
If the Delegated User had Purchase User role and now after Delegation has been give Purchase Approver role as well, the Workflow should consider which role in Primary ?
The Delegated user will get access to historic data as well in this case. Do we want that to happen or only new entries needing approval ?
If Frappe HR is present, you will also have to manage the Reports To, Expense Approver, Leave Approver .
Once you have answers to above question, Technical development will not a challenge.