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What is the actual purpose of Approval Delegation if Workgroup members can already approve on each other's behalf without it?

  • July 31, 2026
  • 7 replies
  • 44 views
S
Freshman I

Hi Team, through testing, we've confirmed:

  • Delegation only works if the delegate is already listed as an authorized approver (in the Approval Map or Workgroup) for that step. Delegating to someone outside the map/workgroup has no effect - they can't see or act on the item, even though the delegation is saved.
  • If a person is already a listed approver/workgroup member, they can approve on a colleague's behalf regardless of whether delegation was set up at all - simply because they're already authorized.
  • This raises the question: what scenario is Delegation actually solving, if a Workgroup member doesn't need to be delegated to act, and a non-Workgroup member can't act even if delegated?

Is Delegation intended for a narrower use case - for example, routing to a specific single person outside the group (rather than "any workgroup member"), or perhaps intended for approval maps that use a single named Employee approver (not Workgroup-based) so there's normally no built-in backup? Any clarification on the intended design/use case would help us decide whether to build our processes around Delegation or purely around Workgroups.

FYI - we are currently on 2025 R1 and will be upgrading to 2026 R1 this October. Does 2026 R1 include any fix, enhancement, or solution addressing this

7 replies

R
Captain II
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​@syalla Delegation in Acumatica is primarily intended as a temporary replacement mechanism when a specific approver is unavailable due to vacation or leave. Instead of modifying the approval map, the system automatically reassigns approvals to the delegate during the specified period. However, the delegate must already have the necessary access and approval permissions to view and approve the document.

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    R
    Captain II
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    ​@syalla Also I didnt found any changes in 25R2 or in 26R1 on the approval side.

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    S
    Freshman I
    • syalla
    • Author
    • Freshman I
    • July 31, 2026

    Thank you ​@ranjithduraisamy72  but here your answer explains that instead of changing the approval maps we can delegate to someone, that means delegation can be done any of the people not necessarily to be there in work groups right?

    my test results saying that approver should be there in work groups, otherwise even we delegate some person (who are not in approvers list or approval maps/work groups but still have access to those screens) they can’t approve it from their end

    Can you list out the changes you found in 25r1 and 26r1 on the approval side?

    Thank you,
    Satya

    R
    Captain II
    Forum|alt.badge.img+3

    ​@syalla I didnt found any changes in the approval side in 25R2 and in 26R1

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    S
    Freshman I
    • syalla
    • Author
    • Freshman I
    • July 31, 2026
    ​@ranjithduraisamy72 I can see that you mentioned initially like ‘did found any changes’ so asked again, ignore that question, can you respond on other one which i have asked you
    Thank you

     

    R
    Captain II
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    ​@syalla That was a typo sorry about that. I didn't find any changes to the approval workflow . There are a few updates, but they appear to be limited to screen-level enhancements, such as the Approval History and a few other changes.

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      S
      Freshman I
      • syalla
      • Author
      • Freshman I
      • July 31, 2026

      ​@ranjithduraisamy72  Sorry if i confuse you

      I am asking on the above answer you given

      “but here your answer explains that instead of changing the approval maps we can delegate to someone, that means delegation can be done any of the people not necessarily to be there in work groups right?

      my test results saying that approver should be there in work groups, otherwise even we delegate some person (who are not in approvers list or approval maps/work groups but still have access to those screens) they can’t approve it from their end”

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