By virtue of their appointments, heads of organizational units have been delegated authority to approve departmental transactions.

The department heads can re-delegate authority to department representatives within the boundaries of policy (UCD PPM 330-10). If you are a fiscal officer, the authority to approve transactions in KFS has been delegated to you. As a fiscal officer, you may create delegates to approve transactions on your behalf.

Delegates aid in separation of duties (UCD PPM 330-11), help the fiscal officer handle the workload, and enable transactions to be completed in the fiscal officer’s absence. Delegates are established per account based on document type and dollar amount.

Note: When delegating, you are delegating responsibility, not accountability.  

In order to delegate approval authorization, the following are needed, and should be kept on file in your department:  

1. Letter of delegation or delegation within a system.
2. Written goals and objectives that define accountability and responsibility. 

For more information on what responsibilities can be delegated, visit the Administrator's Responsibilities & Resources Handbook - Delegation pages.

There are two types of delegates in KFS:

1. Primary: When a primary delegate is created, documents route to the delegate for approval instead of to the fiscal officer. The Fiscal Officer can still locate and approve the document if needed (e.g., the delegate is unavailable). If an account has more than one primary delegate, the document routes to all of them. When one of the primary delegates approves the document, the document is removed from the Action Lists of all other primary delegates. Primary delegates are often used for low value transactions, allowing the account manager to focus on higher value transactions.
2. Non-primary: When a non-primary delegate is created, documents route to the Fiscal Officer. The delegate can locate and approve the document if needed (e.g., the Fiscal Officer is unavailable). If an account has more than one non-primary delegate, the document can be accessed by all of them. When one of the non-primary delegates approves the document, it disappears from the Action List of the Fiscal Officer and delegates. Use of non-primary delegates allows business to go on in the absence of the Fiscal Officer.

Please note the following:

• If a delegate is a primary or secondary delegate for the accounts on a transaction document, and the delegate approves the transaction, the delegate will be approving for all accounts on that transaction.  This is the case for all accounts unless it is first approved by the fiscal officer of an account.
• It is strongly recommended that every account have at least one non-primary delegate that can approve all transactions regardless of dollar amount.

For more information on delegates, please visit the Delegate process page.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I create a delegate?
• To learn how to create a delegate in KFS, please visit the the Delegate process page.
• How do I modify or remove a delegate?

• To modify or remove a delegate you will need to use the Account Delegate Document or the Account Global Document. To learn more about these documents, visit the Delegate process page.

  It is strongly recommended that every account have at least one non-primary delegate that can approve all transactions regardless of dollar amount.

• As a Fiscal Officer, how do I access documents pending approval of a primary delegate?
• The Fiscal Officer and any other delegates on the account can access the document by selecting the name of the approver on whose behalf they are approving from the Choose Secondary Delegation drop-down menu from the upper right corner of their Action List in KFS.
• How do I find out the names of delegates I've assigned?
• In FIS Decision Support, use the Account Delegate Lookup (167) query. On the input page, fill in the Delegate User ID field and any other applicable field based on how specific you want the results to be. Then click Process Query.
• How do I act as a delegate?

• When serving as a delegate, you are acting on behalf of the fiscal officer. Become familiar with the fiscal officer's responsibilities and review the approving transactions page before acting as a delegate. Do not approve transactions that do not comply with university policies and procedures, external regulations, and terms and conditions of agreements.

  Primary delegates: documents will be available in your Action List.

  Non-primary delegates: by selecting the name of the approver on whose behalf they are approving from the Choose Secondary Delegation drop-down menu from the upper right corner of their Action List in KFS.