Out of the box, every ServiceNow user can set up delegation for themselves. Head to your profile, pick a delegate, set the date range, choose which areas to delegate (Approvals, Assignments, All Notifications, Meeting invitations - done. The problem is people forget to do it before they go on vacation.

That's where the role_delegator role comes in.

Most admins don't know this role exists. What it does is simple: it lets a user configure delegation on behalf of someone else. So when your director is already on a beach somewhere and approvals are piling up, a service desk agent or team lead with role_delegator can step in and set up the delegation for them. Same process, different person doing it.

This isn't a role you hand out broadly. Assign it to team leads, or platform admins - people who are actually responsible for keeping workflows moving.

One thing worth doing once you have role delegators in place: create a Navigator module pointing directly to the Delegation table (sys_user_delegate). It saves them from digging through menus every time and makes the whole process faster and more consistent.

Small role, but you'll be glad it exists.