--- title: "How to Assign a Substitute to Your Direct Report" description: "Step-by-step guide to assigning a substitute for an absent employee in the Vitextra Substitutions web part: open the Assign a substitute panel, fill in the person, the substitute, the kind, the dates and the responsibilities, and follow the substitution until the substitute confirms it." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10337 language: en published: 2026-10-28 modified: 2026-10-28 products: - "Absence & Coverage" author: "Lidija Reising" tags: ["assign a substitute", "substitute for absent employee", "Vitextra Substitutions", "temporary cover", "SharePoint Online absence substitute", "manager assigns substitute", "waiting for confirmation"] --- # How to Assign a Substitute to Your Direct Report Step-by-step guide to assigning a substitute for an absent employee in the Vitextra Substitutions web part: open the Assign a substitute panel, fill in the person, the substitute, the kind, the dates and the responsibilities, and follow the substitution until the substitute confirms it. ## Overview Employees can name a substitute in their own time-off request. Sometimes this is not enough: the employee forgets, the absence is unplanned, or you simply want to arrange cover yourself. In that case you create a substitution directly in the Substitutions web part with the **Assign a substitute** button. This article shows how to assign a substitute to a direct report, what the fields mean, and what happens after you save. ❗ **Important** The product must already be installed and the Substitutions web part added to a page of your site. If it is not, start with [KB10035. How to Install a Vitextra Product in SharePoint Online](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10035) and [KB10324. How to Add the Absence & Coverage Web Parts to a Page and Select the Site](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10324). --- ## Assign a substitute step by step 1. Open the page with the Substitutions web part and click **Assign a substitute** in the toolbar. The **Assign a substitute** panel opens on the right. 2. In **Absent person**, replace your own name with the employee who is away. Start typing a name and select the person from the suggestions. 3. In **Substitute**, select the colleague who will cover. 4. In **Kind of substitution**, keep **Temporary** for cover during an absence. Choose **Handover of duties** only when duties pass on permanently (see [KB10349. How to Hand Over Duties When an Employee Leaves (No End Date)](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10349)). 5. Select the **Start date** and the **End date**. For a temporary substitution both dates are required. 6. In **Responsibilities**, describe what the substitute takes over: tasks, approvals, customers, shared mailboxes. The text is shown to everybody who sees the substitution. 7. Click **Save**. The panel closes and the message *The substitution was created. The substitute has to confirm it.* appears above the list. ![The Assign a substitute panel with all fields filled in](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10337/assign-substitute-panel-en.png) *The Assign a substitute panel with all fields filled in* --- ## The fields of the panel | Field | Required | Notes | |:---|:---|:---| | Absent person | Yes | One person. Prefilled with your own name; change it to your direct report. The product does not restrict the choice to your direct reports. | | Substitute | Yes | One person. It cannot be the absent person. | | Kind of substitution | Yes | Temporary (default) or Handover of duties. For a handover the panel shows the hint *A handover of duties has no end date unless you set one.* | | Start date | Yes | First day of the cover. | | End date | Yes for Temporary | Cannot be earlier than the start date. Optional for a handover; the label then reads End date (optional). | | Responsibilities | No | Free multi-line text. | If something is missing, the panel shows an error above the fields instead of saving: *Select the person who is absent.*, *Select the substitute.*, *The substitute cannot be the absent person.*, *Select the start and end dates.* or *The end date cannot be earlier than the start date.* --- ## What happens after you save The new substitution always starts with the status **Waiting for confirmation**: it does not take effect until the substitute confirms it. Everyone involved finds it in a different place: | Who | Where | What they see | |:---|:---|:---| | The substitute | **I cover** tab, with a number badge | The **Accept** and **Decline** buttons ([KB10347. How to Accept or Decline a Substitution](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10347)) | | The absent employee | **Covering me** tab | The substitute and the status pill; the **Cancel substitution** action | | You and everyone else | **Who covers whom** tab (filter *Running and planned*) | The pair Substitute → Absent person, the period, the kind and the status ([KB10348. How to Find Out Who Covers Whom](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10348)) | ![A newly created substitution waiting for confirmation](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10337/who-covers-whom-new-pending-row-en.png) *A newly created substitution waiting for confirmation* 📝 **Note** The product sends no e-mail or Teams message. Tell the substitute that a substitution is waiting: the person sees it with a number badge on the **I cover** tab the next time they open the page. --- ## Assign from the list of absences without a substitute If the employee already has an approved absence, there is a quicker way. Open the **No substitute** tab and click **Assign** in the row of that absence. The same panel opens with the person and the dates already filled in, and the new substitution is tied to that absence ([KB10338. How to Find Absences Without a Substitute](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10338)). A substitution created with the toolbar button is not tied to any request and is not recognised as cover for a specific absence there. ❗ **Important** Only the absent person can cancel a substitution in the web part, using **Cancel substitution**. As the manager, you cannot cancel a substitution you created for your direct report. If you assigned the wrong substitute, ask the employee to cancel it and create a new one.