On-Call Schedules
On-Call schedules are composed of calendar events. Each calendar event is associated with a user(s) and a layer.
Tutorial Video
A quick high level video explaining how to read on-call schedules, how the esclation process works, and how to create/edit/delete events.
Create an Event
- Double click a day on the calendar, or click and drag the crosshairs.
- In the create event form, specify the following.
- Start Date/Time
- End Date/Time
- Team Members - The team members this event is assigned to
- Layer - The schedule layer this is assigned to
- Click the Save button.
Update an Event
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- Click the Edit button on the “What would you like to do?” question.
- Edit any info associated with the event.
- Click the Save button.
Delete an Event
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- Click the Delete button on the “What would you like to do?” question.
Override an Event
If you would like to “override” an event (ex: change who is schedule for a period of time temporarily), its as simple as creating an event for the duration you would like to override.
- Just like creating an event, double click a day on the calendar, or click and drag the cross hairs.
- In the create event from, specify the following for the overriding event.
- Start Date/Time (of the override)
- End Date/Time (of the overide)
- Team Members - The team members that should be overriding the event
- Layer - The schedule layer to override
- PagerTree will detect there is already someone else schedule on-call and ask you if this is an override or a single event. Click “Yes, override”
The overrided event should now be shown on the calendar.
Copy an Event
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- Click the Copy button on the “What would you like to do?” question.
- Edit any info associated with the event. (most likely layer and team members)
- Click the Save button.
Recurring Events
Recurring events are a great way to create predictable repeating schedules.
Recur an Event
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- Toggle the Repeat switch
- Set days, frequency, and end on option for the recurrence to fit your needs.
- Click the Save button.
Update A Series
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- In the “Series or Occurrence?” form, click the Series button.
- In the “What would you like to do?” form, click the Edit Series button.
- Edit any info associated with the series.
- Click the Save button.
Update An Occurrence
It’s likely that at some point, there will be an exception to a recurring series. By modifying the occurrence of recurring event, you can handle such exceptions.
- Select the event you would like to update.
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- In the “Modify Series or Occurrence?” form, click the Occurrence button.
- In the “What would you like to do?” form, click the Edit Occurence button.
- Edit the duration, layer, or user associated with the occurrence.
- Click the Save button.
Delete an Occurrence
- Double click the event you would like to modify.
- In the “Series or Occurrence?” form, click the Occurence button.
- In the “What would you like to do?” form, click the Delete Occurence button.
Delete All Events
- On the left hand side, at the bottom of the key info section, click the Flush Schedule button.
- In the “Are you sure?” dialog, click Yes.
Escalation Rules
When an alert is created it will be assigned to a team, the alert will then begin the alert workflow by looking at the team’s on-call schedule. The alert will loop through layers in ascending order (e.g. 1, 2, 3) notifying each user on the layer of the alert. At each layer, the alert will wait the specified amount of time in the escalation rule for that layer to be accepted or rejected. The incident workflow behaves accordingly:
- If the alert is accepted, no further layers will be notified.
- If the alert is rejected by all users on that layer, the alert workflow will ignore the remaining time in the escalation rule and automatically move to the next layer.
- If the alert is neither accepted or rejected within the specified amount of time in the escalation rule, it will automatically move to the next layer.
- If there are no more layers, the process will either repeat (based on the repeat rule setting) or be dropped.
Detailed Escalation Workflow
Edit a Rule
- Navigate to team page that you would like to edit rules for.
- On the left side, in the escalation rules section, double click the
timeout
attribute to edit. - Modify any of the values.
- Click the Save button.
Public Calendars
PagerTree offers the ability to host a public calendar via a URL. Please see Team’s Public Calendar functionality for details.
Export Schedules
PagerTree offers the ability to export on-call calendars via iCalendar (.ics) format via a URL.
Google Calendar
- In the key info section for any team, click the ICal button to copy the ICal URL.
- In Google Calendar, from the left hand navigation bar, click the + button next to the “Add a coworker’s calendar”.
- Select the From URL option.
- Paste the ical URL you copied earlier into the “From URL” input field and then click ADD CALENDAR.
- Click the back arrow button.
You should now see the on-call calendar.
Note | Google will only re-fetch the calendar about once an hour or so. Any changes made in PagerTree will not be immediately reflected in Google Calendar. |
Outlook Calendar
- In the key info section for any team, click the ICal button to copy the ICal URL.
- From the Calendar Ribbon, click Add Calendar -> From Internet…
- Paste the ical URL you copied earlier into the “New Internet Calendar Subscription” input field and then click OK.
You should now see the on-call calendar.
iCal Calendar
- In the key info section for any team, click the ICal button to copy the ICal URL.
- From the menu bar, click File -> New Calendar Subscription…
- Paste the ical URL you copied earlier into the “Calendar URL” input field and then click Subscribe.
- Configure the Auto-refresh to Every hour then click OK.
You should now see the on-call calendar.