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Create On-Call Schedules

On-call schedules define who is responsible for responding to incidents at any given time.

As an administrator, you'll create rotation schedules for your teams, manage overrides for temporary coverage changes, and optionally import configurations from external tools.

Create a Schedule​

  1. Navigate to On-Call → Schedules.
  2. Click Create Schedule.
  3. Configure the schedule:
    • Name — A descriptive name (e.g., "Payments Team — Weekly Rotation").
    • Rotation pattern — Set the rotation type (e.g., weekly) with a customizable start time and day.
    • Time zone — Select the appropriate time zone for the team.
    • Participants — Add team members to the rotation.
  4. Review the schedule preview to verify coverage.
  5. Click Save.

Schedule Options​

  • Weekly rotations with customizable handoff times and days.
  • 24/7 coverage for always-on services.
  • Follow-the-sun patterns for globally distributed teams.
  • Holiday calendars to account for planned time off.
  • Edit YAML for programmatic schedule setup and bulk configuration.

Create Schedule Overrides​

Overrides let you temporarily change who's on call — for example, when someone is out sick, on vacation, or swapping shifts.

  1. Navigate to the schedule you want to override.
  2. Click Add Override.
  3. Specify:
    • The person covering the shift.
    • The start and end time for the override.
  4. Save the override. The schedule view will reflect the temporary change.

Import from External Sources​

If your organization is migrating from another on-call tool, you can import schedule configurations:

Migrating from another on-call tool

Syncers for importing users, escalation policies, and schedules are available for PagerDuty and OpsGenie. An xMatters syncer is planned for a future release.

Best Practices​

  • Ensure full coverage — Review the schedule preview for gaps. Every hour should have a designated responder.
  • Set reasonable rotation lengths — Weekly rotations are a common default. Shorter rotations reduce fatigue; longer ones reduce handoff overhead. Adjust based on team feedback.
  • Use overrides instead of editing the schedule — Overrides preserve the base rotation and create a clear audit trail of coverage changes.
  • Leverage YAML for large teams — The Edit YAML feature makes it easier to manage complex or multi-team schedules programmatically.
  • Account for time zones — For distributed teams, verify that handoff times make sense in each participant's local time zone.