Creating an on-call schedule and rotation in Incident Manager - Incident Manager
Creating a rotation for an on-call schedule in Incident ManagerAdding contacts to a rotation in an on-call schedule in Incident ManagerSpecifying shift recurrence and length and adding tags to a rotation in Incident Manager

Creating an on-call schedule and rotation in Incident Manager

Create an on-call schedule with one or more rotations of contacts to engage to respond to incidents during their shifts.

Before you begin

Before you create an on-call schedule, ensure that you previously created the contacts you want to add to the rotations in the schedule. For information, see Creating and configuring contacts in Incident Manager.

Accounting for Daylight Savings Time (DST) changes

When you create a rotation, you specify the global time zone that serves as the basis for shift coverage times and dates you specify for this rotation. You can use any time zone defined by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). For example: America/Los_Angeles, UTC, and Asia/Seoul. You can add more than one rotation to an on-call schedule. However, when the responders for each rotation are geographically located in different time zones, keep in mind any DST changes each rotation might be subject to.

For instance, America/Los_Angeles and Europe/Dublin observe different DST schedules. As a result, the time difference between the two zones can vary from 6 to 8 hours, depending on the time of the year. For example, a follow-the-sun on-call schedule has one rotation in the America/Los_Angeles time zone and one rotation in Europe/Dublin. In this example, the schedule can contain a one-hour shift gap or a one-hour shift overlap because of DST changes.

To avoid these situations, we recommend the following approach:

  1. Use a single time zone for all rotations in an on-call schedule.

  2. Calculate local times when you assign responders outside that particular time zone.

If you do decide to assign each rotation to its local time zone, review the schedule before any DST. Then, adjust the rotation shift times as needed to make sure that you avoid any unintended gaps or overlaps in your on-call coverage before any DST changes take effect.

To create on on-call schedule

  1. Open the Incident Manager console.

  2. In the left navigation, choose On-call schedules.

  3. Choose Create on-call schedule.

  4. For Schedule name, enter a name to help you identify the schedule, such as MyApp Primary On-call Schedule.

  5. For Schedule alias, enter an alias for this schedule that is unique in the current AWS Region, such as my-app-primary-on-call-schedule.

  6. (Optional) In the Tags area, apply one or more tag key name and value pairs to the on-call schedule.

    Tags are optional metadata that you assign to a resource. Tags allow you to categorize a resource in different ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. For example, you can tag a schedule to identify the period of time in which it runs, the types of operators it contains, or the escalation plan it supports. For more information about tagging Incident Manager resources, see Tagging resources in Incident Manager.

  7. Continue by adding one or more rotations to the on-call schedule.

Creating a rotation for an on-call schedule in Incident Manager

A rotation in an on-call schedule specifies when the shift is in effect. It also specifies the contacts that shifts rotate through. You can include up to eight rotations in a single on-call schedule.

You can add any individuals you created as a contact in Incident Manager to a rotation. For information about managing your contacts, see Creating and configuring contacts in Incident Manager.

As you configure your rotation, you can see how the overall schedule looks in a Preview calendar on the right side of the page.

To create a rotation for an on-call schedule

  1. In the Rotation 1 section of the Create on-call schedule page, for Rotation name, enter a name that identifies the rotation, such as 00:00 - 7:59 Support, or Dublin Support Group.

  2. For Start date, enter the date when this rotation becomes active in YYYY/MM/DD format, such as 2023/07/14.

  3. For Time zone, select the global time zone that serves as the basis for shift coverage times and dates you specify for this rotation.

    You can use any time zone defined by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). For example: "America/Los_Angeles", "UTC", "Asia/Seoul". For more information, see the Time Zone Database on the IANA website.

    Warning

    You can base each rotation on its own time zone. However, any Daylight Savings Time changes in the time zones you select can impact your intended coverage windows. For more information, see Accounting for Daylight Savings Time (DST) changes earlier in this topic.

  4. For Rotation start time, enter the time when this rotation's shift begins in 24-hour hh:mm format, such as 16:00.

    Note the differences in local time for contacts in time zones different from the one you specified. For example, if you choose America/Los_Angeles as the time zone and 00:00 as the rotation start time, this equals 08:00 in Dublin, Ireland, and 13:30 in Mumbai, India.

  5. For Rotation end time, enter the time when this rotation's shift ends in 24-hour hh:mm format, such as 23:59.

    Note

    The length of time between the start and end of a rotation must be at least 30 minutes.

  6. (Optional) To set the rotation length to 24 hours, select 24-hour coverage and enter the start time for this rotation in the Rotation start time field. The Rotation end time value updates automatically.

    For example, if you want your on-call to have 24-hour coverage with the shift change at 11 AM, choose 24-hour coverage and enter 11:00 as the start time.

  7. For Active days, select the days of the week that this rotation is active. If your on-call plan excludes weekend coverage for example, select all the days except Sunday and Saturday.

  8. Continue by adding contacts to the rotation.

Adding contacts to a rotation in an on-call schedule in Incident Manager

For each rotation in your on-call schedule, you can add one or more contacts, up to a total of 30. You choose from contacts who are set up in your Incident Manager configuration.

When you add a contact to a rotation, the contact may receive notifications as part of their on-call duties. Notifications may be sent by email, SMS, or voice call as specified in a contact's details.

For information about managing your contacts and contacts notification options, see Creating and configuring contacts in Incident Manager.

To add contacts to a rotation in an on-call schedule

  1. On the Create on-call schedule page, in the Contacts section for the rotation, choose Add or remove contacts.

  2. In the Add or remove contacts dialog box, select the aliases of the contacts to include in the rotation.

    The order that you select the contacts in is the order that they are first listed in the rotation schedule. You can change the order after you add contacts.

  3. Choose Confirm.

  4. To change a contact's position in the order, select the radio button for that user and use the Up ( )The Up button ) and Down ( )The Down button ) buttons to update the contact order.

  5. Continue by specifying individual shift recurrence and length for the rotation.

Specifying shift recurrence and length and adding tags to a rotation in Incident Manager

Shift recurrence specifies how frequently the contacts in a rotation rotate in and out of being on call. Recurrence lengths can be specified in a number of days, weeks, or months.

To specify shift recurrence and length and add tags to a rotation

  1. On the Create on-call schedule page, in the Recurrence settings section for the rotation, do the following:

    • For Shift recurrence type, specify whether each on-call's shift lasts a number of days, weeks, or months by choosing from Daily, Weekly, and Monthly.

    • For Shift length, enter how many days, weeks, or months a shift lasts.

      For example, if you chose Daily and enter 1, each contact's on-call shift lasts one day. If you chose Weekly and enter 3, each contact's on-call shift lasts three weeks.

  2. (Optional) In the Tags area, apply one or more tag key name and value pairs to the rotation.

    Tags are optional metadata that you assign to a resource. Tags allow you to categorize a resource in different ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. For example, you can tag a rotation to identify the location of the contacts assigned to it, the type of coverage it's meant to provide, or the escalation plan it will support. For more information about tagging Incident Manager resources, see Tagging resources in Incident Manager.

  3. (Recommended) Use the calendar preview to ensure there are no unintended gaps in coverage for your on-call schedule.

  4. Choose Create.

You can now add the on-call schedule as an escalation channel in an escalation plan. For information, see Create an escalation plan.