As users join and leave your on-call rotations, you will need to edit your schedules so that the right people are on-call and notified at the right times.

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Create a Schedule

If you are creating a schedule for the first time, visit the Schedule Basics article.

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User Permissions

You can add all users, except Limited and Full Stakeholders, to schedules.

Users with the following roles can add or remove Teams while editing:

• Global Admin
• Account Owner

Users with the following roles can make other edits to on-call schedules:

• Users
• Admins/Global Admins
• Manager base roles and team roles.
  • Users with a Manager Team role can manage only their team’s schedules.
• Account Owner

Add or Remove Users from an Existing Schedule

1. Select the schedule you want to update.

2. On the rotation you want to modify, click and select Edit.

3. Click the Members tab.

4. In the Add members dropdown, search for and select the users you want to add.

5. Repeat this step until all required users have been added.

6. Drag and drop names to adjust the sequence if needed. Users move through the rotation in top-to-bottom order.

7. To remove a user, click the icon.

   

8. When finished, click Update Rotation, then Save Schedule.

Deciding between an override and a custom shift

To determine the best option, ask yourself:

"Do you want to replace or add a user?"

If Replace: use an Override.
If Add: use a Custom Shift.

Use a Custom Shift When...

• Filling Empty Gaps: You need coverage during a time when no rotations are active, such as a one-off emergency block during a holiday or extending coverage past a rotation's end date.
• Adding Extra Support: You want an additional person on-call without removing the person already scheduled. A common example is adding a second responder to assist during a high-risk deployment.
• Handling Irregular Windows: You need to cover a specific maintenance window that doesn't align with regular rotation boundaries or has nothing to do with the standard rotation.
• Expressing "Additive" Intent: The goal is to add a person to the on-call set rather than replacing whoever is currently scheduled.

Use an Override When...

• Swapping Responders: You need to replace a specific member of a rotation who is unavailable (e.g., Alice is sick, so Bob covers her specific shift).
• Performing a Scoped Replacement: You want to target a specific rotation or custom shift and change who is assigned to it for a set window of time.

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Sanity Check

• If removing the override would leave the schedule with the correct on-call person — keep it as an override.
• If removing the override would leave a gap, you want a custom shift.

Create an Override in the Web App

Overrides allow you to make one-time manual adjustments to on-call schedules. Use them when someone is unavailable due to illness, vacation, or when team members need to swap on-call shifts.

1. Navigate to the schedule where you want to create the override.

2. Select a user within a rotation to override. You can create an override on any span of time on a schedule.

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   Override Option Not Visible

   If you clicked a user and don’t see the Override option, it’s likely because the schedule has not been finalized. To fix this, click Save Schedule and try clicking the user again.

3. Click + Override.

   

4. Choose a user to cover the shift.

5. Click Create Override.

6. Click Save Schedule.

You can also create overrides in My In-Call Shifts, or via API.

Delete an Override in the Web App

1. Navigate to the schedule with the override to delete.

2. Click the override within a rotation to delete. Overrides are clearly marked (Override).

3. Click Remove.

4. Click Save Schedule.

   

Create an Open Schedule with Responder Sign-Ups

Open schedules allow responders to select their shifts.

1. Create a rotation with configured days and times. Do not assign members to the rotation.

2. Create as many rotations as needed.

3. Click Save Schedule.

Responders can now add themselves to the schedule and choose their rotation.

Create a Shift

Creating a one-off shift on top of an existing rotation allows you to handle temporary gaps or surge requirements without affecting the logic of your long-term recurring rotations.

1. Go to a schedule you’d like to create a shift in.

2. Under the Create Rotation dropdown, click Create Shift.

   

3. Fill in the details.

4. (Optional) Add a team member. You may also leave the shift unassigned if you’d like to keep it open for a team member to claim.

5. Click Create Shift.

Duplicate a Schedule

Copying an existing schedule to make a new one with the same users and settings is an easy way to create new schedules at scale.

There are two places to duplicate a schedule in the web app:

Schedules List page

1. Navigate to People Schedules.
2. Click and select Duplicate. This action creates a new schedule that copies all users and settings from the original schedule—except for the schedule name and team association.
3. Enter a new name for the schedule.
4. Select a team from the dropdown.
5. Click Save Schedule.

Schedule Details page

1. Navigate to People Schedules and click the name of the schedule to duplicate. This action creates a new schedule that copies all users and settings from the original schedule—except for the schedule name and team association.
2. On the right side, click Copy this Schedule.
3. Enter a new name for the schedule.
4. Select a team from the dropdown.
5. Click Save Schedule.

Duplicate a Rotation

Copying a rotation is an easy way to ensure your settings transfer to another rotation when creating a schedule.

1. Navigate to People Schedules and click into a schedule.

2. Click the on the rotation to duplicate.

3. Click Duplicate.

   

Hide or Unhide a Rotation

In the event that you’d like to remove a rotation, but not delete it from a schedule, you can hide a rotation.

1. Navigate to People Schedules and select the desired schedule.

2. On the rotation you want to hide, click the icon.

3. Click the greyed-out icon again to unhide the rotation.

   

Pause or Deactivate an On-Call Schedule

Change the Escalation Policy for the Service

Visit the Escalation Policies and Schedules article for instructions on how to change a service’s escalation policy. This will ensure that incidents triggered for the service do not alert the schedule you want to deactivate.

Remove a Schedule from a Team

Before you can remove a schedule from a Team, note the following :

• If you have manually added a schedule to a team, a user with a base role of Admin or higher can remove the schedule from the team.
• If you have manually added an escalation policy with a schedule to a team, you must first remove the escalation policy from the Team before removing the schedule.

To remove a schedule from a team:

1. Navigate to People Schedules and select the desired schedule.
2. Click the icon beside the schedule name.
3. Under Teams, click the X to remove a team.
4. Click Save Schedule.

End a Rotation

Schedule a rotation to end immediately or on a specific date for temporary coverage, such as holidays or short-term projects.

1. Select the menu on the rotation card and click End rotation.
2. Under End method, select either:
   1. End Immediately; or
   2. A specific end time
3. Click End Rotation.
4. Click Save Schedule to apply the changes.