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.

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

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Schedule Changes

Any changes made to a schedule (including adding and removing users) won't affect the historical record of that schedule — changes will only apply to future dates and times. When adding or removing users, make sure to check the effective date so that schedules rotate on the right date and time.

If you want to revert a schedule to a previous version, please see the section Restore a Schedule to a Previous Version.

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Required User Permissions

All users, with the exception of Limited and Full Stakeholders, can be added 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 roles can only manage schedules associated with their Team.
• Account Owner

Add Users to Existing Schedules

To add additional users to an existing on-call schedule:

1. Navigate to People Schedules click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.
2. In the Select a User dropdown, find and select a user.

3. Repeat the previous step until your required users are represented in the rotation. Users will move through the rotation in top-to-bottom order. You can drag and drop users to adjust the rotation order.

4. Click Save Changes in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

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Inactive Users

If you see "inactive" next to a user's name on a schedule, it means that their account has been deleted. If you need to add such a user to a schedule, please create a new user account for them and then add the newly created user to the rotation.

Copy Users

If you are using the same users in multiple layers, you can copy a layer’s users and paste them into another layer.

1. Navigate to People Schedules. Click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.
2. Under Step 1: Add Users, click More and select Copy Users.

3. You will then have two options:

   1. Navigate to the layer where you want to paste the users and select More Add Users. Please note that this will add the users to the ones you may already have in that layer.

      

   2. Navigate to the layer where you want to paste the users and select More Replace Users. Please note that this will overwrite the users you may already have in that layer.

      

Remove Users From Existing Schedules

To permanently remove a user from an on-call schedule:

1. Navigate to People Schedules click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.
2. Click next to the user's name that you want to remove.

3. Click Save Changes in the upper right hand corner.

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Overrides

Removing a user from a schedule will not delete their future overrides, if any exist. Please read Delete an Override for more information.

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:

• On the Schedule List page
• On the Schedule Details page

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Team Association

The Team selection for copied schedules will initially be blank. Users with a Team Manager role will be able to associate the new schedule with any Teams they are a part of.

Schedule List

1. Navigate to People Schedules.
2. Click and select Duplicate. This will create a new schedule that copies all users and settings from the previous schedule except for the team association.
3. Enter a Schedule Name for the new on-call schedule make any necessary edits.
4. Click Save Schedule.

Schedule Details

1. Navigate to People Schedules and select the name of your desired schedule.
2. On the right side, click Copy this Schedule.
3. Enter a Schedule Name for the new on-call schedule make any necessary edits.
4. Click Save Schedule.

Rename Schedule Layers

You can edit a schedule layer's name to give it a more descriptive title. A schedule layer's name can be up to 100 characters long, and emojis are supported.

1. Navigate to People Schedules click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.
2. Click the layer name you'd like to update and enter a new value.
3. Click Save Schedule.

Reorder Schedule Layers

The order of schedule layers determines how the final schedule will be computed. For example, if Layer 1 and Layer 2 have shifts that overlap and Layer 2 appears below Layer 1 in the UI, the final schedule will include only shift times from Layer 1 that are not covered up by shifts from Layer 2.

You can change the order of a schedule's layers in order to adjust the way the final schedule is computed.

1. Navigate to People Schedules click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.
2. Click and hold the gray bar at the top of the layer that you'd like to move and drag it up or down to wherever you'd prefer, then release.
3. Click Save Schedule.

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Note

Changing the order of schedule layers can have the result that when looking at the schedule's past, the final schedule can appear to have been computed incorrectly from its layers, given that the final schedule was computed using a layer order that is no longer in effect.

Duplicate a Layer

You can duplicate an entire layer’s configuration (including users, on-call rotation type, handoff time, and restrictions) into a new layer.

1. Navigate to People Schedules. Click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.

2. Click More to the right of the layer you want to duplicate and select Duplicate Layer.

   

3. A new layer will be created with the same configuration after the last layer in your schedule. You can move this layer around by dragging and dropping the layer where you want it to be.

Copy Layer Configuration

You can copy a layer’s Rotation Type and Handoff Time configuration and paste it into another layer. Please note that this will overwrite the configurations of the layer you are pasting it into.

1. Navigate to People Schedules. Click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.

2. Click More to the right of the desired layer and select Copy Layer Configuration.

   

3. Navigate to the layer where you want to paste this configuration and select More Paste Layer Configuration.

   

Copy Layer Restrictions

You can copy a layer’s Restrict on-call shifts to specific times configuration into another layer. Please note that this will overwrite the configurations of the layer you are pasting it into.

1. Navigate to People Schedules. Click to the right of your desired schedule and select Edit.

2. Click More to the right of the desired layer and select Copy Layer Restrictions.

   

3. Navigate to the layer where you want to paste this configuration and select More Replace Layer Restrictions.

   

Create Overrides

Overrides are used to make manual one-time adjustments to on-call schedules. Overrides are most commonly used when a user is sick, goes on vacation, or would like to swap on-call shifts with someone else.

Scheduling an override creates an override layer on a schedule. Scheduled overrides are displayed beneath your schedule layers, as the lowest layer before the Final Schedule.

You can create overrides in the web app or using the REST API.

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Required User Permissions

All users, with the exception of Restricted Access, Observers, Limited Stakeholders and Full Stakeholders, can create Overrides.

Create Overrides in the Web App

There are two places to schedule overrides on existing schedules:

• On a specific schedule shift.
• On any span of time on a schedule.

Override a Specific Schedule Shift

Scheduling an override by selecting a specific shift pre-populates much of the relevant information.

1. Navigate to People Schedules.
2. From the Schedules page or from a schedule's edit page, click directly on the shift that you would like to override and select Schedule an Override.
   • If needed, you can tab forward by days, weeks, and months to locate the shift you would like to override.
3. In the Schedule an Override modal, confirm the override details: Who should take this shift?, Start Date, Start time, End Date, and End time.
4. Click Create Override.

Override Any Span of Time on a Schedule

1. Navigate to People Schedules click icon to the right of the desired schedule and select Schedule an override.

2. Or you can click into a schedule and select Schedule an Override on the right.

3. In the Schedule an Override modal, select values for the override: Person, Starts on and Ends on.
4. Click Create Override.

Create Overrides in My On-Call Shifts

Follow our documentation on My On-Call Shifts to create overrides from this page.

Create Overrides Using the REST API

An example Python script to schedule overrides for a user going on vacation can be found here: vacation_overrides.py.

Our developer docs provide more information on creating and deleting overrides using the REST API.

Delete an Override

You can delete an upcoming override if it is no longer needed. If an override is deleted during the middle of the scheduled shift, the regular schedule will resume as soon as the override is deleted. You cannot delete past overrides, only present or future ones.

1. Go to People Schedules and select your desired schedule or select View.
2. Navigate to the override's scheduled time within the schedule view.
3. In the Upcoming Overrides list on the right, click .

Edit Schedule Time Zone Settings

When you create a new schedule, it will be set to the account-level time zone by default. Please follow the instructions in our section Change the Schedule-Level Time Zone if you would like your schedule to have a different time zone than the account.

Pause or Deactivate an On-Call Schedule

Sometimes you might want to stop using a schedule without deleting it.

For example:

• The schedule is a draft which you are not ready to implement. (Note, however, that you can set an effective date for future changes without deactivating your current schedule.)

• The schedule is only used for particular occasions, such as on-call shadowing.

To take an on-call schedule out of use, you will want to either remove the schedule from any escalation policies it is assigned to, or change the escalation policy your services use to another that does not include the schedule.

Option 1: Remove a Schedule from an Escalation Policy

The right sidebar will display any escalation policies where the schedule is in use.

1. Select the escalation policy you want to remove the schedule from, then click Edit Escalation Policy on the top right corner of the page.
2. Find your schedule in the Notify the following users or schedules field and to remove it from the escalation rule.

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Note

If the schedule is the only target (person or schedule) in the escalation rule, you will need to click for the entire rule, as each rule must contain at least one target.

3. Click Save at the bottom of the escalation policy.

Option 2: Change the Escalation Policy for a Service

Please visit our article on Escalation Policies and Schedules 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 take out of use.

Restore a Schedule to a Previous Version

If you or another user alters a schedule in an undesired way, you can quickly revert a schedule back to a previously saved version. This feature also allows you to see when a change was made.

1. Click on People Schedules.
2. Select the name of the schedule that you wish to revert.
3. On the right hand side of the page, select Revert this Schedule to view recent versions.

4. Select one of the options from the dropdown — you will be brought to the schedule’s edit page with that version of the schedule populated.
5. Confirm the schedule details, optionally make any additional changes, and click Revert Schedule in the upper right corner.

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Schedule Limitation with Overrides

Only changes made to the schedule layers can be reverted. Overrides will not be affected if you revert a schedule. For more information about reviewing who made a change to a schedule, please see View Schedule Audit Trail Reporting.

Schedules and Users on Teams Behavior

For accounts with Teams, if you assign a schedule to a Team, all users on the schedule will be added to the Team. Similarly, if a schedule is already assigned to a Team, adding users to the schedule will add them to the Team, too.

Add a Schedule to a Team

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Required User Permissions

While editing an on-call schedule, only Global Admins and the Account Owner can add the schedule to a Team.

1. Navigate to People Schedules and click Edit to the right of your desired schedule.
2. In the Teams section, select the Team(s) you'd like to associate the schedule with.
3. Click Save Schedule.

Remove a Schedule from a Team

Before you can remove a schedule from a Team, there are a couple things to keep in mind:

• If you have manually added to 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, please first remove the escalation policy from the Team before removing the schedule.

1. Navigate to People Schedules and click Edit to the right of your desired schedule.
2. In the Teams section, click to the right of the Team(s) you'd like to remove the schedule from.

3. Click Save Schedule in the bottom-right.