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On-Call Scheduling Overview

Automate 24/7 on-call coverage with intelligent shift scheduling and flexible rotation algorithms.

Upstat’s On-Call System enables teams to maintain continuous operational coverage through automated shift scheduling, intelligent rotation algorithms, and seamless integration with incident response workflows.

What is On-Call Scheduling?

On-call scheduling determines who is responsible for responding to alerts and incidents at any given time. Upstat automates this process by:

  • Generating shift schedules based on rotation rules and user availability
  • Managing rosters with multiple concurrent users and timezone support
  • Handling overrides for temporary coverage changes
  • Routing alerts to the correct on-call personnel

Key Concepts

Rosters

A roster defines a repeating on-call schedule for a specific set of users. Each roster:

  • Belongs to a single project
  • Contains a list of users who rotate through shifts
  • Has its own rotation rules (weekly, sequential, fair distribution)
  • Operates in a specific timezone
  • Can run concurrently with other rosters for multi-tier coverage

You can create multiple rosters per project to represent different teams, shifts, or escalation paths such as “Primary Engineering,” “Backup Support,” or “EU Coverage.”

Learn more about Creating Rosters →

Shift Rotations

Upstat supports multiple rotation strategies to match your team’s needs:

Rotation Type Description
Sequential Users rotate in exact order (User A → User B → User C → User A)
Weekly Rotation Each user’s shifts advance by one position each week
Fair Distribution Shifts spread evenly, maximizing time between each user’s shifts

Learn more about Shift Rotations →

Concurrent Users

Configure how many users are assigned to each shift simultaneously:

  • Single user provides individual responsibility and clear ownership
  • Multiple users (up to 10) enable redundancy and shared workload during shifts

Coverage Options

Fill Gaps Mode

Generate multiple shifts per day to provide continuous 24-hour coverage. Shift duration determines the number of daily shifts (8-hour duration creates 3 shifts per day).

Single Shift Mode

Generate exactly one shift per scheduled day, regardless of duration. This mode works for teams that don’t require 24/7 monitoring and intentionally leaves coverage gaps outside shift hours.

Managing Availability

User Overrides (Substitutions)

Temporary substitutions when someone needs to swap shifts or cover for another team member:

  • Override another user’s assigned shift for specific dates
  • Assign a replacement user to cover the original user’s shifts
  • Substitutions take priority over normal rotation assignment

Learn more about Substitutions →

Timezone Support

All rosters operate in a specific IANA timezone:

  • Internal storage in UTC for global consistency
  • Display in configured timezone for each roster
  • Support for follow-the-sun coverage across regions

Create multiple rosters in different timezones for true global coverage with coordinated handoffs between regional teams.

Learn more about Timezones →

Integration with Incident Response

On-call schedules integrate with other Upstat features:

Integration Description
Alert Routing Incidents and alerts route to active on-call personnel
Auto-Assignment New incidents can auto-assign to whoever is on-call
Timeline Context On-call assignments appear in incident timelines

Common Use Cases

Primary and Backup Coverage

Create two rosters:

  • “Primary Engineers” for first-line response
  • “Backup Engineers” for escalation if primary doesn’t respond

Follow-the-Sun Coverage

Set up regional rosters:

  • “APAC Team” (08:00-17:00 SGT)
  • “EMEA Team” (08:00-17:00 CET)
  • “Americas Team” (08:00-17:00 PST)

Each team covers their working hours in their local timezone.

Tiered Support

Different rosters for different severity levels:

  • “Tier 1 Support” for all incidents
  • “Senior Engineering” for critical incidents only
  • “Leadership” for major outages

Getting Started

  1. Create your first roster with a name, users, and rotation rules
  2. Configure rotation settings (type, shift duration, concurrent users)
  3. Set the timezone for your team’s location
  4. Preview the schedule to verify shifts generate correctly
  5. Connect to alerting so incidents route to on-call users

Create Your First Roster →

Summary

Upstat’s On-Call System provides:

  • Automated scheduling with multiple rotation strategies
  • Flexible coverage with concurrent users and multi-roster support
  • Global timezone handling for distributed teams
  • Override management for temporary changes
  • Incident integration for alert routing and auto-assignment