Create On-call schedule

Set up an on-call schedule to define who's on-call and when across your team.

Key components

Every on-call schedule is built from layers (covered on the next page). Each layer has four components:

1. Team members: the people who will be on-call

2. Rotation: how long each on-call shift lasts

3. Handoff: the time of day when the shift rotates to the next person

4. Slots: optional time windows within a shift (covered separately)

Create a schedule

Not sure where to start? Spike offers on-call templates with pre-built schedule configurations.

Go to the On-call section and click New schedule.

New schedule button in the on-call section.

Step 1. Add members

Add at least one member. The order determines the rotation sequence. The first member goes on-call first.

Use the live preview calendar while creating the schedule to see how the rotation looks.

Adding members to an on-call schedule.

You can rearrange the member order at any time, including while editing an existing schedule.

Step 2. Select rotation

Choose a rotation type that works for your team.

Selecting rotation type for an on-call schedule.

Step 3. Set handoff time

Handoff time is when the current person's shift ends and the next person's begins.

Setting handoff time for an on-call schedule.

Here's what a completed daily rotation schedule looks like: 2 members, rotating daily, with handoff at 11:00 AM. Each member is on-call for 24 hours at a time.

Completed daily on-call schedule form.

The calendar shows who's on-call at any given time. Use it to plan coverage across upcoming dates.

On-call calendar showing coverage after creating a schedule.

Add to an escalation policy

A schedule only works if it's added to an escalation policy. Without this, alerts won't route to the person who's on-call.

Add the schedule to your escalation policy the same way you'd add any team member. You can add it at any step in the policy.

On-call schedule added to an escalation policy.

Add the schedule at the first step of your escalation policy to route alerts directly to whoever is on-call.