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On-call notification policies let you define minimum notification requirements for responders across your organization. Instead of hoping everyone configures their notifications correctly, set a policy that specifies exactly which contact methods and timing your on-call teams need, and we’ll handle the rest. When a policy is active, responders who don’t meet the requirements are automatically notified and directed to update their preferences. For stricter control, you can enforce a policy so the required rules are applied automatically and can’t be removed. Either way, you can track compliance from the policy page, or across your teams from the team members page.
If you have responders in Mainland China, consider setting up a separate policy for them. The available notification methods are different. See On-call in China.

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Creating a notification policy

  1. Navigate to Settings → Policies
  2. Select one of the On-call notifications templates, or create a custom policy using Create new policy
  3. Define the notification requirements your on-call responders must meet
You can set requirements as broad or specific as you need. For example, you might require that all on-call responders have at least a mobile app notification, a voice call, and an SMS notification configured.
Start with the on-call notification template for sensible defaults, then adjust the requirements to match your organization’s needs.

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How compliance works

Once your policy is active, we check each responder’s notification preferences against your defined requirements. Responders who don’t meet the policy are considered non-compliant and receive reminders through multiple channels:
  • Slack: a direct message linking to their notification preferences
  • Email: a reminder with instructions on what needs updating
  • Dashboard: a notification in the home page timeline panel
Each reminder directs the responder to their notification preferences, where they can see exactly which settings need to change to meet the policy.

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Enforcing notification rules

By default, a policy is informational: non-compliant responders are reminded, but it’s up to them to act. If you’d rather guarantee that responders are always set up to be paged, turn on enforcement for the policy. When enforcement is enabled:
  • Required rules are applied automatically. Any notification rule the policy requires is added to each responder’s preferences on their behalf, so they meet the policy without having to configure it themselves.
  • Required rules can’t be removed. Responders are blocked from deleting or disabling any notification rule the policy requires, so their setup can’t drift back out of compliance.
  • Extra rules are still allowed. Responders can add their own notification rules on top of the ones the policy enforces; enforcement only guarantees the required minimum.
  • Missing methods are still flagged. Enforcement can add a rule, but it can’t supply a contact method the responder hasn’t provided. If a required rule needs a method they’re missing (for example, an SMS rule with no phone number), the responder shows up as non-compliant so you can follow up.
Enforcement is a per-policy setting. Turn it on for an existing policy from Settings → Policies.

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Tracking readiness across your teams

A few places help you stay on top of who still needs to update their setup:
  • Team Tasks tab: each team’s Tasks tab lists open policy findings alongside post-incident tasks, with the affected user, team, and policy shown for each one. Use this to quickly identify responders who haven’t met the policy. The team Overview tab also summarizes the same in an Open tasks panel.
  • Team members page: the On-call notifications column shows a ready or not-ready indicator for each user based on your active notification policy.
  • On-call readiness insights: a historical view of notification configuration trends and per-user breakdowns (On-call readiness insights).

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Policy reports

Schedule recurring reports to stay on top of on-call readiness across your organization. On-call readiness reports group outstanding findings by user, so you can see exactly who still needs to update their setup. See Policy reports for cadence, delivery channels, and setup.