On-Call Schedule Planner
Fair rotations and visible coverage prevent gaps. Document how your schedule connects to escalation policies before the first missed page.
Who is on call, when handoffs happen, and how overrides work — in one spec.
On this page
Preview or copy each section below — paste into Notion, Confluence, or your wiki.
Schedule spec
On-call: [Team name]
Overview
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Schedule | [Name in Incido] |
| Timezone | [Europe/Zurich] |
| Escalation policy | [Policy name] |
| Shift verification | On / Off |
| Last reviewed | YYYY-MM-DD |
Rotation layers
| Layer | Length | Handoff | Rotation order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 1 week | Mon 09:00 | A → B → C → D |
| Secondary | 1 week | Mon 09:00 | E → F → G |
Coverage snapshot
| Week of | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| YYYY-MM-DD | [Name] | [Name] |
Handoff (5 min)
Outgoing: Open incidents · Upcoming maintenance · Contact methods verified
Incoming: Acknowledge shift · Test push/SMS/email · Know escalation policy name
Overrides
| Dates | Covering | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| YYYY-MM-DD – YYYY-MM-DD | [Name] | Vacation |
Scope
Covers: [Services / components]
Does not cover: [Other teams’ components — link their schedule]
Incident sources
| Source | How it reaches Incido |
|---|---|
| Monitors | API / webhook |
| Manual | Dashboard |
| Support | [Triage process] |
How to use this template
- Target ≤ 33% on-call load per engineer — adjust rotation length to team size.
- Keep overrides visible; surprise handoffs cause missed pages.
- Enable shift verification to catch bad contact methods early.
Incido builds shifts from rotation layers, supports overrides and shift verification, and links schedules as escalation-policy targets. Explore on-call →
FAQs
How many people per rotation?
Enough for ~25–33% on-call time each. Small teams: longer rotations or shared secondary.
What is shift verification?
A ping at shift start confirming reachability — fixes bad contact methods before a real incident.
Primary vs secondary schedule?
Secondary is often a smaller senior pool. It does not have to mirror the primary roster.
Put your process into practice
14-day free trial. On-call, incidents, and status pages — no credit card required.