On-Call Management App Overview
Coordinate your emergency response teams, automate shift rotations, and resolve incidents faster — all from one centralized command center.
What is the On-Call Management App?
The On-Call Management app gives organizations a structured way to staff, schedule, and activate on-call teams for emergency and after-hours situations. You create on-call pools (groups of responders tied to a purpose or location), build rotations that automatically cycle staff through shifts, and activate pools when an incident occurs — triggering multi-channel alerts to on-call personnel.
When an activation fires, the system notifies the right people through in-app notifications, email, SMS, and even automated voice calls for critical incidents. Every response is tracked — who was notified, who acknowledged, how quickly they responded — giving you a full audit trail and SLA compliance data.
Core Value Proposition:
- Always staffed — Automated rotations ensure someone is always on-call, with primary and backup coverage
- Instant mobilization — One-click activation sends severity-tagged alerts across every channel simultaneously
- Full accountability — Response tracking, SLA measurement, and resolution notes create a complete incident record
- Industry-ready templates — Pre-built pool configurations for healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, transportation, and public safety
At a Glance
| Integrations | Mobile Ready |
|---|---|
| Escalation Engine, SMS, Voice Calls, Email | Yes |
Perfect For:
- Frontline employees — See your on-call status, upcoming shifts, and respond to activations from desktop or mobile
- Managers — Create pools, build rotations, activate teams, and monitor incident resolution
- Administrators — Configure SLA thresholds, notification preferences, industry templates, and escalation rules
How It Works
On-Call Lifecycle
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ON-CALL LIFECYCLE │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ CREATE │───▶│ SCHEDULE │───▶│ STAFFED │ │
│ │ POOL │ │ ROTATION │ │ & ACTIVE │ │
│ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘ │
│ │ │
│ Incident Occurs │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ RESOLVED │◀───│ ACKNOWLEDGED│◀───│ ACTIVATED │ │
│ │ (notes) │ │ (response) │ │ (alerts) │ │
│ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Multi-Channel Alert Flow
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ACTIVATION ALERT FLOW │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ ACTIVATE │ │
│ │ POOL │ │
│ └──────┬───────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ ▼ │
│ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ │
│ │ LOW/MEDIUM │ │HIGH/CRITICAL│ │ MANAGEMENT │ │
│ │ Standard │ │ Escalation │ │ (if enabled) │ │
│ │ Alerts │ │ Engine │ │ Notification │ │
│ └─────┬──────┘ └─────┬──────┘ └────────────────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ ┌─────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴──────────────────────┐ │
│ │ In-App │ │ Escalation Steps: │ │
│ │ Email │ │ Step 1 → In-App + Push │ │
│ │ SMS │ │ Step 2 → SMS │ │
│ └───────────┘ │ Step 3 → Voice Call │ │
│ │ Step 4 → Escalate to Mgmt │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Key Features
🏊 On-Call Pools
On-call pools are the foundation of the system. Each pool represents a team or function that can be activated when an incident occurs.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Pool creation | Name, description, location assignment, and active/inactive status |
| Location scoping | Assign pools to specific locations or make them organization-wide (null location) |
| Primary vs. secondary | Mark pools as primary for top-priority response groups |
| Response time SLA | Set expected response time per pool (5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes) |
| Minimum staff required | Define the minimum number of responders needed per activation |
| Management notification | Toggle automatic notifications to managers/admins on pool activation |
| Activation history | Pools with prior activations are protected from deletion to preserve audit trails |
| Industry templates | Pre-built pool sets for healthcare, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, transportation, and public safety |
🔄 Rotation Scheduling
Rotations automate the process of cycling staff through on-call shifts over a defined period.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Date range scheduling | Define start and end dates for rotation coverage |
| Configurable shift duration | Set shift length in hours (e.g., 8h, 12h, 24h) |
| Multi-user rotation | Assign multiple staff who cycle through shifts in sequence |
| Primary and backup roles | Designate each responder as primary or backup within a rotation |
| Priority ordering | Set numeric priority to control who is contacted first |
| Location-specific rotations | Create rotations tied to a specific location or virtual (org-wide) |
| Rotation extension | Extend existing rotations by a specified number of days using the same staff and settings |
| Bulk shift deletion | Delete all shifts in a rotation at once when restructuring |
| Break template support | Apply fixed, window, or flexible break templates to on-call shifts |
🚨 Incident Activation & Response
When an incident occurs, activating a pool triggers the alert workflow and begins tracking responses.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| One-click activation | Activate any pool with an issue description and severity level |
| Severity levels | Four tiers: Low, Medium, High, Critical — each with visual badges |
| Multi-channel alerts | In-app notifications, email, and SMS sent simultaneously to on-call staff |
| Escalation engine | High and critical incidents use the escalation engine for progressive alerts (in-app → push → SMS → voice call) |
| Voice call acknowledgment | Automated voice calls for critical alerts with press-1-to-acknowledge interaction |
| Incident acknowledgment | On-call staff can acknowledge incidents to signal awareness |
| Response recording | Staff record their response, availability (can/cannot respond), and estimated response time |
| SLA tracking | Each response is measured against the pool’s SLA — badges indicate within-SLA or breach |
| Resolution workflow | Resolve incidents with required resolution notes, triggering resolution notifications to all notified staff |
| Incident statuses | Full lifecycle tracking: Active → Acknowledged → Resolved (or Cancelled) |
| Management notifications | Optional automatic alerts to managers and admins when pools are activated |
📊 Operations Dashboard
The operations dashboard gives managers and staff a real-time view of on-call status across the organization.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Currently on-call roster | See all staff currently on-call across all accessible pools, sorted by priority |
| Primary vs. backup indicator | Clearly distinguishes primary responders from backup staff |
| Active incidents panel | Active and acknowledged incidents displayed with pool name, severity, and initiator |
| Recent resolutions | Last 5 resolved incidents for quick reference |
| Personal on-call status | Each user sees their own on-call state — primary, backup, or off-duty |
| Upcoming shifts | Next 5 upcoming on-call shifts for the current user |
| Location-based filtering | Non-admin users see only pools for locations they have permission to access |
📱 Mobile Access
Full on-call functionality is available on mobile devices through the native app WebView.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| On-call status at a glance | See whether you are currently on-call (primary or backup) |
| Incident feed | Browse active and resolved incidents with status filters |
| Incident detail view | Full incident details including all response records and timelines |
| Acknowledge from mobile | Tap to acknowledge active incidents directly from your phone |
| Respond from mobile | Record your response, availability, and estimated response time |
| Incident stats | Active count, resolved this week, and pending responses for the current user |
| Upcoming shifts | View your next 5 on-call shifts |
| Infinite scroll | Paginated incident list with progressive loading |
⚙️ Admin Settings & Configuration
Administrators configure the on-call system from a dedicated settings panel.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Default response time SLA | Organization-wide default SLA for new pools (5 to 60 minutes) |
| Notify management by default | Toggle management notifications for all future activations |
| Require resolution notes | Enforce resolution notes when closing incidents |
| On-call event notifications | Enable/disable notifications for activations, escalations, and resolutions |
| Schedule change alerts | Notify staff when on-call schedules are modified |
| SLA breach alerts | Trigger alerts when response time exceeds the configured SLA |
| Industry template seeding | One-click loading of pre-built pool configurations by industry |
| Stats overview | Active pools, on-call user count, currently on-call count, and active incident count |
🔔 Notification System
The notification system ensures on-call staff are reached through multiple channels based on severity.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| In-app notifications | Urgent notifications with action links delivered within the platform |
| Email alerts | Severity-tagged email alerts via OnCallMailer (activation, management, and resolution templates) |
| SMS notifications | High-priority SMS with severity emoji prefixes for on-call activations and resolutions |
| Voice calls | Automated voice calls with press-1-to-acknowledge for critical/high-severity incidents |
| Escalation engine | Progressive multi-step escalation: in-app → push → email → SMS → voice, with configurable delays |
| Resolution notifications | Automatic in-app + SMS notification to all responders when an incident is resolved |
| Per-user preferences | Respects individual notification preferences for email and SMS channels |
User Roles & Permissions
| Action | Employee | Manager | Admin | Super Admin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View on-call dashboard | Yes (own locations) | Yes (managed locations) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) |
| View own on-call status | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View pool details | Yes (accessible) | Yes (accessible) | Yes (all) | Yes (all) |
| Acknowledge incidents | Yes (if notified) | Yes (if notified) | Yes | Yes |
| Respond to incidents | Yes (if notified) | Yes (if notified) | Yes | Yes |
| Activate on-call pool | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create/edit pools | No | Yes (managed locations) | Yes | Yes |
| Delete pools | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Create/manage rotations | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Resolve incidents | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Configure settings | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Seed industry templates | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enable users for on-call | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Getting Started
Step 1: Enable the App
Navigate to the Marketplace and enable the On-Call Management app for your organization. Administrators can find it under the scheduling category.
Step 2: Configure Settings
Go to Admin → On-Call Settings to set your default response time SLA, management notification preferences, and whether resolution notes are required.
Step 3: Create On-Call Pools
Choose one of two approaches:
- Load industry templates — Select your industry (Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail, etc.) to auto-create relevant pools
- Create manually — Build custom pools with specific names, locations, SLAs, and minimum staff requirements
Step 4: Enable Staff for On-Call
Mark employees as on-call enabled in their user profile or directly from the rotation scheduling page. Only on-call-enabled users can be assigned to on-call shifts.
Step 5: Schedule Rotations
For each pool, create a rotation by selecting:
- Date range — The period the rotation covers
- Shift duration — How long each on-call shift lasts
- Staff members — Who rotates through shifts, with primary/backup designation and priority order
Step 6: Activate When Needed
When an incident occurs, navigate to the pool and click Activate. Provide an issue description and severity level. The system handles the rest — notifying on-call staff, tracking responses, and managing escalation.
Best Practices
Pool Design
- Keep pools focused — Create separate pools for distinct response functions (e.g., “Safety Response” vs. “IT Support”) rather than one large catch-all pool
- Set realistic SLAs — Match response time expectations to the severity of issues each pool handles; critical pools should have tighter SLAs (5 minutes) while support pools can be longer (15–30 minutes)
- Enable management notifications for high-stakes pools so leadership has visibility into activations
Rotation Management
- Plan rotations in advance — Schedule at least 2–4 weeks ahead to give staff predictability
- Always include backup coverage — Designate at least one backup responder per shift to avoid single points of failure
- Use the extend feature — Rather than creating new rotations from scratch, extend existing ones to maintain consistency
- Balance the load — Distribute on-call shifts equitably across team members to prevent burnout
Incident Response
- Use severity accurately — Reserve “Critical” for true emergencies; overuse dilutes urgency and causes alert fatigue
- Write clear issue descriptions — On-call staff respond faster when they understand the situation before acknowledging
- Always add resolution notes — Even when not required, resolution notes create institutional knowledge for future incidents
- Review SLA compliance regularly — Use response time data to identify bottlenecks and adjust staffing or SLAs accordingly
Notifications
- Ensure contact info is current — SMS and voice escalation only work when phone numbers are on file
- Enable SLA breach alerts — Proactive breach notifications help managers intervene before incidents go unaddressed
- Leverage the escalation engine — For critical pools, configure multi-step escalation so high-severity incidents automatically escalate through progressively urgent channels
Related Resources
- Scheduling & Teams App — Manage regular shift schedules alongside on-call rotations
- Time & Attendance — Track hours worked including on-call time
- Admin Settings — Configure organization-wide on-call policies and notification preferences
When every second counts, On-Call Management ensures the right people are alerted, tracked, and accountable — from the first activation to the final resolution.
