Documentation Grafana Cloud Alerts and IRM IRM Manage On-call schedules

On-call schedules

Grafana IRM helps you create and manage on-call schedules that work for your team. As a core component of incident response automation, schedules integrate with escalation chains and notification rules to ensure the right people are notified at the right time. Set up recurring rotations, handle temporary schedule changes, and maintain clear visibility of who’s on-call across your organization.

Key concepts

Before creating schedules, familiarize yourself with these key components:

• Rotations: Recurring patterns that determine when team members are on-call, such as weekly or monthly cycles
• Shifts: Specific time periods when a team member is responsible for responding to incidents and alerts
• Schedule layers: Multiple concurrent rotation patterns that define different response tiers (for example, primary responder, backup, and escalation support)
• Time zones: Settings that ensure accurate schedule display and management for distributed teams across regions
• Overrides: Temporary schedule modifications to accommodate time off, shift swaps, or special coverage needs

Schedule types

Grafana IRM offers three flexible ways to manage on-call schedules:

IRM app managed schedules

Create and manage schedules directly through the Grafana IRM web UI:

• Design custom rotation patterns that match your team’s needs
• Configure multiple schedule layers for tiered response
• Preview and validate schedule coverage in real-time
• Handle overrides and time zone adjustments

Calendar import (iCal)

Import schedules from calendar applications like Google Calendar:

• Manage rotations using familiar calendar tools
• Import schedules via iCal URLs
• Automatically sync schedule changes
• Set up override calendars for temporary coverage adjustments
• Support multiple assignees and priority levels
• View and monitor schedules through the IRM schedule interface

To learn more, refer to Import schedules.

Infrastructure as code

Manage schedules programmatically through Terraform and version control:

• Define schedules as code
• Track schedule changes in version control
• Automate schedule creation and updates
• Integrate with CI/CD pipelines
• Ensure consistent schedule configuration
• Scale schedule management across teams

To learn more, refer to Schedules as code.

Schedule settings

Configure these key settings to customize how your on-call schedules operate and notify team members.

Notification settings

Control how and when team members receive schedule-related notifications. Configure the following options:

• Slack channel: Select a Slack channel where schedule notifications and calendar parsing errors will be posted
• Slack user group: Choose a Slack user group to automatically update with current on-call members, enabling @mentions
• Shift notifications: Set when team members receive reminders about their scheduled shifts
• Current shift: Configure notifications for when a team member’s shift begins
• Next shift: Set up advance notifications for upcoming shifts
• Empty slots: Define notification behavior when no one is scheduled for a shift

Understanding schedule layers

Schedule layers help you organize different levels of on-call responsibility:

Primary layer

• First line of defense for incident response
• Handles initial incident assessment and resolution
• Typically staffed by team members most familiar with the system

Secondary layer

• Provides backup support when primary cannot respond
• Activated if primary doesn’t acknowledge within set timeframe
• Often includes more experienced team members or specialists

Tertiary layer

• Final escalation point for critical incidents
• Ensures coverage when primary and secondary are unavailable
• May include senior team members or management

Benefits of layered schedules

• Distributes on-call workload across teams
• Provides clear escalation paths
• Ensures continuous coverage for critical systems
• Allows for specialized response teams

Schedule quality

Monitor and improve your schedule effectiveness:

Quality metrics

• Coverage gaps
• Distribution balance
• User workload
• Schedule predictability

Quality score

The schedule quality score (0-100) helps you assess and improve your schedules:

Next steps

• Create an on-call schedule
• Import schedules from calendar
• Manage shift swaps and overrides
• Set up schedules as code