Getting reminded of on call

[Bart Kummel]

Hi,

I want to get reminded of a scheduled on call a week before. I also want to have the scheduled on call in my Google Calendar.

With the notification settings, I can only set a notification max. 1 day before the on call starts. Also, if I do this, I would also get a notification when 1 day before the on call ends. (Unless I totally disable notifications for the end of the on call, but then I also don't get a notification at the moment the on call ends.)

I noticed there is a button to export an iCal feed from the on-call schedule view. However, when I import that in Google Calendar, it seems to only show the current on call, not the ones that are scheduled in the future.

Questions:

1. Are there ways to extend the on-call start notification beyond one day in advance?
2. Are there ways to have different notification settings for on call start and on call end? 
3. Is there a way I can add my schedule to Google Calendar that would also include future on calls?

[Bart Kummel]

To clarify for everyone: not being able to have separate notification settings for schedule end and schedule start is apparently a consequence of being on the "essentials" price plan. Higher price plans do have the option to have more different notification settings.

[Justin Sitarz]

Hi Bart!

Justin here, from Opsgenie support - happy to help! Let me answer your questions below:

1. Are there ways to extend the on-call start notification beyond one day in advance?

At this time, no, but we do have a feature request for this. You can find it here:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/OPSGENIE-701

2. Are there ways to have different notification settings for on call start and on call end? 

There are! If you navigate to Settings >> Notifications and scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see a selection of events for which you can customize notifications - in this case, it would be the 'Schedule Start' and 'Schedule End' notification rules you're wanting to modify.

3. Is there a way I can add my schedule to Google Calendar that would also include future on calls?

You can do this by subscribing your Google Calendar to your Opsgenie schedule - this can be done by using the 'Open calendar' option from the schedule - see this article for more detail:

https://support.atlassian.com/opsgenie/docs/view-your-on-call-schedule/#Export-with-manual-URL

This will then export out 3 months into the future, and Google will sync any changes made to the schedule periodically, so that you're always viewing an up-to-date (or nearly up-to-date) version of your schedule. You can then use Google's calendar notifications to achieve more flexibility around notifications of going on/off call.

Let me know if that answers your questions, or if there's anything else I can help with!

Best, 

Justin Sitarz

Cloud Support Engineer, Opsgenie

[Bart Kummel]

Thanks, Justin!

1. I voted for the feature request.
2. I know where to find the notification settings. But I cannot have different settings for start schedule and end schedule. I can turn on/off notifications for either start and end or both, but if I turn on both start and end, the same settings will be applied to both. Unless there is a hidden button of something, there is no way I can configure to be notified 1 day before the schedule starts, but not get a notification 1 day before it ends.
3. Thanks, I tried that and it works. But I wasn't aware of the 3 months in advance limitation. Would be helpful to mention that when exporting the calendar.

[Justin Sitarz]

Hi Bart, 

Hmmm, that's odd - the Schedule Start and Schedule End notification rules should be fully independent, so modifying one should not in any way impact the other. 

What I'd like to have you do is either open up a chat with us by clicking the little blue chat bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of Opsgenie, or put in a support ticket here:

https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/

Then we can get access to your account to take a look to determine why your notification rules are behaving this way. 

Let me know if you have any issues getting that support conversation started - thanks!

Justin Sitarz

Cloud Support Engineer, Opsgenie

[Bart Kummel]

Thanks, I've submitted a support ticket.

[Justin Sitarz]

Bart, 

Excellent! Hopefully it's something we can add to the product in the future! In the meantime, is there anything else we can help with?

Best, 

Justin Sitarz

Cloud Support Engineer, Opsgenie

[Bart Kummel]

As I commented on the main thread, it turns out to be a limitation because we're on the "essentials" plan. So, it is in the product, but not at the price level I am at.

[Justin Sitarz]

Hi Bart, 

Ah, that makes sense - sorry, I should have mentioned that - glad that you were able to get an answer on that ticket!

Best, 

Justin Sitarz

Cloud Support Engineer, Opsgenie