Why isn't it possible to choose components on backfilled incident ?

[pierre.ronnefalk]

Hi,

We try to show a correct SLA level on our components, but if missed and in need of backfilling an incident it's not possible to choose components that make the function useless in our case.

So this can be something to improve as it is a logic function.

[Jesse Klein · Accepted solution]

Hello Pierre,

Thanks for reaching out to the community with the question about backfilling incidents and component data. There is actually a way that you can backfill the data but it would actually be in a different process. The backfill incident tool itself is meant to point out incidents that were missed but those backfilled incidents are not editable. Here is what you can do to accomplish the goal you are looking for. I have broken it into two separate sections since incidents and components need to be edited separately for this scenario.

Incident backfill:

1. Create a new incident and make sure the notifications are turned off so subscribers aren't confused about the incident. I would leave the messaging on the incident as TEST to make it clear that it isn't a brand new incident (you can edit this later). It's also important to add any components related to the incident but make sure you leave them as functional since they aren't broken right now.
2. After the incident is created, immediately resolve the incident, again making sure notifications are off and to use language not intended to cause confusion.
3.Once it has been resolved, go into the incidents section and edit this incident. From here you can change the dates and times on these, as well as edit the text to reflect the actual incident. After that has been set, you can move on to your components.
Components:

1. Navigate to the components section, find the component and click on edit
2. Find the Uptime History and click on the box for the day you wish to edit (please note that this section needs to be enabled to edit the history)
3. On the pop up that appears, enter in the amount of time that the component was down as either a total outage or a partial outage (whichever is applicable).
If you happened to select a component when you created the incident, you will now see the related incident on the uptime tracker when you hover over that particular day.

I know this seems like a bit much but this is would be the best way to do this as the backfill tool can't get that detailed. Please let me know if you have any other questions, otherwise, I hope you have a great day!

Regards,
Jesse

[Bryan MacDiarmid]

Are there any plans to improve the functionality of backfilling events?

This solution is hacky and risky (i.e., risk of accidentally sending notifications).  

[Jesse Klein]

Hello Bryan,

We do have a feature request around this but at this time, there is no timeline for when this request will be implemented. I can totally see the risk of accidentally sending notifications. Hopefully this is a process that will need to be used very rarely. If we do make any implementation changes, we will make sure folks are aware!

Regards,
Jesse

[Marissa Coolidge]

@Jess Is there a link to that Feature I could go to for upvoting this? I've come across this same issue several times now and agree that a far more valuable solution (for keeping SLAs honest!) would be to be able to retroactively associate components to a past incident.

[Jesse Klein]

Hi Marissa,

We don't have a public Jira board for Statuspage at this time. If you would like to open a support request with us, we can add your ticket to the request to show more interest in this feature. I definitely agree that it would be a cool feature to have, so please reach out and we can get you added. :)

Regards,
Jesse

[Chris]

Relatedly, it would be helpful if components can be added to an existing incident.

Sometimes not all the impacts of an incident are immediately known when it begins, but we want to open the incident so our clients know we're looking into it before we know the full extent.

[Jesse Klein]

Hi @Chris Welcome to the community. This is a feature that is currently available. If you have an incident open and you go to make an update to an incident, there is an edit button next to the affected components. The only time you can't edit the components is after the incident is resolved. Hopefully that helps!

Regards,
Jesse

[Ben Clouser]

Jumping on the boat here... We have come across this issue a few times as well. Hoping that this issue gets prioritized soon!