Alarm Escalation Explained

Escalation makes sure an alarm reaches somebody. If nobody acknowledges it, the next step tells more people, and so on.

A policy is a list of steps

An escalation policy has up to 8 steps. Each step says when it happens, who to tell and how. The first step can be right away. Each later step must come later than the one before, at most 7 days after the alarm was raised. A later step happens only if nobody has acknowledged the alarm by then.

To create one, go to Settings → Devices (IoT) → Alarms → Escalation and choose New policy. You need the Manage IoT Alarms right. Give it a Policy name, and a Description if you like. The first step starts Right away; set Minutes after the alarm to move it. Choose Add a step for the next one, then choose Save policy. You can also choose New policy while you edit a rule, and a template can create a policy with its alarm rule. KamoMobile has the same editor under Devices (IoT) → Settings → Alarms → Escalation.

Who is told

Each step names people, departments or job titles with Add people, and can tell Everyone who can see the device. A step must tell somebody. Nobody is told about an alarm on a device they cannot see: they are skipped, and the alarm's story says so. A step with nobody who can be told moves straight on to the next step.

How people are told

Each step chooses one or more ways: In the app (the notification in the app, which also reaches KamoMobile; KamoMobile calls it Bell and phone), Text message and Email. With Repeat every (minutes) a step repeats until someone acknowledges: at least a minute apart, and at most 20 times (Repeat at most). 0 means it does not repeat. Text messages and emails reach people even if they have muted the app's notifications.

Critical alarms are urgent

Critical alarms pass quiet hours. Info alarms only appear in the app and are never sent to a phone. Taking steps, people, text messages or email away from a policy that a Critical rule uses asks for your password.

Without a policy

A rule with no policy follows the Routing defaults on the same Alarms tab: for each severity, who is told and how (In the app, Phone notification, Text message or Email), right away. Saving them asks for your password. Where a severity names nobody, the built-in default applies: the people who can acknowledge alarms and see the device are told right away, in the app and on their phone.

What stops escalation

Escalation stops when someone acknowledges the alarm, and while it is shelved or held by a maintenance window. Maintenance windows are set under Maintenance and suppression on the Alarms tab.

Checking it works

Use Preview who is told in the rule's editor. It shows who each step reaches, and warns when a step has nobody who can be told or when someone cannot see all of the devices.

What it does not promise

Notifications travel over networks and services outside the platform and can be delayed or fail. Keep independent safety equipment in place. IoT Devices is not an alarm-monitoring, emergency-response or life-safety system. See IoT Is Not a Safety System.