Building a Rotating Reach On-Call Schedule

In this article we'll show you how to:

Creating a new Advanced Schedule

Before adding a new schedule, you'll want to make sure your business hours are set, and that you have a default Group created to be contacted in the event that your schedule is expired. 
1
To create a new schedule, select the  On-Call tab on the left menu navigation panel. 

2

Then, click the  Add Schedule button as shown below. 

3

    On the next page, complete the parameters as outlined below: 

  • Name: The name of your on-call schedule (e.g., Plumbing).
  • Schedule Type: Select Reach as the Type. Then choose your Reach Message. 
  • Set your Rotation: Select the Rotating option.
  • Time Zone: Select the time zone in which your business is located.  
  • Start/Stop Time: Choose when you want your on-call schedule to change. Check out this article for more information on start/stop times.  

4

Then, click Save. 

Configuring standard calendar settings

Now that you've created the shell of your rotating schedule, you'll be taken to a new page where we can start making updates. On this page, you will see 3 sections, all of which make up one final schedule. Below is a breakdown of what each section represents.

  • Rotations: This is your standard rotation.
  • Overrides: If you want to make any short-term updates to your standard rotation, you will add the updates to the override schedule. 
  • Final: This is your final schedule, comprising the data from both your standard rotation and override schedule.
1

To add data to your on-call schedule, select Add rotation on the right-hand side of your screen. 

2

 At the top of the next screen, you'll see the  Schedule expires status, the Start / Stop Time (Shift runs from), the Time zone, the schedule Type and the Reach Message that you selected during setup. 

3

Just below this bar, you'll see some different tools to schedule your rotation, including the Date range and Recurring schedule. In this tutorial we will use the Date range, but check out this article for more information on setting dates. 

Did you know? You can also click and drag to quickly highlight a range of dates directly from the calendar page!

4

You can choose a label color or you can leave it as is. Choosing different colors for each Group of on-call rotations may help you easily identify who is on-call and when. 

5

Now we need to tell the system how many times to reach out to your staff. The  Type tells our system how many times to loop through your on-call list. For example, if we were to call through your list 2 times, you would choose 2x + End. Keep in mind, the number of times our system reaches out is all billable and adds to the usage on your account. The Queue tells our system  the number of minutes we will wait between each dial-out call. For example, setting this time to 5 minutes means our system will wait 5 minutes between each outbound call we place to your on-call staff.

Note that our system can reach out to your staff for a maximum of 10 calls. This means that the number of staff members in your list combined with your Type cannot exceed 10 dial-outs. For example:
  • If you have 2 people in your list, your Type cannot exceed 5x + End.
  • If you have 10 people in your list, your type cannot exceed 1x + End.

6
    Next you'll need to select your Schedule Type. In this example, we want the same person on-call throughout the 24-hour shift, so we'll choose  Standard. 

7

Finally, you'll need to add your staff member(s). You can either choose a Group that you've already created, or you can manually add in your staff member(s) using their Profile(s). 

8

When you are done, click Save. You will then be taken back to the calendar to get an overview of your schedule.

If you need to override any dates with new information, use the Override section. Once completed, your schedule will look something like this:

Configuring custom calendar settings

Now that you've created the shell of your rotating schedule, you'll be taken to a new page where we can start making updates. On this page, you will see 3 sections, all of which make up one final schedule. Below is a breakdown of what each section represents.

  • Rotations: This is your standard rotation.
  • Overrides: If you want to make any updates to your standard rotation, you will add the updates to the Override section to reflect the new changes. 
  • Final: This is your final schedule, comprising the data from both your standard Rotation and Override schedules.
1

To add data to your on-call schedule, select  Add rotation on the right-hand side of your screen. 

2

 At the top of the next screen, you'll see the Schedule expires status, you'll see the Start / Stop Time (Shift runs from), the Time zone, the schedule Type and the Reach Message that you selected during setup. 

3

Just below this bar, you'll see some different options to set your schedule, including  Date Range and Recurring Schedule. In this tutorial we will choose Date Range. 

4

You can choose a label color or you can leave it as is. Choosing different colors for each Group of on-call rotations may help you easily identify who is on-call and when. 

5

Now we need to tell the system how many times to reach out to your staff. The  Type tells our system how many times to loop through your on-call list. For example, if we were to call through your list 2 times, you would choose 2x + End. Keep in mind, the number of times our system reaches out is all billable and adds to the usage on your account. The Queue tells our system the number of minutes we will wait between each dial-out call. For example, setting this time to 5 minutes means our system will wait 5 minutes between each outbound call we place to your on-call staff.

Note that our system can reach out to your staff for a maximum of 10 calls. This means that the number of staff members in your list combined with your Type cannot exceed 10 dial-outs. For example:
  • If you have 2 people in your list, your Type cannot exceed 5x + End.
  • If you have 10 people in your list, your type cannot exceed 1x + End.

6

Next you'll need to select your schedule type. In this example, we want different staff members to rotate throughout the 24-hour period, so we'll choose Custom.

7

After choosing your schedule type, we can begin adding staff members. You can either choose a Group that you've already created, or you can manually add in your staff members using their Profiles.

Since we selected the Custom rotation option, you'll notice the system automatically adds the first shift, with your  From and  To time matching your Start / Stop time. In our example, it will default to 8:00 AM to 8:00 AM.

8

To update the time blocks, edit the second time slot dropdown. Note that you will not be able to change the first time slot, as that will always reflect your Start / Stop time. In our example, we want Natasha to be on-call from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

9

After adding your first time slot, click Add shift to add your next on-call shift. 

10

Continue adding your shifts until you've completed a full 24-hour rotation. 

 

11
When you are finished creating all of your shifts click   Save. You will then be taken back to the calendar to get an overview of your schedule.

  To view the specific time slots of your schedule, click on the rotation to see the overview as shown below 

If you need to override any dates with new information, use the  Override section. Once completed, your schedule will look something like this:

After your schedule has been built, you'll need to integrate it into your script. For instructions on how to do that, check out

this article.

Did this answer your question? Thanks for the feedback There was a problem submitting your feedback. Please try again later.

Still need help? Contact Us Contact Us

Related Articles