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Call me at night only when it's serious; just notify me during the day
Decide once, in daylight, what is worth a phone call at 3 am.
This is for admins who want fewer calls without missing the ones that matter. You'll end up with two kinds of rule, and quiet hours for the people on call: at night, only the serious rules ring a phone; everything else arrives as a quiet notification.
How the pieces fit
Each rule has a paging choice under When this fires:
- Push only — no call, ever
- Push, then call: a notification, then a call if nobody acknowledges.
- Push, then call, even during quiet hours
Rules have no hours of their own. The clock comes from each person's quiet hours: during them, Push, then call sends a quiet notification instead of a call. Only Push, then call, even during quiet hours still rings.
What you'll set up
- Quiet hours for each person on the rotation, covering the night.
- Your serious rules set to call at any hour.
- Everything else set to Push, then call or Push only — no call, ever.
Steps
- Go to On-call → People and choose Edit next to a person. Set Their timezone, tick Quiet hours, and choose From and To, such as 10 pm to 7 am. Repeat for everyone on the rotation.
- Go to Rules. For each rule that's worth waking someone for, such as a caller waiting in an unattended queue, choose Edit and set When this fires to Push, then call, even during quiet hours.
- For the rest, choose Push, then call. At night they won't ring anyone. By day, the call comes only if nobody acknowledges the notification within about eight minutes.
- For anything you never want a call about, day or night, choose Push only — no call, ever.
- Choose Save changes. Changing only the paging choice doesn't send a live rule back to Pending.
Try it safely first
Go to Rules → Simulate. Describe a situation one of your rules would fire on, choose At a particular time, and enter 2 am. Show what would happen lists each step, and whether it's a notification or a call. Run it again for 2 pm. Nothing is sent. Simulate covers contacts waiting, longest wait and agents available, and shows the steps for live rules.
Variations
- "Just notify me" by day, for everything. Standby has no setting that turns calls off during the day only. Acknowledging the notification stops the call, so in practice you won't be rung if you're at your phone.
- A day team and a night team. Give each rotation its own When this rotation is on duty: Business hours only or Outside business hours only. See Rotations.
- Someone who's happy to be called any time. Leave Quiet hours unticked for them, and Push, then call rings them at any hour.