Setting on-call schedules for support groups

Support groups that are responsible for critical items can be scheduled to be available, or on-call, for certain hours of the day. The on-call feature enables you to set up support schedules for sending notifications.

On-call functionality works with your third-party paging software to send page notifications. When a support group is specified as an on-call group, assignment to the support group notifies the appropriate people using the on-call schedule.

To add an on-call schedule

1. From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
2. From the Application Settings list, choose Foundation > Organizational Structures > Support Groups, and then click Open. The Support Group form appears.
3. Search for the support group.
4. Select the support group, and then click the On-Call tab.
5. Click Add. 
   
6. On the On-Call Support Update form, from the On-Call Paging Type section, select the following options:

   • Select Generic if the support group shares a pager for on-call.
     If you select Generic as the On-Call Paging Type, you must complete the Generic Pager section of the form. Also, you must set up pager service provider information in the Pager Service Provider Configuration form.

   • Select Individual if each support group member has a different pager. If you select Individual, you must define paging parameters in each individual's people profile entry in the People form.
     If you set the On-Call Paging Type option to Individual, you must complete the Individual Pager section of the form.

7. Select Enabled for the Status of the on-call schedule.
8. If you selected the on-call paging type Generic and the pager service provider requires a phone number, perform the following steps:
   1. Select the pager service provider.
   2. Click in the Notification Pager field and press Enter. The Phone details dialog box appears.
   3. In the Phone details dialog box, enter the pager phone number, including the Personal Identification Number (PIN), if there is one, and then click OK.
   4. If you selected the Pager Service Provider supports email pages option, enter the Pager Email address.
   5. Select the language in which the pager message is to be received. If you selected the on-call paging type Individual, perform the following steps:
      1. Enter the Login ID.
      2. If you want to work with the People record associated with the login ID entered, click Profile.
9. To specify the applications in which this on-call schedule profile is used, select Yes for the Active option in the Incident Management Settings, Change Management settings, and Request Management Settings areas, as appropriate.

10. Select Priority and Risk values to determine when an on-call page is sent. 

    For example, if Send if Priority >= is set to High within the Incident Management Settings area, on-call pages are sent only for incidents where the priority is High or Critical. Leave this field blank if you want on-call pages to be sent independent of priority and risk.

    Tip

    Under Change Management Settings, Risk Level 5 is the highest even though 1 is indicated as the highest under the field. This is being fixed for a later release of BMC Helix ITSM.

11. Click Update in the Paging Times area to set up the on-call schedule. The Define Business Hours form appears.
    
12. Click Server Time Zone to fill the Time Zone field.
13. Select the hours or click the 7 X 24 or Default button, and then click Save.

14. In the On-Call Support Update dialog box, click Save.

To modify an on-call schedule

1. Search for the support group.
2. Select the support group, and then click the On-Call tab.
3. Select the on-call schedule, and then click View. The selected on-call schedule appears.

4. Modify the information, and then click Save.
   To delete an on-call schedule, select the schedule, and then click Delete.