Set Team Fallback Policies

Before you start

• Know the normal user-level escalation path for the team.
• Decide what fallback channel should be used when direct contact is unavailable.

Do this

1. Set user escalation policies first for the people who are actually on call.
2. Configure a team fallback only for cases where direct delivery cannot reach the user.
3. Choose the primary fallback channel for the team, such as Slack DM, email, or team channel.
4. Decide whether secondary responders should be included.
5. Decide whether OpsBell should fall back to the shared team channel if direct delivery fails.
6. Save the policy and document any team-specific notes that explain why the fallback exists.

Check it worked

• The team has a clear fallback behavior when the primary user cannot be contacted.
• The fallback path does not replace the normal user-level escalation policy.
• Operators can explain who will be contacted first and what happens next if delivery fails.

If it does not work

• If the team is always using fallback, fix the user escalation policy instead of tuning the fallback rules.
• If too many people are being notified, reduce secondary inclusion before the next test.
• If the shared channel is noisy, reserve it for true delivery failure rather than first-contact paging.

Next

• Build paging behavior
• Manage users and roles