An escalation policy controls what happens when a notification isn't acknowledged. Each policy is a list of levels, and each level says "after N minutes, do X." If nobody answers the call, sends the SMS reply, taps the push, or clicks the email link, the policy advances to the next level.
In JAMS IMES, a policy belongs to an on-call rotation. The Support Rotation has its own escalation behavior. The Database Rotation has its own. A flow that targets a rotation automatically inherits that rotation's policy — you don't have to remember to wire it on every flow.
Setup
Open On-Call Rotations, pick the rotation you want to configure, and click Add Escalation (or Edit Escalation if one already exists).
You'll see a modal that lets you build the escalation ladder one level at a time:
Level 1 Mode: Notify current on-call Escalate after: 10 minutes
Level 2 Mode: Re-notify the same person Escalate after: 10 minutes
Level 3 Mode: Next person in rotation Escalate after: 20 minutes
Level 4 Mode: Notify a different rotation → Manager Rotation
Each level has two things to configure: a mode (what kind of escalation step it is) and an escalate-after timer (how long to wait before moving on if nobody acknowledges).
The four modes
Notify current on-call
Pages whoever is currently on-call for the rotation. This is the typical Level 1 — the first ping.
Re-notify the same person
Pages the same person who was notified by the previous level. Use this when the failure mode is "did they see it?" — sometimes the first call goes to voicemail, the first SMS gets buried, and a second ping fixes it.
Next person in rotation
Advances to the next member in the rotation order and notifies them. Use this when the failure mode is "they're truly unavailable" — the on-call is in a meeting, on a plane, or asleep, and someone else needs to step in.
Notify a different rotation
Escalates out of the team entirely — e.g., to a Manager Rotation or a Director Rotation. Pick which rotation(s) to escalate to when you choose this mode.
Example: the classic 3-level support pattern
Support Rotation
Members: Alice, Bob, Charlie (weekly handoff)
Escalation:
Level 1 Notify current on-call → 10 minutes
Level 2 Re-notify the same person → 10 minutes
Level 3 Next person in rotation → 20 minutes
Level 4 Notify a different rotation → Manager Rotation
A flow targeting the Support Rotation now behaves like this:
0:00 Alice gets paged (call + SMS + push)
0:10 Alice gets paged again — same ping, second chance
0:20 Bob gets paged (next in rotation)
0:40 Manager Rotation's current on-call gets paged
If Alice acknowledges at any point, the chain stops immediately. The same goes for Bob, the Manager, or anyone else in the policy.
Manual escalate from the alert
Sometimes the on-call person knows they can't handle this one — they're heads-down on something else, or it's outside their expertise. They don't have to wait for the timer to expire.
Every channel offers a manual escalate option:
- Voice call: "Press 1 to acknowledge, press 2 to repeat, press 3 to escalate"
- SMS: reply
1to acknowledge,3to escalate - Push notification: tap the Escalate action button
- Email: click the Escalate button next to Acknowledge
Hitting escalate jumps straight to the next level — no waiting.
Wiring it to a flow
You don't. That's the point. Build a flow, pick an On-Call Rotation as the recipient, and the rotation's policy drives delivery automatically. The flow doesn't need to know what the policy is.
If you change a rotation's policy later, every flow that targets that rotation picks up the change immediately — no flow edits needed.
Removing a policy
In the rotation's escalation modal, click Remove Policy. The rotation reverts to legacy round-robin behavior — notify the current on-call, wait the flow's own escalation interval, advance to the next person, repeat.
Advanced: multi-rotation policies
The standalone /escalation-policies page still exists and lets you build policies that aren't owned by any single rotation. This is useful in unusual cases — e.g., a policy where Level 1 targets two different rotations simultaneously. Most teams won't need this; rotation-owned policies cover the common patterns.