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Escalation Policies

The Policies section (/policies / /escalations) under Escalations allows teams to define multi-tier automated incident routing workflows. When alerts trigger on monitored services, escalation policies ensure notifications reach the right automation bots, on-call engineers, or response teams until acknowledged.

To view and manage escalation policies:

  • In the left navigation sidebar under Escalations, click Policies:

Escalation Policies Overview Table

Policies Table Overview

The main table lists all configured escalation policies with 60-second automatic polling:

Column Description
Expand (v) Expands the sub-row to reveal which monitored services are actively attached to this policy.
Name Policy display name (e.g., test-policy, prod-critical-policy).
Created at Formatted date and time when the policy was created (e.g., August 27, 2026 at 3:04 PM).
Actions Context menu (...) for editing or deleting the escalation policy.

Table Toolbar Controls

  • Search / Global Filter: Full-text filter across policy names and timestamps.
  • Column Filters: Filter records by column criteria.
  • Show/Hide Columns: Toggle table column visibility.
  • Density Toggle: Switch between compact and comfortable row padding.
  • Refresh: Instantly query backend state and refresh policy listings.
  • Add Policy (+): Launch the policy creation modal.

Inspecting Linked Services

  • Click the down chevron (v) next to any policy name to expand its linked services view:

Inspecting Services Using Escalation Policy

  • Services using this escalation:
    • Lists all active services, endpoints, and alert channels bound to this escalation policy.
    • Displays "This escalation is not used in any service." if the policy is unassigned.

Creating an Escalation Policy

To create a new incident escalation workflow:

  • Click the orange + (Add Policy) button on the table toolbar:

Add Escalation Policy Button

  • The Create Escalation Policy dialog will appear:

Create Escalation Policy Modal Dialog

  • Policy Name (Required): Enter a descriptive name for the escalation policy (e.g., test-policy, tier-1-infrastructure-alert).
  • Click CREATE ESCALATION POLICY to initialize the policy and transition into the visual flow builder.

Escalation Policy Flow Builder

The Visual Flow Builder allows operators to construct multi-stage, sequential escalation pipelines.

To open the flow builder for an existing policy: * In the table Actions column (...), click Edit:

Escalation Policy Context Actions Menu

  • The Escalation Policy Editor opens:

Escalation Policy Visual Flow Builder

Flow Pipeline Components

  • Start Node: Green indicator representing the start of the escalation sequence when an unacknowledged incident triggers.
  • Escalation Steps:
    • Assign To: Choose the target routing mechanism:
      • Assign To Automation: Route the alert directly to an automated remediation bot (e.g., automated diagnostic collector, service restarter, or AI investigation bot).
      • Assign To User: Route alert notifications directly to a specific engineer or platform specialist.
    • Target Entity Dropdown: Dynamically filters and selects the specific bot or user account matching the assignment type.
    • Escalate Timeout: Set timeout threshold in minutes ("Escalate to next level, if alert is still unacknowledged after [ X ] minutes"). Default is 10 minutes.
    • Step Settings (Gear Icon): Options to delete or rearrange individual escalation steps.
  • Add Step (+): Click the blue plus circle between nodes to append a subsequent escalation tier (e.g., escalate from Tier-1 Automation → Primary On-Call Engineer → Lead SRE).
  • Stop Node: Red indicator representing the termination of the escalation flow.

Saving Changes

  • UPDATE TEMPLATE: Persist the configured escalation pipeline to the backend.
  • CLEAR CHANGES: Revert unsaved modifications back to the last saved state.
  • CANCEL: Exit the flow builder back to the policies table.

Escalation Lifecycle & Acknowledgement Mechanics

Escalation policies ensure critical infrastructure incidents never go unaddressed:

  • Initial Trigger: An incoming alert arrives on a service bound to this escalation policy. PixelView creates an open case and immediately triggers Step 1 (Level 0).
  • Notification Dispatch: Notifications are dispatched to the assigned user or automation bot via configured alert channels (email, SMS, or outbound webhooks).
  • Countdown Timer: A countdown timer equal to the step's Escalate Timeout begins ticking.
  • Acknowledgment Termination: If an operator opens the incident in Cases and clicks Acknowledge, the escalation timer immediately terminates. No further escalation tiers are notified.
  • Automatic Tier Escalation: If the timeout elapses while the incident remains unacknowledged, PixelView automatically advances the incident to Step 2 (Level 1), dispatching high-priority alerts to the next tier in the sequence.
  • Stop Node Resolution: If all tiers execute without acknowledgement, the incident reaches the Stop Node, where it remains in high-visibility status in the open cases registry until manual intervention occurs.

Deleting an Escalation Policy

  • In the Actions context menu (...), select Delete.
  • Confirm the confirmation prompt to permanently remove the escalation policy.

Warning

Before deleting a policy, ensure no active production services are linked to it in the Services using this escalation panel.