With the completion of one thrilling mission comes the beginning of the next epic journey! As we leave our days of battling video game bosses and beating high scores behind to enter into the realm of mythical creatures and legendary beasts, on the horizon is our very own glowing guide—Alicanto. In legend, this mythical bird is said to lead miners to mother lodes of precious metals. In xMatters, our Alicanto release brings a treasure trove of new tools to make incident management feel like striking gold:

• Our ServiceNow Next Generation integration which includes a new workflow and triggers that provide greater flexibility when connecting xMatters and ServiceNow.
• See the Primary and Secondary on-call resolvers for your shifts on your User Schedule so you know how and when you're most needed.
• Configurable Live Call Routing voicemails with alerts automatically sent to the assigned group so they can respond as quickly as possible.
• Automatic incident updates to collaboration channels through playbooks to easily keep your teams informed directly within Slack or Microsoft Teams.

And so much more! Read on to learn more about all the treasures we've packed in...

Availability

Before you scroll down to see all the improvements included in this release, here are some important dates:

• Non-production environment access: Tuesday, June 24
• Production environment access: Tuesday, July 22 (enabled between 10:00-10:30am Pacific)

Though we aim to include as many features in each release as we can, it's possible that not everything in the release will be available at the same time. If that's the case for a specific feature, we'll include a note about availability in its write-up below.

Sneak peek

As a special bonus, we're also giving you a sneak peek of a feature we're working on for a future release:

• Public Status Pages – visible to people (like your customers) without an xMatters account.

Incident response & service intelligence

The combined incident management capabilities and service intelligence insights of xMatters enable you to successfully respond to digital service interruptions, proactively minimize their occurrence, and continually provide value to your customers.

In this release, we're introducing updates designed to equip resolvers with a better understanding of team responsibilities and involvement to prevent missed notifications, and reduce manual workload with automatic incident updates to collaboration channels through xMatters playbooks.

Automatically update incident collaboration channels via playbooks

Availability: Production release

Performing manual tasks during high-pressure moments can be a recipe for disaster—to ensure teams stay informed without extra steps, you can now enable Automated Incident Updates when configuring collaboration channels in your playbooks.

When a playbook creates or links a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel to an incident, xMatters will automatically send incident updates so your team can start receiving real-time information about incident status and severity changes directly from within the channel.

View linked status pages on the Incident Console

To give resolver teams instant visibility and access to service information associated with an incident and ensure everyone stays aligned when working toward resolution, we've added a new Linked Status Pages panel to the Incident Console. 

The new panel displays the latest status update from any Status Page linked to the incident, helping teams quickly verify the accuracy of information to ensure your stakeholders receive the most current and relevant service details, minimizing confusion during the resolution process.

Need to post a new update? The panel also provides direct access to the linked Status Page, so you can quickly navigate to it and make any required changes. Whether you're confirming the timing of your last update or ensuring the message still reflects the current state of the incident, this feature helps you stay in control of your communications.

This is the first step toward a more integrated experience between the Incident Console and Status Pages. In future updates, you’ll be able to post updates directly from the console to streamline your workflow even further.

Resolver group tracking improvements

We’ve made it easier to understand group responsibilities and ensure they’re ready to respond when it matters most. The Active Incidents section on the Group Overview page now includes incidents where the group is listed as a resolver—not just those involving services the group owns—giving teams a more complete picture of their operational involvement.

Whether you're a group supervisor tracking incident progress or a stakeholder monitoring team responsibilities, it's vital that you know your resolvers are on hand to respond. To help you proactively identify and fix coverage gaps before they impact incident response, we’ve expanded the warning indicators on the Groups list page to highlight when a group may be unable to respond to alerts. In addition to existing checks, we now flag:

• Groups with no shifts configured
• Shifts without any members
• Shifts where members don’t have notifiable devices

Service details page now accessible to users without edit permissions

We’ve expanded access to the Service Details page in the Service Catalog, making it easier for more users to understand service context and dependencies—without needing additional permissions.

Previously, only users with edit permissions could view the Service Details page. Now, anyone with view access to a service can click the service name in the catalog and navigate directly to key information (such as recent changes, upstream and downstream dependencies, and related dashboards or documentation).

Sneak Peek: Public Status Pages

Our internal Status Pages help provide a single source of truth for updates on specific services and their related incidents, keeping resolvers and stakeholders informed at every stage of the response process. But what if teams or customers who need to stay in the know don't work in xMatters? For a future release, we're excited to bring you Public Status Pages that will allow you to link external audiences to your pages so you can provide important status updates to people beyond your organization's xMatters platform.

On-call management

Efficient incident response relies on effective on-call management. For this release, we're focusing on enhancing our User Schedule to provide a clearer understanding of complex on-call schedules, as well as offering a voicemail option and automatic alert to teams in instances where Live Call Routing calls are missed.

Enhanced User Schedule views

Whether you're preparing for an upcoming shift or double-checking that your time off is properly covered, we’ve made it easier to understand your on-call responsibilities and manage your absences in the User Schedule.

Now, each shift clearly shows who’s assigned as the Primary and Secondary On-Call, with your name highlighted if you’re involved. Whether you’re scanning the list, day, week, or month view, you’ll know exactly when you're most needed.

So that you can rest assured knowing that your time away is properly covered and that your team won’t be left without support, we've created a new Absence widget that provides a centralized view of your current and upcoming time off. It displays whether your absence applies to all groups and shifts you're part of and the name of your designated replacement (if you have one). A quick link in the widget also lets you jump directly to manage your absences.

To help you focus on what’s most relevant, we’ve also added a Groups filter to the schedule view. This filter works just like other group selectors in xMatters, allowing you to search and select specific groups from the dropdown menu, making it easier to zero in on the teams that matter most to you.

Live Call Routing with voicemail option

When it comes to incident response, communication is key, but what happens if nobody makes it to the phone in time to take an important message? For Alicanto, we’ve added the ability to configure voicemails in Live Call Routing (LCR) configurations, so callers can leave a message that is automatically escalated to the right team.

If a caller reaches the end of the escalation path without connecting to someone live, they’ll be prompted to leave a message. xMatters then sends an alert to the relevant group that includes the LCR configuration name, the time of the call, the caller’s number, and the audio recording with a transcript if available, eliminating the need to rely on the LCR report to find missed calls.

Automation & integrations

Communication and collaboration between tools is essential during the incident response process and beyond. In this release, we're introducing new ways to customize the way your applications talk to xMatters, as well as options for automatic incident updates through Flow Designer.

ServiceNow Next Generation Integration

Availability: Production release (pending certification)

ServiceNow setups with non-standard use cases often require heavy customization, but if you're not comfortable with code, tailoring your workflows can be both confusing and time-consuming. So you can more easily define how xMatters and ServiceNow communicates, we're introducing our ServiceNow Next Generation Integration.

For teams building custom integrations, the new 'Everbridge Flow Designer' ServiceNow app can be used with familiar ServiceNow scripting tools to embed xMatters workflows into business rules and automate processes like change request notifications or escalation handling.

The new Incident Alerts feature lets you configure ServiceNow to send signals to xMatters based on incident criteria like status, severity, or event type to trigger specific workflows. The Actions feature allows you to create form-based or formless actions that appear directly within ServiceNow records, making it easy to launch workflows without leaving the platform.

This integration also includes a new starter workflow—ServiceNow (Flow Designer) v2—that supports multiple flows, leverages the new triggers and existing dynamic steps, and can be easily extended to help you build effective workflows that reflect how your teams actually work. 

We've also created two new Flow Designer triggers: 'ServiceNow Record Alerts' which supports the Alerts feature and custom integrations, and 'ServiceNow Actions' which supports the Actions feature.

 

Update collaboration channels automatically via Flow Designer

Availability: Production release

Building on the Incident Updates capability introduced in our Yars' Revenge release, Flow Designer now supports automated incident updates for collaboration channels, making it simpler to keep your team informed without cumbersome manual setup.

To reduce the risk of missed communications and help free up more precious time that can be used to focus on incident resolution, you can now enable 'Automated Incident Updates' when configuring collaboration channels in Flow Designer and immediately start receiving real-time updates about incident status and severity directly from within Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Salesforce dynamic steps

Creating Salesforce integrations no longer requires custom code or complex workarounds. With our three new dynamic steps, you can create, update, or retrieve records from any Salesforce object without the need to write scripts or build custom steps.

Now if you need access to fields not supported by the standard steps, you can configure these dynamic steps to include those additional fields. Additionally, if you are integrating with applications on the Salesforce platform (such as Fusion Risk Management) these steps enable seamless integration, even when fields are added or modified—no code required.

Microsoft Teams Post to Channel (workflow) step

Microsoft is phasing out support for the mechanism behind the original Post to Channel (Connector) step in Flow Designer. To ensure your workflows remain functional and future-proofed, we’ve created a new Post to Channel (Workflow) step that uses Microsoft’s recommended replacement.

This updated step works by triggering a Microsoft Teams workflow, which then posts the message to the configured channel. For teams operating in highly regulated environments or under strict IT policies, direct access to the Microsoft Teams API may not be possible using the Connector integration step. The Microsoft Teams Post to Channel (workflow) step provides a reliable alternative by using a pre-configured webhook to send messages, allowing you to maintain communication workflows without needing direct API access.

Slack bot updates

We’ve made a few enhancements to the Slack bot experience based on customer feedback and in preparation for future updates.

Updated command behavior

Previously, some commands were only available by mentioning the bot directly, which can be confusing for users accustomed to using slash commands. Now, the slash command includes find, on-call, and invite.

We've also updated how the bot reacts to commands. When you mention the bot (using @) it responds directly to that message thread, but if you use a slash command the bot replies with an ephemeral message that only you can see. This helps reduce channel clutter and keeps conversations focused. For the /on-call command, results are also returned as an ephemeral message, but you now have the option to post the information publicly in the channel if needed.

Add Incident Note command

We’ve expanded the Slack bot’s capabilities with a new command that lets users add notes to incidents directly from Slack. The Add Incident Note command (/xmatters note) allows users to add updates or provide context to an active incident in xMatters without switching platforms. This command works just like other recent updates to the Slack bot: it responds with a message that only the sender can see, keeping the channel clean while still confirming that the note was successfully added.

Messaging

Messaging is an integral part of xMatters, and we love to add improvements based on customer feedback and best practices we observe. In this release, we're adding a highly requested feature to our platform that allows you to seamlessly copy an existing messaging form from within the same workflow.

Copy messaging form

Availability: Week of June 23

Creating similar messaging forms no longer requires starting from scratch. You can now use the 'Copy' option in the context menu of the forms list to duplicate an existing messaging form within the same workflow.

When you select this option, xMatters creates a new form that includes all the original settings (except for scenarios) which can then be edited. This gives you a safe space to make changes, test updates, or tailor the form for a different use case without affecting the original.

Reporting & analytics

xMatters' reporting capabilities give you greater visibility and insight across your business to help identify opportunities for continuous improvement and more effective incident response. For this release, we're enhancing the compliance auditing and troubleshooting capabilities of our System Audit Report by adding the ability to capture shift additions, updates, and removals.

Shift audit reporting

Unexpected changes to shift schedules can lead to missed alerts, confusion, and gaps in coverage. To help teams maintain visibility and accountability, the System Audit Report now includes detailed records of shift-related changes.

Any time a shift is added, updated, or removed, the audit log captures the time of the change, the user who made it, and the relevant shift details, giving administrators the visibility they need to trace when and how specific changes occurred.

For example, if a team member receives alerts they weren’t expecting, you can review the audit report to see when they were added to a shift and by whom. Or, if a rotation is accidentally changed, you can review the report to view the previous configuration and use that information to restore the original schedule.

Mobile updates

When teams are on the go, the xMatters mobile apps allow users to easily access the tools they need to collaborate and resolve incidents wherever they may be. In Alicanto, we're redesigning the mobile inbox to prioritize what’s new, ensuring you're always on top of your most important notifications.

Mobile inbox refresh

The mobile inbox has been redesigned to offer a cleaner layout to improve readability on smaller screens and now defaults to an 'active-first' view. By prioritizing active alerts at the top of the list, you can more easily see what needs your immediate attention. Below that, you’ll find recently inactive alerts so you can quickly catch up on anything you might have missed. No more opening the app to a blank screen when there are no active alerts—now, you’ll always have context.

Early Access Program & feature delivery update

The goal of our current delivery model is to balance feature delivery with customer change management processes. This means providing visibility into upcoming changes for customers that want it, while allowing other customers to have a more standard non-production environment that matches production.

If you aren't familiar with the current model, we release features only visible to admins/developers at a faster pace than the quarterly release process. These features should not impact end users until a customer provisions them into their workflow. Customers can opt their non-production environments into the Early Access Program to see features and functionality enhancements that impact end users before they're released on a quarterly basis. All customer non-production environments are updated four weeks prior to an official quarterly production release to allow for testing and training on new features.

We regularly reevaluate and improve our deployment processes to ensure they reflect industry best practices and customer feedback. For more information about our deployment process, see our xMatters Deployment and Early Access article. We'll update that document whenever we make a change, and let you know about the change through other appropriate channels.

Learn more

These are the main features for this release but, as always, there are several other small changes and enhancements we're delivering to keep xMatters forging ahead. As always, detailed information and instructions for using these new features will be available in our online documentation.

We hope you enjoy everything we've packed into the Alicanto release, and we're looking forward to seeing you again soon for Bigfoot...

 

 

 

 

The information in this article is the intellectual property of xMatters, an Everbridge Company, and is intended only for use with xMatters products by xMatters customers and their employees. Further, this intellectual property is proprietary and must not be reused or resold.