Hello all!
How do we run parallel notification paths? Here is the use case:
When an escalation event is started the user will select a group for the recipients. This may be done manually by going through Messaging or via an inbound integration. That group (or groups) each has an escalation path for handling the event. The culmination is for whoever finally takes the event to mark it "fixed" and end the action.
However we also want a separate group to monitor the event. This group is charged with oversight to make sure the event progresses to "fixed" within a certain amount of time, depending on the severity of the event. So if the event does not get "fixed" then this group gets notified.
Since this "monitoring group" to be added to any event generated from the form. I thought just adding this new group to the form would solve the problem. But I don't think so, since adding a group to the form is for defaults and what we really want is "in addition to". Also changing the time bound based on the severity of the issue doesn't fit well into this.
Using Activity Updates or subscriptions (as they currently work) doesn't quite fit the bill. We want this team only to be notified if an issue is not fixed within a time period.
My current thoughts are a kludge. Create an outbound integration "monitoring group-start-trigger" pending on delivery of the form. Create a second outbound integration "monitoring-results". Create an inbound integration "start-monitoring-timer".
When monitoring-group-start-trigger gets the notification that the event has been delivered it uses the REST api to start-monitoring-timer that includes the URL of the event and its severity. Then start-monitoring-timer make ssure the new event and the original one are linked, checks the severity and sets the recipients to a monitoring group based on the severity. So for example severity-group-high would wait 2 hours and then send a notification to everyone in that group with a link back to the original event; severity-group-medium would wait 2 hrs and do that...
Finally, if someone does mark the original event as fixed, the monitoring-results outbound integration gets that, uses the link to the monitoring group event and terminates it, thus halting the timer.
I think this would work, but its complicated and kludgy. Is there a better way?
Comments
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Hi Kirk,
I think Subscriptions may work for you here.
Let's say that you want high severity incidents to notify the monitoring group if not fixed within 30 minutes. You can create a subscription, select high severity as a filter, and set the Notification Delay to 30 minutes.
If you also wanted medium severity incidents to do the same but only after 60 minutes, then you could set up a second subscription, select medium severity as the filter, and set the Notification Delay to 60 minutes.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the quick response. So to follow up, I would create a single subscription form associated with the triggering event. Then I would add a subscription for each of those forms with the appropriate filter (say severity) and delay and include all the folks I want to get that subscription event. Does that sound right? I see that we could delay at the subscription form instead of the subscription itself, but then you need multiple subscription forms.
So if the original event gets "fixed" ended before the subscription delay ends does the subscription still fire a notification?
Thanks,
Kirk
^What Tom said. This is the exact case for why the Notification Delay field exists in subscriptions. Just make sure the "Fixed" response option has an "End" action associated with it so the event shuts down before the subscription is triggered.
The official doc on that is here under the Subscribe to Events fold: http://help.xmatters.com/OnDemand/user/subscriptions.htm
Notification delay: The number of minutes for xMatters to wait before sending you a notification. If the event is terminated before this time elapses, then xMatters does not send a notification. This enables you to be notified only when events remain unresolved for a certain length of time. Set this value to 0 to be notified as soon as the event occurs.
Hi Kirk,
Yes, that sounds right. And as you say, set the delay at the subscription itself so that you don't need 4 different subscriptions forms.
If the event is xMatters is still active after the delay, then a notification is sent out to the subscribers. If the event is terminated/ended before the delay, then there are no notification sent out. So you'll want the "fix", whether that's an action in xMatters or an action that could occur elsewhere, to terminate/end the event.
Thanks,
Tom
Thanks guys!
This is much simpler than my kludge!
Kirk
Yea, but kludges are so much more fun.