Creating an on-call rotation schedule using a calendar

Better Uptime connects to the calendar services you already use, such as Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar, for managing your on-call rotation schedules.

1. Connecting a calendar (2 min)

Better Uptime supports any service that gives you a public .ics file URL. This includes services like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo Calendar, Zoho calendar, and many more.

To connect a calendar:

• Click Who is on-call? in the left menu

• Click Configure the on-call calendar

• Choose your calendar provider (Google Calendar, Outlook or other)

• Follow steps on the page and enter your calendar .ics URL

1.1. Connecting a Google Calendar

You'll need to copy the calendar's Secret address in iCal format to set up your on-call calendar.

If you don't see it in your Google Calendar settings under the Integrate calendar section, enable calendar sharing for your organization:

• Head to your domain's Google Admin​

• Search for External sharing options for primary calendars

• Open the settings and set it to Share all information, and outsiders can change calendars

1.2. Connecting a Microsoft Outlook calendar

You'll need to copy the calendar's ICS link to set up your on-call calendar.

You might need your Microsoft 365 administrator to change the default sharing policy for your organization:

• Head to your organization's Exchange admin center or Office 365 admin center

• Search for the Share your calendar settings and set it to All calendar appointment information, including time, subject, location and title

2. Scheduling an on-call duty

To schedule an on-call duty, create a calendar event with a colleague's e-mail in the event name.

How on-call schedules work

When an incident happens and no one is currently on-call we notify every team member.

See the example incident flow for a monitor configured to alert every team member after 3 minutes if the current on-call person doesn't acknowledge the incident.