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Getting Started

Use these simple guides to quickly get underway with the most common tasks On-Call Optimizer solves.

Prerequisites

  • On-Call Optimizer is a SaaS application designed to work with any modern web browser. Off-line access is not supported.

  • For the best experience it is strongly recommended to integrate On-Call Optimizer with both an on-call product (e.g. PagerDuty) for each schedule and a calendar provider (e.g. Google) for each member

Authentication

All users are required to login via OIDC using one of the following identity providers. Username and password based login is not supported.

  • Google
  • Microsoft

Additional OIDC providers can be supported upon request.

Common Use-Cases

To begin experiencing the benefits of On-Call Optimizer start with one of these commonly used guides:

Alternatively, jump straight in by creating a new schedule from scratch.

What’s next

Learn more about the key concepts and operation of an On-Call Optimizer maintained on-call schedule.

1 - Link an existing schedule

This guide is for schedule owners who wish to link an existing schedule from an external product with On-Call Optimizer.

Before you start

  1. Choose an existing on-call rotation that you wish to begin scheduling with On-Call Optimzer.
  2. Check the product from which you wish to link your existing schedule is supported by On-Call Optimizer.
  3. Ensure you have the necessary permissions in your on-call product to establish an API connection with On-Call Optimizer.

Intended results

Completing the steps in this guide will result in:

  1. Creation of a new On-Call Optimizer schedule linked to your existing schedule.
  2. Configuration of the new On-Call Optimizer schedule to begin assigning new shifts from a future date.
  3. (optionally) Each member of the schedule will be invited to share their calendar(s) with On-Call Optimizer.
  4. (optionally) Future shifts assigned by On-Call Optimizer will be automatically exported back to your existing schedule.

If you do not opt-in to send invitations or enable automatic shift export linking an existing schedule to On-Call Optimizer will not affect the operation of your existing schedule in any way.

Begin

To get started, select Connect an On-Call Product below.

1.1 - Connect an On-Call Product

In this step we will establish a connection between On-Call Optimizer and the On-Call Product you are currently using to manage the on-call schedule you have chosen to link with On-Call Optimizer.

1. Login to On-Call Optimizer

If you have not already logged-in to On-Call Optimizer visit https://app.oncall-optimizer.com/login and complete the login process now.

2. Navigate to the New On-Call Product Connection page

  1. Select Schedules from the main menu (on the left on desktop, or above on mobile/tablet)
  2. From the Schedules page, select Create New Connection at the bottom of the page.

After following these steps you should be at https://app.oncall-optimizer.com/irm_connections/new and be able to see the logo of the existing on-call product you are using on screen.

3. Select your product and configure authentication

  1. Click on the logo of the product you wish to connect to.
  2. Enter your API Key in the provided field and click Continue

Screencast

Next Steps

Once you have configured an API key, On-Call Optimizer will begin the process of connecting to the chosen product and collecting details of the available schedules. This may take a couple of minutes during which you will see a loading spinner.

Click below to begin reading the next steps while the connection is created.

Continue with: Selecting a schedule to link

1.2 - Select a schedule to link

In this step you will select which of the schedules available in the On-Call Product you connected to should be linked with On-Call Optimizer.

Use the drop-down arrow within each schedule to expand the list of members and see the shift times for the schedule inferred from the existing configuration.

Create On-Call Optimizer Schedule

Once you have identified which of the listed schedules you wish to continue linking, click the Create On-Call Optimizer Schedule link (on the right of the box on desktop, or the bottom on mobile/tablet).

Next Steps

When you click the create link, a new draft schedule linked to the existing schedule from your On-Call Product will be created within On-Call Optimizer. In the next step you will have the opportunity to configure and customize the new schedule before confirming the link.

Continue with: Configure the linked schedule

1.3 - Configure the linked schedule

In these steps you have the opportunity to customize and then confirm the configuration of the schedule that On-Call Optimizer will use.

Confirm configuration

On-Call Optimizer will show the time zone and shift configuration that have been detected from the source On-Call Product.

If the listed shifts do not match your desired configuration you can alter them now or at a lateer time. Refer to the detailed schedule configuration docs for further details.

Once you are happy with the configuration shown, click Continue to proceed to the next step.

Member list

In the second step, On-Call Optimizer will show the list of members that have been imported from the source On-Call Product.

On this screen you can customize which of the member will be assignable in the schedule, their role and associated permissions and whether or not to send any required invitation emails when the schedule is created. Refer to the schedule members docs for further details.

When you are happy with the list of members and their configuration, click Create to finish linking the schedule. If required and enabled, On-Call Optimizer will send any invitations to the members of the schedule and begin monitoring the assignments, ready to assign new shifts as required.

Congratulations. You have successfully imported your existing schedule into On-Call Optimizer!

To get the most out of On-Call Optimizer, we recommend continuing with the following documentation topics:

2 - Share your calendar

This guide is for members of an on-call schedule who have received an email invitation to share their calendar.

Before you start

  1. Locate the invitation email you received from the owner of your On-Call Schedule
    • The invitation email will have a sender of help@oncall-optimizer.com
    • The invitiation email will have a subject of Invitation from Owner Name, where Owner Name is the owner of your schedule.
  2. Check the Calendar provider that you use is supported by On-Call Optimizer.

Intended results

Completing the steps in this guide will result in:

  1. Confirmation of your membership in the schedule you have been invited to join.
  2. One or more of your calendars configured to provide availability information for On-Call Optimizer to use when scheduling your on-call shifts.

Begin

To get started, select Accept the invitation below.

2.1 - Accept the invitation

In this step you will accept the invitation sent by the owner of your schedule. If you do not already have an On-Call Optimizer account this step will guide you through the process of creating one.

The invitation email which you have received will contain a link as shown in the below image.

Click on the link to be taken to On-Call Optimizer.

2. Login

To accept the invitation you must have an On-Call Optimizer account. If you have not used On-Call Optimizer before, you will see a screen similar to the one show below asking you to choose an authentication provider to use for login. Your account will be automatically created on the first time that you authenticate and login with this provider.

If you have previously used On-Call Optimizer and are already logged in you may not see the above screen at all. However if you do, simply log-in again by selecting the authentication provider that matches your account.

3. Click accept

Once you have successfully logged in to On-Call Optimizer, you will see a button allowing you to accept the invitation.

Accepting the invitation means you are agreeing to share any availability information imported from your calendars with the members of the schedule.

Next Steps

Once you have accepted the invitation, you will be taken to a welcome screen from which you can follow the next set of instructions to link your calendar to On-Call Optimizer.

Continue with: Connect a calendar

2.2 - Connect a Calendar

In this step we will establish a connection between On-Call Optimizer and the Calendar you wish to use to provide availability information.

1. Select the desired calendar provider

  1. Click on the logo of the Calendar provider you wish to use.
  2. Complete the OAuth authorization process to grant On-Call Optimizer permission to read your calendar.
    • On-Call Optimizer requires a single read-only permission and takes care to minimize the amount of calendar data that is read and stored. For full details please refer to full calendar documentation.

2. Choose calendars to use

When multiple calendars are available on the connection you will be asked to select which calendars On-Call Optimizer will process for availability events.

  1. For each calendar select whether or not On-Call Optimizer should process it for availability information.
  2. Click Return to profile when done to confirm these choices.

Ready to Go!

Congratulations. You have successfully shared your calendar availability!

On-Call Optimizer will regularly scan your calendar for new or changed availability information and use the latest available information whenever assinging new on-call shifts.

For more details on how to structure events on your calendar that On-Call Optimizer can recognize, please refer to the event filtering section of the calendar documentation.