Automated Escalation Rules for Overdue Jobs

Overview

Great question — escalation rules help your team stay ahead of overdue work orders before they become customer issues. Happy to help you set this up!

Escalation Rules automatically trigger notifications when a work order exceeds defined time thresholds. You can configure multiple escalation levels to notify progressively higher roles as delays extend.

Before You Begin

Confirm you have Admin or Manager permissions
Review your current Work Order Status Definitions — escalations are triggered by status + elapsed time
Identify who should receive each escalation level (technician, dispatcher, manager, customer success)

Creating an Escalation Rule

Step 1: Navigate to Settings → Notifications → Escalation Rules.

Step 2: Click Create New Rule.

Step 3: Configure the trigger conditions:

Status filter — select which work order statuses qualify (e.g., "In Progress," "Scheduled")
Time threshold — set hours since status change or scheduled start time
Business hours only — toggle whether to count only during defined work hours

Step 4: Add notification actions. For each escalation level:

Choose notification method (Email, SMS, In-app, or Push — requires Enabling Push Notifications on Mobile)
Specify recipient(s) — individual users, roles, or dynamic (assigned technician's manager)
Compose message template (supports variables: {{work_order_id}}, {{customer_name}}, {{elapsed_hours}})

Step 5: Set Escalation Level (1–5). Higher levels trigger if the previous level's condition is met and the work order remains unresolved.

Step 6: Save and Activate.

Example Configuration

Level	Trigger	Recipients	Method
1	2 hours past scheduled time	Assigned technician	Push + SMS
2	4 hours past scheduled time	Dispatched + Technician	Push + Email
3	8 hours or end of business day	Operations Manager	Email + In-app
4	24 hours	Customer Success Lead	Email

Best Practices

Start conservative. Too many alerts create noise. Begin with Level 1–2 and expand based on response patterns.
Use business hours for on-schedule work, calendar hours for emergency/SLA-critical jobs — configure separate rules if needed.
Link escalation rules to SLA Breach Alerts for comprehensive coverage.
Review weekly. Check Reports → Notification Delivery to see which rules fire most often and adjust thresholds.

Common Issues

Rule not triggering?

Verify the work order matches your status filter exactly
Check that business hours are defined in Settings → Scheduling
Confirm recipient has notification preferences enabled

Multiple rules firing at once? Rules are evaluated independently. If overlapping conditions exist, combine into sequential levels or adjust thresholds.