Concept explainer
Escalation
Explains how an unacknowledged alert escalates up a chain of people over time, and how the escalation is recorded and closed.
An alert that waits too long for acknowledgement climbs a chain of people. Sentinel escalates an unacknowledged alert step by step over time, records every step, and closes the chain the moment someone takes the alert on.
What escalation is
An escalation is the movement of an unacknowledged alert up a chain of people, one step at a time, until someone takes it on. It is the mechanism that keeps an alert from resting unseen.
Escalation begins where acknowledgement stalls. While an alert waits, the chain carries it to the next person in turn, so responsibility keeps moving until a person accepts it.
The escalation chain
The chain is the ordered list of people an alert reaches, from the first responder to a senior on call. An administrator sets the chain and the waiting time at each step when they define the alert rule.
Read how the chain is set on a rule in alert rules.
How a step advances
Each step on the chain holds the alert for a set waiting time. When that time passes with the alert still unacknowledged, the alert moves to the next person in turn.
The waiting time is stated on the rule, so the pace of the climb is a decision an administrator makes in advance. A more urgent alert carries a shorter wait, and a critical alert climbs quickly.
Closing a chain
Acknowledgement closes the chain. When any person on the chain acknowledges the alert, the climb stops there, and the people higher on the chain stay undisturbed.
From that point the alert is one person's to work to a close. Resolving the cause closes the alert in the ledger, and the escalation closes with it.
Acknowledgement stops the climb
The chain moves only while an alert waits unacknowledged. The first acknowledgement holds it with one accountable person and spares the rest of the chain, so an answered alert stops climbing at once.
The escalation record
Every step of an escalation is recorded. The record holds who the step reached, the moment it reached them, and whether they acknowledged or the wait passed.
When the step reached the next person.
The person the step reached.
Whether they acknowledged, or the waiting time passed.
Because the ledger holds the full climb, a manager reads back exactly how an alert travelled: who it reached, in what order, and where it was answered. The escalation carries the mechanism that makes that account true.
Common questions
What stops an escalation?
Acknowledgement. When any person on the chain acknowledges the alert, the climb stops and the people higher on the chain stay undisturbed.
Who decides the chain and the waiting times?
An administrator sets the chain and the wait at each step when they define the alert rule.
Is the escalation itself recorded?
Yes. Every step records who it reached, when, and whether they acknowledged, so the ledger holds the full climb.
Read how a message reaches each person on the chain in communications.