# Complex on-call schedules

Managing complex on-call rotations, such as follow-the-sun schedules or multi-team escalations, can become complicated. Instead of adding multiple on-call schedules to every escalation policy, you can simplify management by creating smaller reusable policies.

Such a policy groups all your on-call schedules together. You can then reference this single container policy within your other escalation policies, making them cleaner and easier to manage.

## Create follow-the-sun schedules

First, create three schedules for **EU**, **US West**, and **Asia/Pacific** time zones to ensure 24/7 global coverage.

In **Uptime** -> **Who's on-call** -> [Create on-call schedule](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/oncalls/new ";_blank"):

- Create **Schedule for EU**: covering Europe working hours.  
- Create **Schedule for US West**: covering the West Coast working hours.  
- Create **Schedule for APAC**: covering Asia/Pacific working hours.  

[info]
#### Setting up schedule active hours
Select **Schedule active: Specific days and times** and configure when the schedule should be active.
No one in the schedule will be alerted outside its active hours.
[/info]

![Configuration of the schedule for EU](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/74611991-5fd3-4ef8-396c-fbf8c1c71300/md2x =2564x1790)

You'll see the alternating schedules and shifts on [Who's on-call](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/oncalls ";_blank") page, with one person always on call 24/7:

![Alternating schedules and shifts](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/506659ee-e1ab-49bb-dc88-58e5711feb00/public =2846x1144)

## Create a reusable policy for all on-call schedules

Create a dedicated escalation policy that will serve as a single point of reference for all your on-call personnel.

1.  Go to **Uptime** -> **Escalation policies** -> [Create escalation policy](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/policies/new ";_blank").
3.  Name it something descriptive, like `Follow-the-sun on-call`.
4.  In the first escalation step, under **Who should we alert?**, add all three on-call schedules. Better Stack automatically notifies whoever's on-call in their local region.
5.  Remove any other steps from this policy. It should only have one step that notifies all your schedules.
6.  Click **Create escalation policy**.

![Follow-the-sun on-call escalation policy](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/1bbb76f7-20d1-4639-552d-641457cd7700/md2x =2558x2466)

This escalation setup provides continuous coverage without night shifts, allowing each region to handle incidents during its normal working hours.

## Reference this policy in your other policies

Now, you can use your new `Follow-the-sun on-call` policy as a building block in other escalation policies. This allows you to create multi-layered escalation flows without duplicating the list of on-call schedules everywhere.

Create a new policy describing the final escalation flow.

1.  [Create another escalation policy](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/policies/new ";_blank") and name it `High priority escalation`.
2.  In the first step, under **Who should we alert?**, select your `Follow-the-sun on-call` policy from the dropdown menu. Feel free to add other targets, e.g. your integrations.

    ![Configuring the first step](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/8df28810-f9fc-4df9-6cbc-1380665c0200/md1x =1568x904)

3.  Add more steps as needed. For example, you can re-alert the `Follow-the-sun on-call` policy after 15 minutes, and then escalate to the entire team if the incident is still not acknowledged.
4.  Click **Create escalation policy**.

![High priority escalation](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/136ad567-8168-497b-733f-da3f7ba38000/lg1x =2544x2474)

## How it works

When an incident uses the `High priority escalation` policy:

1.  It triggers the `Follow-the-sun on-call` policy, alerting everyone currently on-call across all schedules.
2.  The escalation flow immediately continues the `High priority escalation` policy.
3.  After 15 minutes, the `Follow-the-sun on-call` policy would be triggered again, and after 15 more minutes the entire team would get escalated.

This approach allows you to build complex, multi-level escalations while keeping your on-call schedule management simple and centralized. If you need to add or remove an on-call schedule, you only have to update the `Follow-the-sun on-call` policy, and the change will automatically apply to all policies that use it.

[note]
#### Triggering multiple escalation policies in a single escalation step?

They will get started in parallel, and the main esclation policy would immediatelly continue. If you want to wait for the referenced policies to finish, add a waiting period to your next step. 
[/note]

## Need help?

Please let us know at hello@betterstack.com.  
We're happy to help! 🙏