Event communication is one of the primary features of StatusDashboard. Events are service disruptions or degradations (either planned or unplanned) that impact the services you display on one or more status dashboards. It is critical that you create and update events in a timely fashion and communicate status effectively with your customers and users, and StatusDashboard gives you the tools to facilitate that interaction.
There are two types of events in StatusDashboard, Incidents and Scheduled Maintenance. Incidents are typically unplanned service disruptions and scheduled maintenance events are service disruptions that are known and scheduled in advance. To create events, navigate to Events > Create [Incident | Maintenance] and complete the relevant fields. The list of fields and options related to events are detailed below.
Note: All fields may be updated after the event has been created.
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Field |
Event Type |
Required |
Description |
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Start Date |
All |
Yes |
The start date of the event, shown in the timezone of the user creating the event. Incident events may not have start dates/times in the future. |
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Start Time |
All |
Yes |
The start time of the event, shown in the timezone of the user creating the event. Incident events may not have start dates/times in the future. |
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End Date |
All |
Depends |
The end date of the event, shown in the timezone of the user creating the event. This field is optional for incident events and when excluded, indicates that the incident is still open. This field is required for maintenance events. |
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End Time |
All |
Depends |
The end time of the event, shown in the timezone of the user creating the event. This field is optional for incident events and when excluded, indicates that the incident is still open. This field is required for maintenance events. |
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Severity |
All |
No |
The severity of the event. The currently supported severities are: Standard Severity
Custom Severity If customers want to use their own custom severities, they may do so by customizing their event configuration. |
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Status |
All |
Yes |
The current status of the event. As you update an event throughout its lifecycle, you should change the event status to let your customers and subscribers know what progress is being made. Incident Events
Maintenance Events
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Description |
All |
Yes |
The description of the event. |
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Impact Analysis |
All |
No |
Any potential or expected consequences of the event may be listed here. |
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Coordinator |
All |
No |
If a particular individual or team member will be responsible for coordinating the event, their contact details may be listed. |
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Event Tags |
All |
No |
Event tags can be used to add additional, clarifying information to events in the form of name/value pairs. |
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Services Impacted |
All |
Yes |
A listing of all services that are impacted by the event. |
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Notifications |
All |
No |
A number of notification methods for alerting users about events are supported. The following integrations are currently supported for notifying users whenever events are created or updated. Each time an event is updated, you can select which notification methods you want to activate as well as any custom options for that notification method.
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Notification Tags |
All |
No |
Notification tags can be used to constrain email and sms notification recipient lists for specific events to only those email addresses and phone numbers with specific tags. |
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Automatic Start |
Maintenance |
No |
When enabled, the event will be automatically started based on the start time for the event. Any notification methods that have been set in the default notification options when the event is started will also be triggered. Note that the start time must have seconds equal to '00' in order for the event to be automatically started. You are highly encouraged to use this option when scheduling maintenance events so that your event timeline matches the scheduled maintenance. |
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Automatic End |
Maintenance |
No |
When enabled, the event will be automatically ended based on the end time for the event. Any notification methods that have been set in the default notification options when the event is ended will also be triggered. Note that the end time must have seconds equal to '00' in order for the event to be automatically ended. You are highly encouraged to use this option when scheduling maintenance events so that your event timeline matches the scheduled maintenance. |
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Reminder |
Maintenance |
No |
When automatically starting a maintenance event, optionally send a reminder to subscribed users up to 24 hours (expressed in minutes) prior to the maintenance start time. |
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Event Visibility |
All |
No |
Control whether or not the event is visible in different areas of the admin or dashboard. When any of the toggle buttons are selected, the event will be excluded from that specific feature. |
Updating Events
To update an existing event, navigate to Events and select either Incident List or Maintenance List. You may modify the event by selecting the edit icon next to the event in the search results. From the event update screen, you may enter an event update (including a status change), modify any of the existing event parameters and broadcast notifications to your subscribed customers. In order for the event timeline to be updated, you must enter an event update in the update field (e.g. if you only change the event status or another event parameter, the timeline will not be updated).
Event Services
Events and Services within a StatusDashboard account are managed at the global level. It is important to note that when events are created or updated, status dashboards will only be updated (and their subscribers notified), if they contain one or more of the services that are part of an event.