Escalation Rule Levels
Every entity that can be processed by an escalation rule has a Level attribute. This attribute acts as a filter that determines which escalation rules are evaluated for that entity. Understanding levels is essential for designing escalation workflows that behave predictably. This article is intended for administrators configuring escalation rules.
How Levels Work
Escalation rules process only entities whose level matches the Level value set in the rule. After execution, the rule sets the entity's level to the value specified in Next Level. This mechanism lets you control whether a rule fires once or repeatedly for the same entity.
Rules That Run Only Once Per Entity
To configure an escalation rule that runs only once, set the Level field to the desired value (default 0) and set Next Level to a higher value. For example, with Level = 0 and Next Level = 1, the rule processes an entity once and then moves it to level 1, preventing re-evaluation.
Rules That Run Multiple Times Per Entity
To allow an escalation rule to run repeatedly on the same entity, set Level and Next Level to the same value. The rule will evaluate the entity on each execution cycle, as long as no other rule changes the entity's level.
Competition Between Escalation Rules
When multiple rules are active, level interactions can produce unexpected behavior. Consider two rules:
- Rule A: Handles Service Operations unassigned for more than 2 hours, sends an email, and keeps the level at 0 (Level = 0, Next Level = 0).
- Rule B: Handles Service Operations unassigned for more than 4 hours, sends an email, sets priority to "Critical", and advances the level to 1 (Level = 0, Next Level = 1).
In this design, once Rule B processes a Service Operation and sets it to level 1, Rule A no longer evaluates it. However, if Rule A runs first and keeps the level at 0, Rule B can still fire later. Always review your escalation rules as a set to ensure they interact as intended.
Always evaluate your escalation rules as a whole to understand whether one or more rules can conflict, intentionally or not.