Set up SMS and voice notifications

We use trusted third-party services like Twilio and Nexmo to deliver your SMS and voice alert notifications, tailored to specific geographical regions. Based on the notification rules you set up, we include the status of notifications sent within the alert workflow and track it in the alert activity logs. Admins can also refer to audit logs for further details.

Voice notifications

Compass can send notifications via phone calls. Add a voice contact method and a notification rule in alert notification settings, and activate it. The voice notification contains the alert message and possible actions to run on the alert. Voice notifications are limited to a maximum of two minutes.

Work with voice notifications

When you pick up the call from Compass, it first reads the notification message. This could be the message of a new alert, or an action on an existing alert, like acknowledged or note added, etc. It then presents a set of actions you can take right from the dial pad on your phone:

• Press 1 to hear the description of the alert.

• Press 2 to close the alert.

• Press 3 to acknowledge the alert (if the alert is not already acknowledged).

• Press 4 to escalate the alert to the next recipients, if there is at least one escalation for the alert. If there is only one active escalation at the moment, it directly escalates to the next recipients. If there are multiple escalations at a given point, it reads out the names of active escalations and prompts you to select one.

• Press 5 to hear the list of custom actions you can run over the phone.

• Press 6 to start acknowledging all the actions for your alerts.

• Press 7 to take ownership of the alert only if it's acknowledged by someone else.

• Press star to replay the options.

• Press 0 to end the call.

Aggregated voice notifications

Compass aggregates voice notifications and makes phone calls to the given number at 4-minute intervals. Events occurring in between are aggregated for the next voice notification. While doing so, acknowledged and closed alerts during the aggregation interval are excluded from the notification. If all of the aggregated alerts are either closed or acknowledged, Compass skips the voice call.

Only “Acknowledge all” action is available for such notifications. When you press 3 to “Acknowledge all”, Compass runs it only for aggregated alerts. It doesn’t process any previously open/unacknowledged alerts that existed before the aggregation timer started. It might be a good idea to use email or mobile push notifications if you want to be instantly notified, since the aggregated voice notifications operate on a time interval, typically around every 4 minutes.

On-call schedule notifications

You can receive notifications at the start and end of your on-call schedules via phone. Compass calls and notifies you near the start/end of your on-call schedule; you can configure this to be "Just before", or "1 hour" etc. before your on-call rotation begins/ends. Set up schedule notifications in the notification rules section.

SMS notifications

Compass can send notifications via SMS. Add an SMS contact method and a notification rule in alert notification settings, and activate it. The SMS includes the alert message and a short URL pointing to the alert itself (opens up the web browser and displays the alert details). You can view alert details and run any action on the alert.

Compass aggregates SMS notifications* and sends SMS in 1-minute intervals. Events occurring in between the intervals of 1 minute are aggregated for the next SMS/Voice notification.

• In some countries such as Taiwan and China, SMS notifications don't include alert URLs due to government regulations.

Acknowledge and close alerts

You can acknowledge and close the alerts by replying to the SMS. The short URL that is included in the SMS notification has the data necessary to identify the alert you’re responding to.

For example, if the SMS has the following short URL - https://mytestsite.in/alert/4421 - 4421 is the identifier (alert tiny ID).

Examples

To acknowledge an alert, reply via SMS with the following text:

or

To close the alert, reply with the following text:

or

When Compass receives the reply you sent, appropriate action is run and the outcome is sent back to you in SMS:

Contact information

There’s only a single vCard regardless of which region your account is set up. Download the vCard

SMS - All countries

Shortcode for US: 266727

Compass uses the following US phone numbers to send notifications to users in all countries, except China: 8605

• +13607270943

• +13607270993

• +13609001304

• +13609001411

• +18332941082

• +18334296563

• +18334298187

• +18334391181

SMS - China

8605

SMS usage guidelines

Following are a few guidelines from providers such as Twilio and Nexmo to maintain the delivery of your SMS notifications:

• You can cancel the SMS service at any time. To do this, text "STOP" to the SMS shortcode provided. You will then receive one final opt-out confirmation message. We'll also email you to confirm your cancellation. If you'd like to receive our SMS again in the future, sign up as you did before.

• If you're having trouble with the SMS service, reply with "HELP" to get more assistance, or you can contact us here or you can call us at (844) 797-5805.

• Mobile carriers aren't responsible for any delayed or undelivered messages. Also, message and data rates may apply to any messages sent from us to you and vice versa. For any questions about your SMS or data plans in general, contact your mobile service provider.

• Message frequency: “Message frequency varies“

• For any privacy-related questions, read our privacy policy.

• The set of SMSes users will receive would include notifications for new alerts, updates to alerts, on-call schedule notifications and changes to on-call schedules depending on whether each user has set a rule that allows such notifications

Voice - All countries

• +13607270943

• +13607270993

• +13609001304

• +13609001411

• +18332941082

• +18334296563

• +18334298187

• +18334391181

Voice - China

• +86 (10) 8639-1403

• +86 (10) 5225-3349

• +86 (10) 5225-3354