Workflow Actions
Assign an Incident Role to an Escalation Policy
PagerDuty Incident Management
Description
Assign an Incident Role to an Escalation Policy to automatically designate the current on-call responder in that policy to a specific role during an incident.
This action promotes sustainable incident response by distributing key responsibilities (e.g., Incident Commander, Customer Liaison) across on-call rotations, ensuring consistent coverage and preventing responder fatigue.
Prerequisite
Instructions
- If you have not done so, follow the instructions to Create an Incident Workflow.
- When the instructions prompt you to add actions, select this action.
- Enter the following Inputs and click Save.
- Continue following instructions to Publish the Workflow.
- When the action runs, you will see the Outputs listed below.
Inputs
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Incident Role | Select the role to assign to the escalation policy. This assigns the role to whoever is currently on‑call in the specified escalation policy. |
| Escalation Policy | Select the escalation policy to assign the role to. The current on-call responder from this policy will be assigned to the specified incident role. |
Outputs
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Result | Indicates whether the action was successful — "Success" or "Failed." |
| Result Summary | Briefly describes what the action did or explains the reason for failure. |
| Error | Provides an error description if the action failed. |
Examples
Example 1: Automatic Incident Manager Assignment
When a major incident is triggered, automatically assign the Incident Commander role to whoever is currently on-call for the Incident Management escalation policy:
- Incident role: Incident Commander
- Escalation Policy: Incident Management On-Call
This automation removes the need to manually identify the on-call incident manager during active incidents.
Example 2: Customer Communication Assignment
When an incident is escalated to a major incident, use a workflow trigger to automatically assign the Customer Liaison role.
- Incident role: Customer Liaison
- Escalation policy: Customer Communications Management
This ensures the appropriate Customer Liaison is engaged immediately to coordinate updates and communication with customers.