SMS Escalation Policy

Owner: Anchor MSP Operations Lead Last reviewed: 2026-04-04

Purpose

Define when and how SMS escalation is triggered for production alerts.

Scope

Critical severity alerts from all managed systems.

Policy

1. SMS escalation is triggered only by critical severity alerts.
2. SMS is delivered via Twilio to the on-call operator's registered phone number.
3. Escalation chain:
   • 0 minutes: SMS sent to primary on-call operator.
   • 10 minutes: If unacknowledged, SMS sent to secondary on-call operator.
   • 20 minutes: If still unacknowledged, SMS sent to team lead.
4. Acknowledgment: The on-call operator must post in #alerts-critical within 15 minutes of receiving the SMS. Posting confirms they are investigating.
5. If no one acknowledges within 30 minutes, the incident is automatically escalated to the Operations Lead.

On-Call Rotation

On-call rotation schedule is maintained separately. Each operator's phone number is registered in the escalation system. Operators are responsible for keeping their contact information current.

Testing

SMS escalation is tested monthly. A test critical alert is fired and the full escalation chain is verified. Test results are logged.

Exceptions

No exceptions. Critical alerts always trigger SMS. If an alert is incorrectly classified as critical, fix the classification — do not disable SMS escalation.