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Time Zones Configuration

Overview 

Purpose: 
Explains how time zones are managed at the Account, User, and Schedule levels in AlertOps. 
Clarifies precedence between account-level and user-level time zones. 
Covers when and how each time zone type should be configured. 
Helps prevent alert delays, missed notifications, and schedule misalignment. 


Audience: Owners, Admins, Group Admins, and End Users who need to understand / verify alerting and scheduling behavior. 


Prerequisites: 
Active AlertOps account. 
Entitlements: 
User_View_UserAccess 
User_Update_UserAccess 
Built-in Roles: All 


Outcome: Users understand how Account, User, and Schedule time zones work in AlertOps and can configure them correctly to ensure alerts and on-call schedules run at the intended local times. 

Feature Explanation 

AlertOps supports three distinct time zone types to ensure alerts, schedules, and user experiences align correctly across global teams: 

Account Time Zone 

  • Represents the organization-wide default time zone. 
  • Used as the fallback when a user has not selected a personal time zone. 
  • Displayed on the Account Settings page. 
  • Cannot be changed directly by users. 

Important: To change the Account Time Zone, contact AlertOps Support. 

 

User Time Zone 

  • Personalized time zone set by each individual user. 
  • At any time, users can update their user time zone through the My Profile page.  
  • If a user time zone is not selected, the account time zone will be used as the default time zone. 

 

Schedule Time Zone 

  • Defined when creating or editing a schedule or shift. 
  • Determines when on-call rotations and shifts are active. 
  • Can differ from both Account and User Time Zones. 

 

Configuration Guide 

Set or Update User Time Zone 

00:00: This article explains how to update a user's time zone settings within alerts.

00:05: You will learn how to navigate the user profile and change the timezone to ensure accurate alert scheduling.

00:11: Click on your usernam to open the user menu on the Alertops dashboard.

00:15: Click profile to access the user's profile settings page.

00:20: Click edit to enable editing of the user profile details.

00:25: Click on the timezone to access the dropdown of options.

00:29: Select the desired timezone to update to, for instance to Eastern Time

00:33: Click done to save the updated time, zone settings and exit edit mode.

  1. Click My Profile in the top-right corner of the AlertOps application. 
  2. Locate the Time Zone field. 
  3. Select the appropriate time zone from the drop-down menu. 
  4. Click the green checkmark to save changes. 

Expected Result 

The selected time zone is applied to the user profile and used for all alert and notification timestamps. Viewing calendars that are set in other timezones is also localized to the current user’s timezone.  

For example:  

If a schedule is set to be active from 9am – 5pm in Central Standard Time and one of the scheduled users happens to be on-call during this window, however, is in the Easter Standard Time zone. The user will see the shift as 10am – 6pm (localized to their current user profile time zone). 

How to Verify 

  • Navigate back to My Profile. 
  • Confirm the selected time zone is displayed. 

Troubleshooting 

  • If the time zone reverts, verify browser permissions and retry saving. 
  • If no user time zone is set, the system defaults to the Account Time Zone. 

 

Set or Update Group Schedule Time Zone 

00:00: This article explains how to configure groups schedules within the alert tops platform.

00:05: You will learn how to access and modify shift timings to manage team availability.

00:10: Click configuration to open the main settings, menu and alerts.

00:14: Click groups and schedules to view and manage group configurations, and their schedules.

00:20: Select to access the specific group you want to configure.

00:24: Click schedule to view the current schedule settings for the selected group.

00:29: Create a new shift or edit an existing shift by clicking the "more" icon to reveal additional options for schedule management.

00:37: Click edit shift to modify the timing and settings of the selected shift.

00:42: Click on the timezone field to access options in the dropdown

00:46: Select the desired timezone.

00:49: Click submit to save the updated schedule settings for the group.

  1. Navigate to Configuration → Groups & Schedules. 
  2. Select the relevant group. 
  3. Navigate to the Schedule tab. 
  4. Create a new shift or edit an existing shift. 
  5. Choose the desired Time Zone from the drop-down menu. 
  6. Click Submit. 

Expected Result 

The schedule now operates based on the selected time zone. 

How to Verify 

  • Review the Schedule Details page. 
  • Confirm shift start and end times align with the selected time zone. 

 

Troubleshooting 

  • Ensure you have Group Admin, App Admin, Admin, or Owner permissions. 
  • Verify the correct schedule is being edited. 

 

Use Cases 

Global Teams with Regional On-Call Coverage 

  • Goal: Ensure accurate alerting for distributed teams. 
  • Setup: Users set personal time zones; schedules use regional time zones. 
  • Result: Alerts reach on-call engineers at the correct local time. 

 

Single Organization, Multiple Shifts 

  • Goal: Maintain consistent scheduling across time zones. 
  • Setup: Keep Account Time Zone fixed; adjust Schedule Time Zones per shift. 
  • Result: Predictable and reliable on-call rotations. 

 

Best Practices 

Do: 

  • Encourage all users to set their User Time Zone immediately after onboarding. 
  • Use Schedule Time Zones to reflect where coverage is provided. 

 

Don’t: 

  • Rely solely on the Account Time Zone for global teams. 
  • Change schedule time zones without validating shift impacts. 

 

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