Introducing Workflows: Enhancing Automation in Incident Response

Introduction

At Squadcast, we advocate for the principles of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), which emphasize the critical importance of automating routine tasks to boost efficiency in Incident Management. We're aiding organizations in implementing these principles with one of our newest features: 'Workflows'. Incident Workflows has been designed to automate manual facets of your Incident lifecycle, all while ensuring human-in-the-loop execution for critical decisions.

So, What Exactly Are Workflows?

Picture tackling a high severity Incident: Among the flurry of actions, imagine your team rallying together on a Zoom call for a SEV0 Incident . Now, what if, as soon as the SEV0 Incident comes alive, the Zoom link that the responder needs to share for collaboration is set and ready. Moreover, imagine a ready-to-use Runbook detailing the Incident handling procedure attached to an Incident. Workflows will take care of all these ancillary tasks, so the primary responders can focus on more important tasks like triaging and resolution. Think of Incident Workflows as a predefined set of actions, activated by specific conditions (or Triggers), that span both internal Squadcast functions and external operations.

What are Triggers?

Triggers are events that dictate when actions should be executed. For instance, a trigger might be activated when an Incident  receives acknowledgment or when it's resolved.

Within each Workflow, you have the flexibility to define multiple trigger conditions. These conditions include Alert Source, Service, and specific Tags like priority or urgency.

Importantly, a workflow springs to action only when all the set conditions are met.

What Actions Can Workflows Perform?

• By configuring workflows, Engineers have immediate access to Runbooks when an Incident strikes, ushering in quicker resolutions.
• No more wasting precious moments setting up collaboration channels. From spinning up video conferencing links to chat, and other essential communication mediums – Workflows has got you covered. 
• Incidents can now be automatically marked as SLO impacting incidents based on specified conditions. Say goodbye to manual marking! 
• Add context-rich Incident notes, providing vital information for both you and your team, making frantic search for Incident notes during high-severity incidents a thing of the past.

PS. Coming soon: Enhanced actions like Webhook triggers; email notifications; and extended workflow integrations for platforms like Slack, MS Teams, and Jira.

Here’s a quick demo of how Workflowscan be created:

We have created a detailed terminology guide to guide you through different facets of this feature!

Conclusion

In the evolving landscape of Incident Management, Workflows with a "human in the loop" approach can help your organization reduce toil and let Engineers focus on mission-critical tasks. We encourage you to try this feature and share any feedback you may have with our support team 🙂

Not signed up for Squadcast yet? Worry not, you can still take Workflows for a spin as a part of our 14 day free trial. Cheers!

Read here about Incident Workflow