Managing escalation policies

Overview

An Escalation policy is a set of rules that escalates a Turbo360 alert to configured notification channels after a predetermined time, so unacknowledged cost alerts reach the right people before they're missed.

Business value

Escalation policies cut the risk of cost alerts going unnoticed by automatically routing them through support tiers and notification channels in sequence, so teams respond to budget or anomaly alerts faster and avoid unplanned Azure spend.

Prerequisites

A Cost management group with a Group budget or custom monitor configured must exist before you can create an escalation policy; escalation policies can be mapped to either. At least one notification channel must also be configured, as it is required during escalation policy creation.

Required permissions

To create, update, and delete escalation policies, a user must be assigned a custom role with the Manage escalation policy permission enabled.

This permission is available under Specify management permissions during role creation and grants full escalation policy management without requiring broader ownership or contributor rights.

Dependencies

• Configured notification channels to deliver alerts at each rule
• A Group budget or custom monitor mapped to a Cost management group

How it works

• Turbo360 escalates an unacknowledged alert to configured notification channels after a time period you define, instead of leaving it with a single team or channel.
• Each policy consists of rules, with each rule mapped to a different notification channel.
• Default policy is a system-defined policy that configures all available notification channels by default.
• A policy can repeat for a specified period if no action is taken on the alert incident.
• Escalation stops only when the alert incident is acknowledged from the Turbo360 application. Incidents can be acknowledged from the Incidents sub-tab of the Monitoring tab on the relevant cost management group.

Steps

Use the following steps to create, map, update, and delete escalation policies. Click the Context menu ( ⋮ ) next to Settings in the tree view and select Escalation policies to get started.

Create an escalation policy

Creating an escalation policy defines the rules, notification channels, and optional repeat behavior that Turbo360 uses to route unacknowledged alerts.

1. Click the Context menu ( ⋮ ) next to Settings in the tree view.
2. Select Escalation policies.
3. Click Add Escalation Policy.
4. Provide a name for the policy and click Next.
5. Add escalation rules and configure each rule's notification channel(s) or email address(es).
6. Click Save.

A policy can also be set to repeat for a specified period if no action is taken on the alert incident.

Map a policy to a custom monitor

Mapping connects an escalation policy to a custom monitor so that triggered alerts are routed through the policy's notification channels and rules.

An escalation policy can be configured in a Group budget or a custom monitor, by choosing it from the list of available policies while configuring cost monitoring. Notification channel and mail configuration can be customized per monitor.

Update a policy

Updating a policy lets you change its name, rules, or notification channels and optionally push those changes to all custom monitors already mapped to it.

1. Click the Context menu ( ⋮ ) next to Settings in the tree view.
2. Select Escalation policies.
3. Click the Edit icon next to the policy you want to update.
4. Modify the name, description, rules, or channel selection. Click Next to continue.
5. Click Save.

Enable Apply to existing mapped monitors to push a notification channel or mail address change to every custom monitor already mapped to the policy.

Delete a policy

Deleting a policy permanently removes it. Custom monitors mapped to the deleted policy are automatically reassigned to the Default policy.

1. Click the Context menu ( ⋮ ) next to Settings in the tree view.
2. Select Escalation policies.
3. Click the Delete icon next to the policy, then click Delete.

Configuration

Permission behavior

With the Manage escalation policy permission enabled on a custom role, you can create, update, and delete escalation policies independently of broader Cost Analyzer access. Base permissions scoped to a specific group or child node are sufficient.

Example scenario

A support team has two tiers, L1 and L2. An unacknowledged alert first posts to a Microsoft Teams channel for L1. If it stays unacknowledged, it escalates to an email rule for L2, and finally to Slack, ensuring the alert reaches someone before it's lost.

Limitations

• Maximum escalation time per rule is 3 days; maximum rules per policy is 5; maximum repeats per policy is 5.
• Escalation only stops on manual acknowledgment from the Turbo360 application. It doesn't time out after the final rule or repeat cycle completes.
• Deleting a policy reassigns its mapped custom monitors to the Default policy rather than leaving them unmonitored.

Troubleshooting

1. Alert keeps escalating through every rule
   Cause: The alert incident hasn't been acknowledged from the Turbo360 application.
   Fix: Open the Monitoring tab on the relevant cost management group, select the Incidents sub-tab, and acknowledge the incident to stop further escalation.

2. Can't add another escalation rule to a policy
   Cause: The policy has reached the maximum of 5 rules.
   Fix: Remove or consolidate an existing rule before adding a new one.

3. Updated notification channel isn't reflected on existing custom monitors
   Cause: Apply to existing mapped monitors wasn't enabled during the update.
   Fix: Re-open the update flow and enable it before saving.

4. A custom monitor is alerting through the wrong policy after a deletion
   Cause: Its mapped escalation policy was deleted.
   Fix: Deleted policies fall back to the Default policy; remap the monitor to a different policy if Default isn't appropriate.

FAQs

1. What happens to custom monitors when their escalation policy is deleted?
   They're automatically reassigned to the Default escalation policy.

2. Can a user manage escalation policies without full Cost Analyzer ownership or contributor rights?
   Yes. Enable the Manage escalation policy permission on a custom role during role creation.

3. Is there a built-in escalation policy available by default?
   Yes. The Default policy configures all available notification channels by default.

Related articles

• Budget planner
• Group budget monitoring
• Automatic anomaly detection
• Custom monitoring
• Managing monitoring incidents