What is an escalation process?
Also called: escalation, escalation path
Last updated
An escalation process sets out when and how an issue is passed to someone with more expertise or authority, for example when it is not resolved in time, when it is more serious than first thought, or when a customer asks. It names the levels, the triggers for moving up and who must be told.
In more detail
There are two common kinds. Functional escalation moves an issue to someone with more specialist knowledge, such as from the service desk to an engineer. Hierarchical escalation moves it to someone with more authority, such as a manager, when a decision, money or a customer relationship is at stake.
Escalations work when the triggers are clear in advance: a time limit, a severity, a customer type, a failed check. Without them, people escalate too late because they do not want to look as if they cannot cope, or too often because they are not sure.
Example
A support team’s rule is that a priority 1 ticket not resolved within an hour goes to the on-call engineer, and after two hours to the head of support, who updates the customer’s account manager. Each step and the time it happened is recorded on the ticket.
Escalation in CheckFlow
In CheckFlow overdue tasks alert their assignees, or Administrators when nobody is assigned, and a template can add notifications that tell a named person or group when a task is overdue by a set time. Conditional logic shows escalation steps only when an answer, such as the severity, calls for them.
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