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Video Tutorial:Watch a quick overview of the basics: On-Call Calendar V2 Setup

Accessing the On-Call Calendar

1
Log into your Avoca Dashboard
2
Navigate to Settings in the left sidebar
3
Click On-Call Calendar
You’ll see four main tabs: Employee Contacts, Schedule, Broadcasted Messages, and Configuration.

Setting Up Your Team

1. Adding Departments

Departments help ensure the right team members get notified based on the type of call (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, etc.)
Important:Why departments matter: Departments are highly recommended for notification accuracy. Without departments, the AI may notify the wrong technicians because:
  • If no one from the correct specialty is on-call, it may default to notifying any available on-call tech
  • The AI has to guess which team member to notify based on partial information
How to Set Up Departments:
1
Go to Employee ContactsDepartments tab
2
Click Add Department
3
Enter department names like:
  • HVAC
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical
  • Drains
  • Commercial HVAC
  • Service Areas (North, South, Central, etc.)
    • This is recommended for businesses with multiple service areas, in addition to trade-specific departments. Technicians can belong to multiple departments.
4
You’ll now be able to add Employee Contacts and assign each team member to their department(s)

2. Adding On-Call Team Members

Option 1: Import from ServiceTitan (for ST users)
1
Go to the Employee Contacts tab
2
Click the purple ST Technicians button
3
Select the technicians you want to import
4
Review and edit their contact information
Option 2: Add Manually
1
Click the + Add New button
2
Enter the following information:
  • Name
  • Phone Number (for text and call notifications)
  • Email (for email notifications)
  • ServiceTitan ID (optional for ST if adding contacts manually, required if you want automatic job assignments)
  • Team/Department (optional, helps route notifications to the right people)

Employee Contact Settings

Learn more about Notification Settings here: Notifications Settings The key notification you’ll need to enable for someone that is on-call is the On-Call Settings
  • Determines whether this employee should receive on-call notifications if they have a shift assigned

Creating On-Call Schedules

Switch between Timeline View and Cards View using the buttons in the upper right—choose whichever format works best for you.
How It Works:
  • Avoca pulls yellow “On-Call” technician shifts from ServiceTitan
  • You can sync manually on-demand or enable automatic background syncing
  • Schedules automatically update if you make changes in ServiceTitan
  • Deleted shifts in ServiceTitan are automatically removed from Avoca
To Set Up Sync:
1
Navigate to the Schedule tab
2
Look for the Sync from ServiceTitan button
3
Choose your sync preferences:
  • Sync all technicians with ServiceTitan IDs, or select specific ones
  • Set your lookahead window (1-60 days, default is 7 days)
  • Choose manual sync (click button each time) or automatic sync (syncs periodically in the background)
4
Click Sync Now to pull your on-call shifts
Note:The on-call calendar works for technician shifts only (managers must still be scheduled manually in Avoca).

Option 2: Create Schedules Manually

1
Navigate to the Schedule tab
2
Click Create Schedule
3
Select one or more team members from the dropdown
4
Set the start and end times for their shift
5
Choose the on-call role(s) for each person: Technician, Manager, or Backup
6
Select the dates when this schedule should apply (you can select multiple dates)
7
Click Create Schedule
Schedule Tips
  • Overnight Shifts: If your shift goes overnight (e.g., 5 PM to 8 AM the next day), set the End Day to the next day.
  • Open-Ended Schedules: Check the Open-ended option if someone should always be notified regardless of time (typically used for backups or managers who don’t rotate).

Understanding On-Call Roles

When setting up schedules, you can assign three different on-call roles: Technician
  • Gets notified when an emergency call comes in and has an appointment scheduled during their shift
  • Receives both text and phone call
  • Must click a link to confirm they received the notification
  • Can be automatically assigned to the job in ServiceTitan
  • Techs are notified based on appointment time, not call time
Manager
  • Gets notified when emergency calls come in during their shift
  • Receives notifications at the same time as technicians
  • Managers are notified based on call time, not appointment time
Backup
  • Gets notified if the primary on-call technician doesn’t respond to Avoca’s text
  • The system waits a configurable amount of time (default: 10 minutes) before notifying the backup
  • Receives both text and phone call
  • Does not get automatically assigned to jobs

What Information Do Technicians Receive?

When a technician receives an on-call notification, they’ll see:
  • Customer name
  • Customer phone number
  • Customer address
  • Description of the issue
  • Link to the call
  • Link to the job in ServiceTitan (if applicable)
  • Link to confirm they received the text message

Configuring Notifications

Navigate to the Configuration tab to customize when and how your team gets notified.

Master Toggle

Enable On-Call V2 — This is the master switch. Make sure this is turned ON for the on-call calendar to work.

Backup Notification Timing

Set how long the system should wait before notifying the backup technician if the primary tech doesn’t respond. You will need to convert the number of minutes to seconds. Default: 600 seconds = 10 minutes

Notification Subscriptions

Choose which types of calls trigger notifications: For Technicians:
  • Emergency jobs (booked)
  • Emergency jobs (unbooked)
  • Regular jobs (booked)
  • Regular jobs (unbooked)
  • Non-service calls
For Managers:
  • Emergency jobs (booked)
  • Emergency jobs (unbooked)
  • Regular jobs (booked)
  • Regular jobs (unbooked)
  • Non-service calls
Learn how to set up your Emergency Guidance and Booking windows! How to define what an emergency is in Avoca

Understanding Technician Assignment (ServiceTitan Users Only)

Important:Your assignment mode is configured by your Avoca Customer Success Manager during setup. If you need to change your assignment mode, please reach out to them. The mode you’re on affects how the on-call calendar assigns (or doesn’t assign) jobs to technicians.

Assignment Modes

Emergency Only
  • Emergency jobs are assigned to the on-call technician based on the on-call calendar
  • Non-emergency jobs are not automatically assigned
  • Best for: Businesses that only want automatic assignment for after-hours emergencies
Always (On-Call Calendar)
  • All jobs (emergency and non-emergency) are assigned based on who is on-call
  • Ignores ServiceTitan capacity planning
  • Best for: Businesses with simple on-call rotations who want all jobs assigned to whoever is on-call
  • Note: Can result in overbooking since the on-call calendar doesn’t check capacity
ServiceTitan Non-Emergency
  • Emergency jobs are assigned based on the on-call calendar
  • Non-emergency jobs are assigned using ServiceTitan’s capacity planning (finds available techs)
  • Best for: Businesses that want on-call assignment for emergencies but smart capacity-based assignment for regular jobs
ServiceTitan ACP for All Calls
  • All jobs are assigned using ServiceTitan’s capacity planning only
  • The on-call calendar is used for notifications but not for job assignments
  • Best for: Businesses that want all assignments based on capacity and availability
Never
  • No automatic technician assignment
  • All jobs must be manually assigned by your team
  • Best for: Businesses that prefer complete manual control over assignments

Managing Your Team

Editing Contact Information

1
Go to Employee Contacts
2
Click the pencil icon next to any team member
3
Update their information
4
Click Save

Deactivating Team Members

When someone leaves or is temporarily off the on-call rotation:
1
Edit their profile
2
Uncheck Active
3
Save
They’ll move to the Inactive section and can be reactivated anytime by editing them again.

Viewing Broadcasted Messages

The Broadcasted Messages tab shows you a history of all on-call notifications Avoca has sent, including:
  • Which call triggered the notification
  • Who was notified
  • How they were notified (text, call, email)
  • Which department was selected and why
  • Timestamp of the notification
This is useful for troubleshooting missed notifications or reviewing your on-call activity.

Frequently asked questions

For Technicians: They’re notified based on appointment time. If the appointment is scheduled outside their on-call shift, they won’t be notified even if the call came in during their shift.For Managers: They’re notified based on call time. If the call came in outside their shift, they won’t be notified.
Not currently—all managers follow the same notification subscription settings configured in the Configuration tab.
No, currently the job will remain assigned to the original on-call tech.
The AI analyzes the call content (customer’s description of the issue) and matches it to your pre-defined departments. For example, if a customer mentions a clogged drain, it will route to your Drains department rather than general Plumbing.
There is no direct toggle to disable phone calls in the Employee Contacts tab. However, you can use this workaround: Set team members as Managers instead of Technicians on the schedule. Managers receive text-only notifications (no phone calls), while Technicians and Backups receive both text and phone call notifications. Important limitation: Managers cannot be assigned to jobs in ServiceTitan.
No, on-call technicians are NOT notified for rescheduled appointments, only for new bookings.
Not currently. There’s no option to notify on-call techs for cancelled or excused calls. This is a feature request in progress.
This is expected behavior. Technicians are notified based on appointment time, not when their shift starts.
Not currently. The Receive Email Notifications toggle sends emails for ALL calls 24/7, not just during on-call shifts.
Incorrect timezone settings can cause notifications to be sent at the wrong times or not at all. Check your timezone in SettingsGeneral Settings. If you need to update it and have existing schedules, contact your CSM for help bulk-adjusting your shifts.

Testing Your Setup

Before going live with your on-call calendar:
1
Set up at least one complete shift with a technician scheduled.
2
Call your Avoca number after hours to test.
3
Confirm the on-call technician receives the notification.
4
Check Broadcasted Messages to verify the notification was sent.
Last modified on February 19, 2026