# Get started with Instatus On-call

Source: https://instatus.com/help/incident-response/on-call

You can use Instatus On-call to organize your team into shifts, and make sure there’s always someone on-call.

If they didn't acknowledge the incident on time, you can use our escalation policies to escalate it to the right people.

![On-call schedule](https://instatus.com/help/incidents/on-call-schedule.png)

## Your schedule

You can see your personal on-call schedule, providing a clear overview of your current and upcoming on-call responsibilities. 

You can quickly see whether you're currently on call, and your upcoming on-call shifts.

![Your on-call schedule](https://instatus.com/help/incidents/your-on-call.png)

## On-call schedules
Here, you can create and manage team schedules for on-call shifts. It shows you calendar views of your on-call schedules.

![On-call schedule](https://instatus.com/help/incidents/on-call-schedule.png)

## Add an on-call schedule

In the on-call schedules section, click **Add schedule**. 

Add a schedule title, members that will be on call, rotation, the on-call period, and any restrictions. 

You'll see a preview in real-time of your schedule whenever you change any of these settings. 

Finally, click **Save** to add your schedule.

![Add a new on-call schedule](https://instatus.com/help/incidents/add-on-call.png)

## Escalation policies

If a team member doesn't acknowledge an incident on time, escalation policies escalate it to the right people, with repeats and time-based rules. Learn how to set them up in [Escalation policies](https://instatus.com/help/incident-response/escalation-policies).

## Routing rules

Routing rules route triggered incidents to the right on-call schedules or escalation policies, filtering by impact, content, affected components and more. Learn how to set them up in [Routing rules](https://instatus.com/help/incident-response/routing-rules).

Congrats, you're now ready to use Instatus On-call!

- [Escalation policies](https://instatus.com/help/incident-response/escalation-policies): Escalate unacknowledged incidents automatically.
- [Routing rules](https://instatus.com/help/incident-response/routing-rules): Route incidents to the right schedules and policies.