Shift swaps and overrides

Grafana IRM provides flexibility for on-call schedules through shift swaps and overrides. These features allow you to make temporary adjustments to schedules without modifying the underlying rotation pattern.

About shift swaps and overrides

When managing on-call rotations, teams often need to accommodate schedule changes due to vacations, sick leave, or other personal conflicts. Grafana IRM offers two features to handle these situations:

Shift swaps: Enable team members to request coverage for their shifts and allow others to volunteer to take those shifts
Overrides: Let you specify a temporary replacement user for specific time periods

Both features help teams maintain coverage during absences without disrupting the primary schedule configuration.

Which feature should I use?

Choose the appropriate feature based on your situation:

Feature	Best used when	Process
Shift swaps	You need coverage but don’t know who’s available	Create a request that team members can volunteer to accept
Overrides	You’ve already coordinated with a specific colleague	Directly assign the replacement to cover your shift

Restrictions

A shift swap is possible for any kind of schedule. Web overrides are possible for web schedules and Terraform schedules for which enable_web_overrides is enabled (this setting is disabled by default). Web overrides are not possible for iCal imported schedules.

Shift swaps

Shift swaps allow on-call users to request coverage for their shifts when they are unavailable. This collaborative approach distributes the workload fairly across the team.

Key features

Request-based system: Create requests for shift coverage that team members can volunteer to take
Notifications and reminders: Automated alerts to inform team members about open requests
Mobile app support: Manage shift swaps on the go through the Grafana mobile app
Calendar integration: Automate shift swap requests with calendar integration

Shift swap workflow

Team member creates a shift swap request for a specific time period
Notification is sent to eligible team members
Another team member takes the swap request
Schedule is updated automatically (replacing every occurrence of the requester with the taker in the specified time-window)
Both team members receive confirmation notifications

For detailed instructions on creating, accepting, and managing shift swaps, refer to Manage shift swaps.

For information on automating shift swaps with calendar integration, refer to Automate shift swaps.

Overrides

Overrides directly assign a replacement user for a defined time period. This feature gives you precise control over schedule adjustments when you’ve already coordinated coverage with a specific colleague.

Key features

Direct replacement: Explicitly assign a specific user to cover any shifts that occur during the override
Temporary changes: Make one-time adjustments without altering the underlying schedule
Date and time precision: Set exact start and end times for the override period
Override calendar: Use a calendar app to manage override schedules in your existing systems

Override workflow

Team member identifies when they need coverage
They coordinate with another team member to cover the shift
Admin or team member creates an override specifying:
- The time period for the override
- The user who will provide coverage
Schedule is automatically updated to reflect the override

For step-by-step instructions on creating and managing overrides, refer to Add overrides.

How overrides and shift swaps interact

Overrides and shift swaps can both apply to the same shift. Understanding how they interact helps you predict who actually receives notifications and pages at a given moment:

An override always takes precedence over the regular rotation.
When multiple overrides overlap, the priority level determines which one takes precedence. Refer to Manage overlapping overrides for details.
A shift swap can take precedence over an override, but only if the swap’s requester is the user the override assigned to cover the shift. Accepting that swap cancels the override for the swapped period. Whoever accepts the swap covers the shift instead, even if they weren’t part of the original rotation or override.
A swap requested by the original rotation owner, has no effect on an active override for that shift.