User vs Centralized Notification

When setting up an Escalation Policy there are two settings for notification delivery: User Settings and Centralized Settings. 

In the Rules Tab, toggle the Notify Using setting between centralized or user.  

The User setting will escalate alerts using contact methods and escalation policies which are set up by each user in their user profile. The Centralized setting overrides user preferences with admin preferences.

User Settings 

User based rules adhere to user contact preferences in the User Profile. This is where individual users can add contact methods, arrange them sequentially, and add delays and repeats.

When User Settings are enabled for an escalation policy, notifications will be delivered by referencing this configuration. Each user may have completely different notification behavior as a result.

Centralized Settings

In many cases, notification delivery needs to be consistent rather than personalized. In these situations admins can set this up by toggling Centralized Rules in the Escalation Policy.

When Centralized Settings are selected, delivery behavior is set up in the Rules tab.  Each role is configured separately, so notifications can be role specific.

To modify Member Role settings, click on the role. On the right side of the page you can then add as many Contact Methods labels as necessary. The corresponding contact information (i.e. phone number or email) will come from a user's profile. Furthermore, you may add notification delays and retries. 

It is important to note that the interval between Primary and Secondary members does not begin until all contact methods for the Primary role have been exhausted.  The introduction of delays and repeats, whether global or individual, will affect the overall time before the next member is notified.