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The first pages of the On-Call Handbook template

On-Call Handbook

Document template for Google Docs and Word

Make a copy in Google Docs
Type
Document
Price
Free
Pages
8 · US Letter
Style
Editorial
Difficulty
Beginner
Updated
October 30, 2026

Every page (8)

Overview

On-call goes badly when the rules are improvised at 3 a.m. This handbook sets them out in advance: a one-week-in-seven rotation, severity levels with response times, the paging command and its parameters, a two-sided handover checklist, wellbeing limits, and the pay and time off that go with the shift.

The sample is the handbook of a fictional company, Cinderfield Systems, for its Ledger API rota of seven engineers. Replace the service, rota dates, severity table, contacts and pay figures with your own, run each command in staging, and set a quarterly review date.

Useful for

  • An engineering manager starting a first on-call rota for a team of six to eight engineers
  • A new on-call engineer reading the whole handbook before a first shadow shift
  • An SRE agreeing severity levels, response times and handover rules with product teams

What's included

  • Rotation page with a timeline of shadow, live and review dates and a calendar of the busiest month
  • Severity levels page with a response clock and a table of six situations
  • Paging page with the escalation command, its parameters and request and response examples
  • Handover checklist for the outgoing and incoming engineer, plus a 15-minute meeting list
  • Wellbeing article on limits, recovery after a bad night and support
  • Pay and time off policy with a worked-examples page, and a guide page

How to use it

  1. 1

    Click Make a copy in Google Docs, then confirm on the Google page. The copy is saved to your own Google Drive.

  2. 2

    Replace the service name, rota dates, team size and on-call channel, then map your real alerts and severities to the table.

  3. 3

    Run the paging command and every procedure in staging, paste the real output, and write what to do when the output differs.

  4. 4

    Update contacts, the escalation point, pay and time off, and set the next review date with your manager and HR.

  5. 5

    Delete the Make it yours guide page, then share the handbook with the rota and link it from every alert.

What you need

Requirements

  • A Google account with access to Google Drive

Works with

  • Google Docs
  • Microsoft Word (download the .docx)

Questions

How many engineers do we need on the rota?

The sample uses seven engineers on one-week shifts, so each person is on call one week in seven. Fewer than six makes the load hard to sustain.

Can I use it for a single service?

Yes. The sample covers one service, the Ledger API. Name your own service, owner team and dependencies, and add a second handbook per service if rotas differ.

Are the company, people and figures real?

No. Cinderfield Systems, the people named, the pay figures and every threshold are fictional sample data. Replace them with your own before you share the handbook.

  • #on-call-handbook
  • #runbook
  • #incident-response
  • #severity-levels
  • #sre
  • #paging
  • #rota
  • #google-docs

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