# escalations

## What are escalations?

As *escalation* In eliona, this means notifying users about alarms on external channels, e.g. by email or SMS. 

{% hint style="info" %}
Simply put: when an alarm is triggered, a user receives a notification by email.
{% endhint %}

Escalations can be customized in great detail in eliona: You can precisely define which alarms are escalated to which users. Schedules can also be created. 

## Configuration options for escalations 

You can customize escalations according to the following criteria:

### *Who* is notified?

You can precisely define which users alarms are escalated to. 

### *How* is notified?

Users can be notified via different channels. 

Available options

* Email
* Slack
* Google Chat
* SMS

{% hint style="info" %}
Please note:

* You can define for each user individually which channels they are notified on. This is done when you [-> configure escalation](https://docs.buildings.ability.abb/collection/english-v14/documentation/alarms-rules-and-escalations/escalations/configure-an-escalation)
* You need to configure some technical details, for example specify which email server emails are sent from.\
  You can find more information about this under [-> configure escalation channels](#eskalationen-konfigurieren)
* You must ensure that correct contact details are available for the user and add them if necessary. \
  Learn more about this topic in the chapter [-> configure a user for escalations](https://docs.buildings.ability.abb/collection/english-v14/documentation/alarms-rules-and-escalations/escalations/configure-users-for-escalations)
  {% endhint %}

### *When* is notified?

It can be precisely set when people should be notified and when they should not. 

This is controlled via "calendars". In these calendars, times can be set for each individual user at which the user receives notifications. Exceptions can also be configured.

### *What* is shown to the user?

You can customize the content of the messages that a user receives during an escalation.  

You can learn how this works under [-> create templates](https://docs.buildings.ability.abb/collection/english-v14/documentation/alarms-rules-and-escalations/broken-reference)