Operating Schedules

Control when alert rules are active with time-based schedules

Operating schedules let you define business hours or monitoring windows so alerts only fire when your team is available to respond. Instead of waking up on-call engineers at 3 AM for non-critical issues, schedules suppress alerts outside defined time windows.

How Schedules Work

Schedules sit between rule evaluation and alert delivery:

1. An event matches an alert rule
2. AnomalyArmor checks whether the current time falls within the rule’s operating schedule
3. If inside the schedule window, the alert is delivered normally
4. If outside the schedule window, the alert is suppressed with reason “outside operating hours”

Suppressed alerts still appear in Alerts > History for auditing. No data is lost. You can always review what happened outside your schedule windows.

Creating a Schedule

1. Navigate to Schedules

   Go to Alerts in the sidebar, then click the Schedules tab.

2. Click New Schedule

   Click New Schedule to open the schedule builder.

3. Name the Schedule

   Give it a clear, descriptive name that reflects when it’s active:

   Good names:

   • “Business Hours EST”
   • “24/7 Weekdays Only”
   • “APAC Coverage Window”

   Avoid:

   • “Schedule 1”
   • “My schedule”
4. Set Timezone

   Select the timezone for this schedule using IANA format:

   • America/New_York
   • Europe/London
   • Asia/Tokyo

   Use a timezone that matches your team’s working hours, not the database server’s timezone.

5. Add Schedule Rules

   Define one or more time windows. Each rule specifies which days and what time range the schedule is active.

   • Days: Select one or more days (Monday through Sunday)
   • Start time: When the window opens (24-hour format, HH:MM)
   • End time: When the window closes (24-hour format, HH:MM)

   Click Add Rule to add additional time windows.

6. Save

   Click Save to create the schedule. It can now be assigned to alert rules.

Schedule Rules

Each schedule contains one or more rules that define active time windows. Rules are combined with OR logic, so an alert fires if the current time falls within any of the schedule’s rules.

Rule Structure

Each rule defines three things:

Field	Format	Example
Days	1 = Monday through 7 = Sunday	1-5 (weekdays)
Start time	HH:MM (24-hour)	09:00
End time	HH:MM (24-hour)	18:00

Combining Rules

Use multiple rules to cover different day/time combinations:

Rule	Days	Start	End	Coverage
1	Mon-Fri (1-5)	09:00	18:00	Weekday business hours
2	Sat (6)	10:00	14:00	Saturday morning shift

This schedule activates alerts Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM, plus Saturday from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Overnight Schedules

If the start time is later than the end time, the window wraps to the next day:

Rule	Days	Start	End	Coverage
1	Mon-Thu (1-4)	22:00	06:00	Overnight batch window

This covers 10 PM to 6 AM the following morning, Monday night through Friday morning.

Assigning to Rules

Schedules take effect when assigned to an alert rule.

During Rule Creation

When creating a new alert rule, select a schedule from the Operating Schedule dropdown in the rule builder. Leave it blank to keep the rule always active.

On an Existing Rule

1. Go to Alerts > Rules
2. Click the rule name to edit
3. Select or change the Operating Schedule
4. Click Save

Removing a schedule from a rule makes it always active. Alerts are never lost. They are suppressed and logged when outside the schedule window.

Constraints

• A rule can only have one schedule at a time
• Rules without a schedule are always active
• Multiple rules can share the same schedule
• Changing a schedule affects all rules that use it

Timezone Handling

Schedules evaluate against the current time in the configured timezone:

• All times use IANA timezone identifiers (America/New_York, Europe/London, Asia/Tokyo)
• Daylight Saving Time transitions are handled automatically
• When clocks spring forward, the schedule adjusts accordingly. A 2 AM to 3 AM window would be skipped on the transition day
• When clocks fall back, the schedule covers the repeated hour

Avoid using UTC offsets like UTC-5 for schedules in regions that observe DST. Use the region-based identifier (e.g., America/New_York) so DST is handled correctly.

Common Patterns

Business Hours Only

Standard weekday coverage for a single team:

Rule	Days	Start	End
1	Mon-Fri (1-5)	09:00	18:00

Best for: Non-critical alerts that can wait until the next business day.

24/7 Weekdays with Reduced Weekends

Full weekday coverage with limited weekend hours:

Rule	Days	Start	End
1	Mon-Fri (1-5)	00:00	23:59
2	Sat-Sun (6-7)	09:00	17:00

Best for: Teams with weekend on-call during daytime hours only.

Follow the Sun

Multiple rules covering regional business hours for global teams:

Rule	Days	Start	End	Region
1	Mon-Fri (1-5)	09:00	18:00	US East (America/New_York)
2	Mon-Fri (1-5)	09:00	18:00	Europe (Europe/London)
3	Mon-Fri (1-5)	09:00	18:00	APAC (Asia/Tokyo)

Follow-the-sun requires creating separate schedules (one per timezone) and separate alert rules for each region’s destinations.

Next Steps

Create Alert Rules

Assign schedules to your alert rules

Best Practices

Reduce alert fatigue with effective scheduling