🙉 Less Noise, More Flexibility: New Slack Notification & Emoji Options

We heard your feedback and made some adjustments to provide greater control and flexibility around how you configure Rootly in Slack. All of these can be easily adjusted in your Slack integration settings page. Here’s what’s new:

You can now disable user tagging on default threaded updates, like automatic timeline events. This can be adjusted by toggling “Mention user on timeline events” on or off based on your preferences. This can reduce noise for incident responders, while still providing confirmation that automated actions have been completed successfully.

You’re also no longer required to use the default emojis to perform actions in your Slack integration—you can now assign any emoji you want to pin events to the timeline, create a task, or mark as a follow-up action item. You can even assign multiple emojis to perform these actions!

Here's a quick demo of both of these customization options in action:

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Introduced the ability to perform user lookup in workflows using a user’s name, email, or Slack ID
🆕 Naming of the downloaded retrospective PDF can now be dynamically set by altering the retrospective title
💅 Manual Export to Jira feature can now dynamically display required fields based on Jira Project Key and Issue Type
💅 Incident duration displayed on retrospectives are now displayed with a more detailed time (H:M:S)
🐛 Fixed inability to open dashboard reports sent by workflows
🐛 Fixed inability to provision custom roles using SCIM groups in Okta

🔑 SCIM Group Support: Access Control Made Easy at Enterprise Scale

We're thrilled to add SCIM group support to our growing suite of enterprise-friendly features. Whether you have a team of 10 or 10,000, you can onboard new Rootly users in your organization seamlessly by auto-assigning roles in Rootly based on their SCIM group membership, all from within any SCIM-compatible SSO platform (Okta, Azure AD, Google SSO, etc.). Want to ensure everyone in your customer support team can access Rootly as an observer? Or that every engineer has the ability to start an incident? Simply assign any of your SCIM groups a corresponding Rootly permission type.

Managing user permissions at a group level—typically corresponding to teams or business streams—is essential for businesses operating at enterprise scale, and SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) is the trusted standard for this secure access management. With SCIM group support, we're making it even easier for enterprises to onboard and manage their users simply and securely in one place.

Learn more about SCIM support in our help docs.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Users will receive automated emails from Rootly when their third-party integration tokens are nearing expiry
🆕 New {{incident.google_drive_parent_id}} liquid variable to reference the desired parent folder in Google drive for Google docs created automatically with Rootly workflows
💅 We've enhanced our integration with New Relic by allowing alerts to automatically create incidents in Rootly
💅 Updated incident titling logic to avoid duplicate incident titles
🐛 Fixed minor bug in Zendesk integration (fields can now be left empty when creating a new Zendesk ticket without reverting to the default placeholder text)

📲 Call External APIs from Rootly

We are thrilled to introduce a new addition to our ever-growing list of workflow tasks: the HTTP Client task! With this latest addition, organizations can now make outbound request calls to external APIs directly within their workflows.

Here are the key highlights of the HTTP Client task:

• Seamless Integration via Workflows: The HTTP Client task seamlessly integrates into your workflows, enabling you to incorporate external API calls to your incident response automation. Whether you need to retrieve data or perform write actions, this task has you covered.
• Versatile HTTP Methods: The new task supports a wide range of HTTP methods, including GET, POST, PUT, and more. You’re well-equipped to find the appropriate operation for the API you're interacting with.
• Flexible Request Parameters: You can specify headers, query parameters, and request bodies to match the unique contract of each external API.
• Heightened Security with Secrets: Rest assured that your API calls are secure and reliable. You can leverage Rootly Secrets to reference API keys, tokens, etc. to ensure that sensitive data is never exposed at any point in the call.

The new HTTP Client task opens up a whole new world of possibilities for integrating with external services and systems. Common enterprise use cases are all just a workflow task away!

• Event logging can be supported by firing off an API call to an external audit service each time a workflow is run in Rootly.
• Asynchronous run jobs can be triggered to write to a data warehouse every time an incident is created or updated.
• Incidents can be redirected to other Rootly orgs by calling Rootly APIs with org-specific API keys

Checkout this instructional video on how to get started with setting up an HTTP Client task.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Added Update Notion Page task to enable overwriting of an existing Notion page
🆕 Introduced the ability to turn user mentions off on timeline events to reduce notification noise
💅 Enhanced Form Fields page for better displaying of fields with extended names
💅 Improved role assignment logic for requesting permission upgrades to ensure accuracy
🐛 Fixed datepicker display issue on web UI
🐛 Fixed inability to delete previously added action items in Send Slack Message task

🔐 Custom Google Doc Permissions

We're thrilled to announce our latest feature: the ability to update Google Doc permissions via workflows. This will allow InfoSec teams to streamline user permission management in security incidents.

We understand the importance of efficient collaboration and information security. Now equipped with the ability to update Google Doc permissions using workflows, teams can automatically grant and revoke user access to Google Docs.

Let's take a closer look at the key enhancements in this update:

• Streamlined Permissions Management: We simplified the process of managing and updating Google Doc permissions. You no longer have to navigate to Google Docs to grant or revoke access for users joining the incident. Access can now all be controlled via Slack or the web UI.
• Enhanced Security with Real-Time Permission Updates: Security incidents require stricter access control. You don’t want non-participating users to have access to private incident documents. The new feature enables you to automatically revoke access as soon as a user is no longer subscribed to the incident. This prevents unwanted lingering access and helps organizations demonstrate compliance with data protection regulations.
• Improved Team Efficiency: InfoSec teams face significant time constraints due to the critical nature of their incidents. The ability to automatically provision Google Doc access saves valuable time and effort by eliminating the manual process of managing access rights. This automation allows the response team to focus on more critical tasks like mitigating security threats and implementing improved security measures.

InfoSec teams are responsible for safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to critical resources. With this new feature, InfoSec teams can effectively manage access control for confidential incident documents. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access and helps maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information

Here's an instructional video to help you get started on automating Google Doc permissions.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Introduced notification emails to alert customers on failed token refreshes
💅 Added text to clearly call out which Service or Schedule is displayed on the on-call schedule dialog in Slack
💅 Updated Loom videos in Rootly Docs
🐛 Fixed inability to display Slack dialog when /incident status command is triggered
🐛 Fixed inability to select a single checkbox in Slack notifications setting
🐛 Fixed action item export issue in to Asana integration

🤓 Advanced Slack Customization via Slack Blocks

Power users rejoice! We are launching our most advanced Slack customization with Slack Blocks in workflows. In short, this allows users to completely custom "code" Slack messages that are tailored to your organizations unique incident process needs. Control everything from fonts, clickable buttons, formatting, links and more.

For customers looking to get started quickly, our defaults are perfect. For users looking to take their customization one level further, here is what you can do...

• Full customization power of Slack Blocks. Gone are the days of generic and rigid Slack messages. This feature will allow you to craft beautifully formatted notifications containing dynamic texts, attachments, links and interactive action buttons to present information exactly the way you want.
• Integrates seamlessly via workflows. You can continue to leverage Rootly’s workflows to automate the sending of Slack Blocks. Only this time its customized to your exact specifications.
• Powerful programmable display logic. Using liquid variable syntax, you can assign new variables, run through for-loops, check if-statements, etc. to dynamically display messages without the need to set up multiple workflows.
• Quick start templates. You do not need to learn a new scripting language in order to build an beautiful Slack Block. Choose from an extensive list of pre-built templates ranging from: simple text blocks to fancier interactive buttons to jump start your configuration.
• Built-in preview feature. There is no need to run the entire workflow just to test out your code. You will have access to Slack’s Block Kit Builder all through the Rootly Web UI. You can preview your code and run with confidence.

Here are some examples where Slack Block is commonly used:

• Announcing a new incident and displaying its key data points. When a new incident is declared, you can send a fully-formatted announcement message that includes the incident title, incident Slack channel, severity, environment, and an eye-catching emoji that represents the status of the incident.
• Displaying guidance instructions and CTA buttons to navigate a user through the incident. The end-user might be new to the incident response procedure. You can help alleviate their stress by pairing instructional messages and relevant buttons to help guide the user on what to do next. This is great for building out training procedures.
• Surfacing one-click buttons to manually trigger custom workflows. If you have a workflow that needs to be triggered manually, you can connect it to a customizable button and initiate the workflow with a single click.
• Sending messages with visual attachments. Sometimes a simple string of texts can easily be missed. With Slack Blocks, you can include attachments to visual files (e.g. jpg, png) and have them displayed as part of the message.

Check out this instructional video to get started with Slack Blocks!

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Added {{ incident.causes }} liquid variable to list out the values for Incident Cause field
🆕 Implemented auto session timeout when prolonged inactivity is detected on a logged in account
💅 Enhanced /incident oncall command to accept a service, schedule, or team name to quickly display the on-call personnel (e.g. /incident oncall Infrastructure)
💅 Removed option to delete an Incident Role for a individual incidents to help limit future workflow run failures
🐛 Fixed display order issue on Action Item dialog in Slack
🐛 Eliminated unintended repeating notifications in Slack

🗃️ Notion Projects Integration with Rootly

It's no secret that Rootly has a powerful integration with Notion that helps automatically generate retrospectives. In fact, the COO of Notion, Akshay is one of the earliest investors in Rootly.

Today, we are extending our formal partnership with Notion by introducing our Notion Projects integration. Customers will be able to automatically create and track tickets such as incident action items in Notion and ensure they bi-directionally sync. This can all be done from within Slack or Web.

• Create a Notion issue when a new incident is created with relevant metadata
• Create a Notion sub-issue when a new action item is created
• Update an issue ticket to Done when an incident is resolved

Features
* Full customization and configuration via Workflows
* Automate routing different Notion tickets to different boards depending on incident severity, type, team, or any other condition
* Automatically sync incident severity with Notion priorities
* Leverage incident variables to populate to customize ticket description, title, etc.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Added ability to map to custom Single User Picker field types in Jira integration
🆕 Introduced advanced field mapping for Zendesk integration to support the use of json payload when creating and updating Zendesk tickets
💅 Streamlined page navigation for configuring form/custom fields to improve user experience
💅 Added Asana to list of applications that action items can be manually exported to
🐛 Fixed sort option for retrospective timeline displays
🐛 Fixed web UI display of calendar pickers

💬 WhatsApp Integration

With our newly launched WhatsApp integration, you can now leverage the power of instant messaging to notify and page your incident responders during critical events. This is especially helpful in regions such as LATAM, EMEA, and APAC where WhatsApp is the gold standard for communication and not SMS or Slack.

The ability to send WhatsApp messages can be seamlessly integrated into your incident response via workflows. Helping you promptly notify the right people to take immediate action in their preferred communication channel.

Here's what you can expect with this new feature:

• Instant Messaging: Send real-time messages to incident responders via WhatsApp, instantly alerting them of critical incidents and triggering their swift response.
• Automated Paging: Configure workflows to trigger the sending of messages based on various conditions such as severity level, team involvement, service impact, etc.
• Customizable Message Templates: Leverage liquid variable syntax to customize your message to the responders - so they are informed of the exact state of the incident (e.g. {{ incident.summary }}) without any manual intervention.

Getting started with WhatsApp integration is quick and easy. Simply configure your workflow to run at the time and under the conditions that suit your requirements. Then select the Send WhatsApp Message task and specify the phone number and message content. That’s it! Now just wait for your next incident and see your responders receive a WhatsApp message directly on their phones.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Introduced the ability to have Statuspage.io integration auto-tweet each incident update (if enabled on Statuspage.io)
💅 Added the ability to use Rootly templates to create retrospectives in Confluence under Retrospective Workflows
💅 Added the ability to set service_ids when creating Rootly status page via Terraform
🐛 Fixed Slack display issue for when a Team is assigned to an action item
🐛 Fixed inability to create a workflow task as disabled in Terraform
🐛 Fixed incorrect linking of status page logo URL

📤 Manually Export Action Items to Ticketing Apps (Jira, Zendesk, Linear, and more)

The ability to auto-create issue tickets from action items has already helped many Rootly users reduce their manual work and increase productivity.

While it is easy to configure a workflow to create a ticket whenever an action item is declared, it does require a set of defined conditions to be met, before the task is executed.

As with many incidents, exceptions do occur - we are excited to announce a new feature that allows users to manually export action items ad-hoc to ticketing platforms such as Jira, Linear, Asana, Zendesk, Trello, Shortcut, and Freshdesk!

Here's what you can expect with this new feature:

• Manually select action items to export: You can now manually select (even in bulk) which action items they want to export to your ticketing app. This gives teams more flexibility and control over what tasks are transferred, ensuring that only the most important tasks are added to your project board.
• Fully integrated in Slack: Rootly is a Slack-first platform and we want teams to stay there during the entirety of the incident. Export of action items can be triggered directly in the incident channel or if preferred do it from the web platform on Rootly.com.
• Flexibility to select projects on each export: You do not need to have a “default” project or board. Our new feature integrates seamlessly with ticket apps, giving you the ability to select any of the enabled project boards and their supported ticket types at the time of export. Individuals and teams can select their own project board directly.
• Intelligent ticket type recognition: Already have a ticket for the main incident? We will dynamically present you with the option to export as a sub-ticket based on whether there is already an existing ticket for the main incident.

This new feature will give more control to Rootly users so they can manage their action items and stay on top of their projects - the way they wanted to.

GA today to all customers. Check out this short video to see the feature in action!

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Added ability to enable password authentication on status pages created via Terraform
💅 Enabled option to select all when importing services from PagerDuty to Rootly
💅 Added overview_update_status_page_dialog to available action ids that can be used in Slack Blocks
🐛 Fixed bug on /incident list command to correctly return list of unresolved incidents in Slack
🐛 Corrected value mapping of {{incident.slack_channel_name} field for converted incident channels
🐛 Fixed wrong timeline timestamp for pinned messages in Notion retrospectives

📊 Automated Dashboard Reports

Our Customizable Metrics Dashboards have been a popular hit for teams and executives to report on important data such as MTTR, number of high severity incidents, list of open action items, unpublished retrospectives, newly added users, etc. Now, you can have these reports automatically delivered to your inbox on a recurring schedule - saving you time and effort.

Here's what you can expect from this new feature:

• Automated Reporting: You can configure dashboard reports to be generated and sent to email addresses on a predefined interval. This will save you time and ensure that you never miss an important update.

• Multiple Downloadable Formats: Complete dashboard reports can be downloaded into PDFs for easy sharing. Individual widgets can be downloaded into PNG, JPG, PDF, JSON, or CSV to best suit your consumption needs.

• Fully Configurable via Workflows: Automations to send out reports are configured in Workflows > Standalone, which can be called upon in other workflows. This gives you the flexibility to trigger report sending on a recurring schedule or on specific events (e.g. incident resolution).

We are excited to help you stay on top of your metrics and make data-driven decisions for your business. See it in action with this quick video.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Introduced ability to dynamically display paging options based on the connected PagerDuty account plan, lower plans now show less options
🆕 Added ability to only send Slack messages to new incident subscribers / participants - even if they are not already licensed Rootly users (e.g. an executive pokes their head in a few hours into an incident)
💅 Refined PagerDuty escalation logic to allow more granular paging options
💅 Improved query logic to reduce timeout occurrences on action item dialogs in Slack
🐛 Corrected link error when displaying internal playbooks in Slack
🐛 Fixed action item misalignment on Rootly Web UI

🔐 GitHub Secret Scanning Partner

We’re excited to announce that Rootly has officially become a GitHub Secret Scanning partner!

This new partnership enables Rootly tokens to be protected by GitHub’s secret scanning process and help users identify and remediate secrets that may have been inadvertently exposed.

GitHub can now quickly detect Rootly API keys that are committed to GitHub public repositories, automate the scanning of repositories, and generate actionable insights for users to remediate the identified vulnerabilities.

By integrating with GitHub’s Secret Scanning, Rootly offers an additional layer of security that helps organizations protect their code and infrastructure. This partnership reinforces Rootly's commitment to delivering a comprehensive incident response platform that helps organizations prevent and respond to incidents securely and efficiently.

If you’re an existing Rootly and GitHub user, you are already taking advantage of this new partnership - no action required!

Check out this article to learn more about how GitHub’s secret scanning feature goes about protecting your business.

🌝 New & Improved

🆕 Added selectable options in Send Slack Blocks task to be able to reference Slack aliases attached to Teams, Functionalities, Services, Incident Types, Environments, and Severities
🆕 Added PagerDuty escalation and acknowledgment messages to show details such as, who was notified, how were they notified, who acknowledged it, and how was it acknowledged in Slack and Web
💅 Cleaned up time display format on Metrics graphs to be more human-readable
🐛 Fixed UI bug that was previously not showing IS SET and IS UNSET conditions in workflows
🐛 Revised incorrect heading formatting for retrospectives created in Confluence
🐛 Removed duplicate text on workflow configuration page