# Configure check-call patterns

Check-call timing comes from two places — one set of organisation defaults, and any number of named patterns created below them on the same screen. A pattern overrides those defaults field by field for the sites you attach it to. This page covers turning the system on, creating a pattern, attaching it to a site, and the fields that are stored but never read.

## What is the difference between the settings and a pattern?

The settings are the fallback. A pattern is a named override.

**Settings → Check Calls** holds one set of values for the whole organisation: an interval, a window, what verification to demand, and how escalation behaves. Every shift in the organisation uses them unless something more specific says otherwise.

**Custom Check Call Patterns**, on the lower half of the same screen, is where you create the something more specific. A pattern can carry a different interval, a different window, different verification, fixed times instead of an interval, and its own alert configuration. Only the fields it actually sets are overridden — a pattern that names an interval and nothing else still inherits the window from the settings above it.

![The whole of Settings → Check Calls in one column. Check Call System is switched on at the top, and beneath it the blocks it reveals: PATTERN (Check Call Pattern on Hourly (every hour), Interval 60, First Call After 60); CHECK CALL WINDOW (Opens Before 15, Duration 30, and the worked example that a call due at 10:00 can be answered between 09:45 and 10:15); VERIFICATION (Require Personal PIN on, Require Site ID on, Require GPS Location off); ESCALATION (Auto-Escalate Missed Calls on, Escalation Delay 15, Last Call Before End 60); BOOK-ON GATING (Earliest Book-On 60, Require Previous Shift Booked Off on); and OFFICER FORM ACCESS. Below the Save Settings button sits a separate Custom Check Call Patterns card with a New Pattern button and one entry — Four-hourly welfare check, badged Default and Interval, summarised Every 240 min · Window: 15+30 min.](/docs/img/check-call-patterns-settings.png)

Which pattern applies to a shift is resolved in this order, per field:

1. the pattern named on the shift itself;
2. the pattern named on the shift's site;
3. the organisation's default pattern;
4. the organisation's own settings on this screen;
5. built-in defaults.

Only tiers 2 to 5 are reachable from the interface. No screen writes a check-call pattern onto an individual shift, so in practice a pattern reaches a shift through its site or by being the default.

The full resolution rules, and what a missed call actually does, are on [Check-call windows and escalation](/docs/concepts/check-call-windows-and-escalation). This page is about setting them.

## What do you need first?

The screen is under **Settings → Check Calls**, reached from your own name in the top right, and is listed for **Admin** and **Manager**.

**Check Call System** must be on for any of the timing controls to appear — the pattern, window, verification, escalation and book-on sections are all hidden while it is off. It is on by default. **Officer Form Access** sits below them and is shown either way, because it is not a check-call setting.

One thing to settle before creating patterns: **Check Call Pattern** in the settings offers **Hourly (every hour)**, **Custom Interval** and **Shift-Based (fixed times)**, and the third of those does not do what it says. The list of fixed times is only ever read from a pattern, so choosing it here leaves the spacing on the interval below it. If you want fixed times, you need a pattern.

## How do you create a pattern?

1. Open **Settings → Check Calls** and scroll to **Custom Check Call Patterns**.
2. Press **New Pattern**.
3. Fill **Pattern Name** — it is the only field the form insists on, and the **Create Pattern** button stays disabled until it has a value.
4. Choose **Pattern Type**: **Interval-Based**, **Fixed Times** or **Hybrid**.
5. Fill the timing fields the type reveals. See the table below.
6. Set **Window Start Before (min)** and **Window Duration (min)** — 15 and 30 unless you change them.
7. Optionally tick **Set as default pattern**.
8. Press **Create Pattern**.

The pattern appears in the list below with badges for its type, plus **Default** if you set it, and a summary line reading *Every {n} min* or *Times: {list}* and *Window: {start}+{duration} min*.

## What does each field do?

| Field | Applies to | Accepted values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern Name | All | Required, unique within the organisation | — |
| Pattern Type | All | Interval-Based, Fixed Times, Hybrid | Interval-Based |
| Description | All | Free text | — |
| Interval (minutes) | Interval-Based | 15 to 480 | 60 |
| First Call After | Interval-Based | 0 to 480 | 60 |
| Last Call Before End | Interval-Based | 0 to 480 | 60 |
| Check Times (HH:MM, comma-separated) | Fixed Times | 24-hour times, comma-separated | — |
| Window Start Before (min) | All | 0 to 60 | 15 |
| Window Duration (min) | All | 5 to 120 | 30 |
| Set as default pattern | All | On or off | Off |
| Active | All | On or off | On |
| Alert Settings | All | See below | Off |

**Hybrid** is the trap in that list. It is accepted, stored and shown as its own badge, but the calculation only branches on fixed times — anything that is not `Fixed Times` with times filled in is spaced by interval. A Hybrid pattern behaves exactly like an Interval-Based one.

## What are the Alert Settings?

An optional second layer, off until you tick **Alert Settings — email/push on late events**.

Once on, you choose recipients — **Site manager**, **Org admins**, and any **Custom emails** you type — and then which events to alert on. The grid covers **Book on**, **Check call** and **Book off**, each with a **Late** and a **Very late** column. **Late** fires at the halfway point of the window while it is still open; **Very late** fires **Very late after (min)** past the window closing, 15 by default.

Two extras sit below: **Before-shift heads-up email**, sent **Heads-up before shift (min)** ahead of the start, 60 by default; and **Send the officer an overdue push when an event is late**.

None of this replaces the escalation that fires on a missed call. That runs whether or not a pattern has alert settings.

## How do you attach a pattern to a site?

1. Go to **Sites** and press **Configure** on the site.
2. Open the **Settings** tab and press **Edit**.
3. Under **Check-call**, set **Check Call System**. The list offers **No Check Call System** plus every pattern in your organisation, with `(Default)` beside the default one.
4. Press **Save**.

The helper line under the control says it plainly: *Patterns are managed in Organization Settings → Check Call tab*.

**No Check Call System** does not switch check calls off for that site. It means "no pattern", and the site falls through to the organisation's default pattern, then to the settings — which still produce check calls. The only switch that stops them is **Check Call System** at organisation level.

Below the pattern picker, **Site-Level Overrides** lets a site adjust individual fields without a pattern: **Window Opens Before (min)**, **Window Duration (min)**, verification for **PIN**, **Site ID** and **GPS** as **Inherit** / **Required** / **Off**, **Auto-Escalate Missed**, and **Escalation Delay (min)**. Leave a box blank, or a select on **Inherit**, to keep the value from above.

## If it goes wrong

**"A pattern with this name already exists".** Names are unique per organisation. Rename it.

**"Interval must be between 15 and 480 minutes" or "Window duration must be between 5 and 120 minutes".** The form's own spinners allow the same ranges; you get these when a value is typed rather than stepped.

**"Invalid time format: {time}. Use HH:MM format (e.g., 10:00)".** Fixed times must be 24-hour `HH:MM`, comma-separated. `9:00` is rejected; `09:00` is not.

**A site reads "Pattern not found".** The pattern it points at has been deleted. Deleting a pattern is a plain browser confirmation with no impact summary, and nothing clears the reference on sites that used it. The site falls back to the organisation default in the meantime; re-pick a pattern to tidy it up.

**Two patterns both say Default.** Ticking **Set as default pattern** does not untick it anywhere else, and nothing prevents a second default. When more than one exists the resolver takes whichever the database returns first, which is not stable. Keep exactly one.

**The Active tick appears to do nothing.** It does nothing. `Active` is stored and shown as an **Inactive** badge when off, but no lookup filters on it — an inactive pattern attached to a site still applies, and an inactive default is still the default. Detach it or delete it instead.

**Min Shift Duration, Max Shift Duration and Applies to Shift Types appear to do nothing.** They also do nothing. All three are stored and displayed on the pattern card, but nothing reads them when settings are resolved, so a pattern cannot scope itself by shift length or shift type. Attach patterns per site instead.

## Related

- [Check-call windows and escalation](/docs/concepts/check-call-windows-and-escalation)
- [Create your first site](/docs/organisation/create-your-first-site)
- [Account setup](/docs/organisation/account-setup)
- [Glossary](/docs/reference/glossary)