Contact responsibilities for incident communication plans
reference australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 3 min read r_ResponsibilitiesForIncidentAlerts.md
Contact responsibilities identify the contacts for an incident communication plan and define the role that each contact plays throughout the plan life cycle.
Type of contact responsibilities
Incident communication plans use two types of contact responsibilities:
- Default Responsibilities: Contacts who are notified by default.
- Other Responsibilities: Contacts who can be selected for notification.
Use contact definitions to view and modify the rules that determine the specific users associated with contact responsibilities.
Default responsibilities
By default, contacts with the following responsibilities are notified when an incident communication plan is created:
- Duty Manager
- Incident Manager
- Duty Director
Contacts with these responsibilities help resolve the source incident or original event of the incident communication plan and act as key contacts for the plan.
The following table describes typical operational roles for these responsibilities.
| Responsibility | Description |
|---|---|
| Duty Manager | The senior point of presence in the monitoring environment at the time an incident occurs. The Duty Manager assesses the incident against standard operating procedures, escalation triggers, and personal knowledge and experience, to take corrective actions. To clarify the urgency and impact of an incident, the Duty Manager can contact the Incident Manager for advice. |
| Incident Manager | A senior technician, accountable for coordinating and managing all technical resources required to resolve incidents. After being notified by the Duty Manager of a serious incident, the Incident Manager assesses the seriousness and associated business impact. Based on this assessment, the Incident Manager decides whether to escalate the incident to the Duty Director. The Incident Manager may escalate to the Duty Director to gain access to resources outside of the department, if necessary. |
| Duty Director | The escalation point for all issues that affect critical services. The Duty Director works in partnership with the business directors in the organization to approve recovery plans developed by the Incident Manager. The Duty Director also manages the senior level communications for the source incident. |
Other responsibilities
Incident Communications Management provides the following additional responsibilities that you can add to incident communication plans. You can also create contact responsibilities, as needed. The associated users receive notifications about the incident communication plan.
| Responsibility | Description |
|---|---|
| Business Director | Director within the business who is identified as a potential contact when an incident communication plan is created. |
| Communication Manager | Business-facing role that's involved when an incident communication plan requires business communication. |
| Crisis Action Manager | Overall responsibility and accountability for managing incident communication plans. |
| Crisis Action Team Member | Nominated department heads who are involved when an incident communication plan is created. |
| Development personnel | Development personnel involved in troubleshooting and resolving the source incident of an incident communication plan. |
| Operations support personnel | Second-level or third-level support personnel involved in troubleshooting and resolving the source incident of an incident communication plan. |
| Service Owner | Service owner or manager who is identified as a potential contact when an incident communication plan relates to one or more of their services. |
| Technical Support | Second-level or third-level technical support personnel involved in troubleshooting and resolving the source incident of an incident communication plan. |
Parent Topic:Incident Communications Management and contacts
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--- title: Contact responsibilities for incident communication plans description: Contact responsibilities identify the contacts for an incident communication plan and define the role that each contact plays throughout the plan life cycle. locale: en-US canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/incident-communications-management/r\_ResponsibilitiesForIncidentAlerts.html release: australia product: Incident Communications Management classification: incident-communications-management topic_type: reference last_updated: "2026-09-10" reading_time_minutes: 3 breadcrumb: [Incident Communications Management and contacts, Managing incident communications, Incident Communications Management, IT Service Management] --- # Contact responsibilities for incident communication plans Contact responsibilities identify the contacts for an incident communication plan and define the role that each contact plays throughout the plan life cycle. ## Type of contact responsibilities Incident communication plans use two types of contact responsibilities: - Default Responsibilities: Contacts who are notified by default. - Other Responsibilities: Contacts who can be selected for notification. Use contact definitions to view and modify the rules that determine the specific users associated with contact responsibilities. ## Default responsibilities By default, contacts with the following responsibilities are notified when an incident communication plan is created: - Duty Manager - Incident Manager - Duty Director Contacts with these responsibilities help resolve the source incident or original event of the incident communication plan and act as key contacts for the plan. The following table describes typical operational roles for these responsibilities. |Responsibility|Description| |--------------|-----------| |Duty Manager|The senior point of presence in the monitoring environment at the time an incident occurs. The Duty Manager assesses the incident against standard operating procedures, escalation triggers, and personal knowledge and experience, to take corrective actions. To clarify the urgency and impact of an incident, the Duty Manager can contact the Incident Manager for advice.| |Incident Manager|A senior technician, accountable for coordinating and managing all technical resources required to resolve incidents. After being notified by the Duty Manager of a serious incident, the Incident Manager assesses the seriousness and associated business impact. Based on this assessment, the Incident Manager decides whether to escalate the incident to the Duty Director. The Incident Manager may escalate to the Duty Director to gain access to resources outside of the department, if necessary.| |Duty Director|The escalation point for all issues that affect critical services. The Duty Director works in partnership with the business directors in the organization to approve recovery plans developed by the Incident Manager. The Duty Director also manages the senior level communications for the source incident.| ## Other responsibilities Incident Communications Management provides the following additional responsibilities that you can add to incident communication plans. You can also create contact responsibilities, as needed. The associated users receive notifications about the incident communication plan. |Responsibility|Description| |--------------|-----------| |Business Director|Director within the business who is identified as a potential contact when an incident communication plan is created.| |Communication Manager|Business-facing role that's involved when an incident communication plan requires business communication.| |Crisis Action Manager|Overall responsibility and accountability for managing incident communication plans.| |Crisis Action Team Member|Nominated department heads who are involved when an incident communication plan is created.| |Development personnel|Development personnel involved in troubleshooting and resolving the source incident of an incident communication plan.| |Operations support personnel|Second-level or third-level support personnel involved in troubleshooting and resolving the source incident of an incident communication plan.| |Service Owner|Service owner or manager who is identified as a potential contact when an incident communication plan relates to one or more of their services.| |Technical Support|Second-level or third-level technical support personnel involved in troubleshooting and resolving the source incident of an incident communication plan.| **Parent Topic:**[Incident Communications Management and contacts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/incident-communications-management/c_IncidentAlertContact.md) **Related topics** [Define contact responsibilities]() [Create a contact definition]() [Create a default override]() [Add a user as a contact]()
| title | Contact responsibilities for incident communication plans |
| description | Contact responsibilities identify the contacts for an incident communication plan and define the role that each contact plays throughout the plan life cycle. |
| locale | en-US |
| canonical_url | https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/incident-communications-management/r\_ResponsibilitiesForIncidentAlerts.html |
| release | australia |
| product | Incident Communications Management |
| classification | incident-communications-management |
| topic_type | reference |
| last_updated | 2026-09-10 |
| reading_time_minutes | 3 |
| breadcrumb | Incident Communications Management and contactsManaging incident communicationsIncident Communications ManagementIT Service Management |