Topic

This article explains how Everbridge Suite administrators can view and manage Incident Subscription subscribers in the Manager Portal, including the permissions required, how to review and update the contacts and groups subscribed to each subscription combination, how subscribers receive notifications, Member Portal self-service behavior, and current limitations.

Description

Incident subscribers are contacts or groups that have been added by an administrator or have opted in through the Member Portal to receive notifications about incidents matching specific criteria, such as location or category. When an incident matches, subscribers automatically receive the alert. Incident Subscriptions are managed in the legacy incident templates interface, not in Everbridge 360™ incidents.

Access and Permissions

Open Incident Subscriptions at Settings > Organization > Contacts and Groups (or Contacts/Assets, depending on the organization's configuration) > Incident Subscriptions. This displays the list of subscriptions configured for the organization.

Access depends on role permissions and contact visibility:

• The role must include incident-management and contact-access permissions. The built-in Incident Administrator role has full incident-management access, including the Incidents, Contacts, and Reports tabs and the ability to manage Incident Templates, Scenarios, Contacts, Groups, and Rules. A custom role, for example, "Subscription Manager," must explicitly include subscription-management and contact-access permissions. Without these permissions, users assigned to the role may be unable to save or edit subscriptions. If a manager or operator role cannot see uploaded contacts, add the appropriate static or dynamic contact groups to that role so users assigned to the role can view those contacts and manage the subscriptions that reference them.

View and Manage Subscribers

Subscribers are attached at the combination level. Each Incident Subscription contains one or more combinations of incident variables (criteria), and each combination has a Subscriber column where contacts and groups are associated.

To create a subscription, select New Subscription above the list, name it, configure the incident-variable combinations, subscribe contacts or groups, and save.

To view, add, remove, or change the subscribers for a combination:

1. Go to Settings > Organization > Contacts and Groups (or Contacts/Assets) > Incident Subscriptions. 
2. Select the subscription to display its combinations.
3. In the Subscriber column for the target combination, select Add or View.
4. In the Manage Subscribers window, review the current subscribers, then search for and select the individual contacts and groups to add, remove, or change.
5. Save the changes.

The listed contacts and groups automatically receive notifications when an incident matches that combination's criteria. Contact-selection rules applied at the template or subscription level are a separate targeting mechanism from Incident Subscription subscribers and are managed separately.

How Subscribers Receive Notifications

Subscribers receive an incident notification when the Send to incident subscribers option is used and the incident matches their subscription combination. The message goes to all matching subscribers in addition to any contacts already configured as recipients in the incident template. For this functionality to work, include Incident Subscribers as recipients in the incident template.

Subscribers can originate from Manager Portal assignment or from Member Portal opt-ins (public or private), and members can opt in or out at any time. In Visual Command Center (VCC), subscribers included by this option receive the notification even if they are not physically located in the alert area, provided the incident matches the subscription's criteria.

Member Portal Self-Service (My Subscriptions)

Incident Subscriptions can be exposed to the Member Portal so members can view and manage them under the My Subscriptions section. There are two patterns:

• Admin Managed: An administrator adds contacts or groups to the subscription in the Manager Portal. Those contacts then see the subscription in the Member Portal and, depending on configuration, can edit it.
• Member Managed: An administrator publishes a subscription template to the Member Portal. From the Subscription page, select the combination or combinations, then use Publishing > Publish to Member Portal. Members can then opt in and manage their own combinations. Administrators cannot directly opt members into Member Managed subscriptions; these are self-service opt-ins.

Limitations

• Incident Subscriptions are not currently available in Everbridge 360™. The legacy incident templates must be used to configure and use Incident Subscriptions and Incident Chat. Integration is planned, but there is no firm timeline.
• The launch or preview screen does not show a real-time list of subscribers. To review the subscriber list before sending, use the Incident Subscriptions view, run an Advanced Search under the Contacts tab, or retrieve the list through the platform API.
• Everbridge does not provide a built-in way to automatically subscribe contacts to a combination based on department, cost center, or similar attributes. For large audiences, add a contact-selection rule that matches a shared attribute to the template or subscription, or have contacts subscribe themselves through the Member Portal.