@@ -539,9 +539,13 @@ even with specialized expertise, it may take time for the on-call engineer to
get up to speed on the specific aspect of GitLab that is the focus of the
emergency.
To escalate to a Subject Matter Expert (SME), refer to
To escalate to a Subject Matter Expert (SME), use the `/inc escalate` command in Slack and select the appropriate team from the “Oncall team” dropdown list. You can refer to
the [Tier 2 On-Call Program](/handbook/engineering/infrastructure-platforms/incident-management/on-call/tier-2/)
for the appropriate team and [escalation criteria](/handbook/engineering/infrastructure-platforms/incident-management/on-call/tier-2/#escalation-criteria).
for the appropriate team and [escalation criteria](/handbook/engineering/infrastructure-platforms/incident-management/on-call/tier-2/#escalation-criteria). When paging the Tier 2 on-call, remember they will assume this is an incident. In the `Notification Message` field, clearly state that the page is for a Sev 1 self-managed customer emergency, and include links to both the relevant Zendesk ticket and the ongoing self-managed CEOC thread.
Most Tier 2 SME rotations provide 24x5 coverage (Monday-Friday). Weekend escalations may have limited availability. Always check the specific team's [coverage](/handbook/engineering/infrastructure-platforms/incident-management/on-call/tier-2/#active-tier-2-rotations) details before escalating.
