Troubleshooting OpsGenie Schedule Discrepancies
Symptoms of a Sync Discrepancy
Your Tellspin schedule syncs from OpsGenie, but:
- the person in the Slack user group doesn't match who is on-call in OpsGenie,
- the user group is empty even though someone is on-call in OpsGenie, or
- the Tellspin App Home shows a connection error or outdated shifts for the schedule.
Step 1: Compare Both Sides at the Same Moment
Open the OpsGenie schedule's Timeline view and the Tellspin App Home side by side and note who each says is on-call right now, plus the shift boundaries.
What you see narrows the cause:
| Observation | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Tellspin says nobody is on-call, and the user group is empty | OpsGenie itself reports no one on-call (Cause 0) |
| Tellspin shows a connection error or no upcoming shifts | API key problem (Cause 1) |
| Same people, but shift boundaries are off by a fixed number of hours | Timezone mismatch (Cause 2) |
| Completely different people | Wrong OpsGenie schedule selected (Cause 3) |
Tellspin shows (override) on the current shift | A Tellspin override is intentionally replacing the OpsGenie user (Cause 4) |
| Right person in the preview, but the user group is empty or wrong | User mapping or Slack permissions (Cause 5) |
Cause 0: OpsGenie Reports Nobody On-Call
This is the cause support finds most often. Tellspin asks OpsGenie's API who is on-call for the schedule; if OpsGenie answers with an empty list, Tellspin correctly leaves the user group empty. It happens when the schedule's current rotation has a gap, when its participants are escalations or teams rather than users, or when the participant list has duplicate or stale entries.
Resolution: in OpsGenie, open the schedule and use Who is on call for the current time. If OpsGenie shows nobody, fix the rotation there; Tellspin picks up the change within a minute. If OpsGenie shows someone but Tellspin doesn't, continue below.
Cause 1: Invalid API Key or Missing Permissions
If the OpsGenie API key is expired, revoked, or lacks Read access to schedules, Tellspin can't fetch who is on-call.
Resolution:
- In OpsGenie, create a new API key with Read access. Write, Create, and Delete are not needed.
- In the Tellspin App Home, click OpsGenie Connect (it reads New OpsGenie Link once a connection exists) and enter the new key.
- Open the schedule with Edit and confirm the correct OpsGenie schedule is still selected.
Cause 2: Timezone Mismatch
Tellspin displays OpsGenie's shift times in the viewer's Slack timezone. If shifts appear shifted by a few hours, compare the OpsGenie schedule's timezone with your Slack profile timezone before assuming the sync is wrong. See how timezones work.
Cause 3: Wrong OpsGenie Schedule Selected
OpsGenie teams often have several similarly named schedules.
Resolution: in the Tellspin App Home, click Edit on the schedule and check which OpsGenie schedule it is linked to. Re-link it to the right one if needed.
Cause 4: A Tellspin Override Is Active
Overrides created in Tellspin take precedence over the synced user and are marked (override) in the preview. Remove the override from the Overrides list under the schedule if it's no longer wanted. See fixing schedule overrides.
Cause 5: The OpsGenie User Can't Be Placed in Slack
Tellspin maps OpsGenie users to Slack users by email. If the emails differ, or the Slack account is a guest account (guests can't be in user groups), the user group ends up empty even though the preview shows the right name.
Resolution: open Edit → Change User Mappings → Edit Users on the schedule and map the OpsGenie user to the correct Slack account. See the user mapping guide; the steps are the same for OpsGenie.
Forcing a Sync
Tellspin re-syncs linked schedules about every minute and only changes the Slack user group when OpsGenie's on-call user changes. After changing settings, wait a minute and reopen the App Home. To test the sync end to end, add a short override in OpsGenie and watch the user group switch to the override user.
Note that a schedule's contact method can't be changed after it's created. If you set up an OpsGenie schedule with a Keyword contact method and now want a Slack user group, create a new schedule with the User Group contact method, then delete the old one.
Contacting Support
If the sides still disagree, email support@tellspin.com with your workspace name, the Tellspin schedule's handle, the OpsGenie schedule name, and screenshots of both taken at the same time.