Escalation Watch

The one rule everyone follows

Used to happen

Someone Reply-Alls to an FYI email with a concern
Only people on that thread see it
Jorge / Alex / regional team miss it
Decisions get made on stale context

What we do now

That same person clicks "Open in dashboard" in the FYI
Posts a comment in the escalation drawer
The whole audience gets a fresh FYI with the comment snippet
Everyone sees the same thread, same context

If you Reply-All to an FYI email, Jorge probably won't see it. Use the dashboard.

Two emails per state change

Action email

→ Only goes to the actor (Jorge for VP, Alex for Ops)
→ Contains live Approve / Reject / Validate buttons
→ Magic-link tokens scoped to that approver only
→ Includes ⚙ Settings button (for Jorge / Alex)

FYI email

→ Goes to the full audience (regional + leadership + requester)
→ Status update only — no decision buttons
→ Big "Open in dashboard" button to deep-link the drawer
→ Reply-to is a black hole — replies don't reach anyone

Audience defaults today: Jorge Notni · Joe Timpone · Jenna Campfield · Juan Rincon · Brad Thiess · regional mailbox · customservices@ (when CUSTOM)

How to submit an escalation

Open escalations.mindenops.com/new.html and fill out the 5 sections — about 2 minutes total.

Requester — Channel, Region (or N/A), Your Name (Your Email only if N/A), Additional recipients
Order Context — Due date, Order Type (CUSTOM / STANDARD), Sales Order ID + Search Monday, Lines selection
Issue & Root Cause — Toggle "Root cause not yet identified" at top if you don't have it; otherwise classify (L1), summarize with 5-Whys, and add a Corrective Action

Channel routes the email automatically: Luxury Resi + region → regional mailbox · Int'l Resi/Pro + region → regional mailbox · N. America Pro → professional@sonance.com · Nat'l Accts → distribution@sonance.com · Enterprise → sales@iport.io · N/A → asks for your personal email so the system can reply to you directly.

What happens after you submit — every possible path

An escalation can branch in several ways depending on who decides what. Here's every variant from submit to close.

Step 1 — VP review

VP Operations gets an Action email with three buttons.

1A · Approve → goes to Step 2 (Ops validation)

1B · Need More Info ISS gets an email with the VP's question and a button to answer. ISS replies → VP gets the answer in a new Action email and decides again. Can repeat multiple rounds.

1C · Reject → Status: REJECTED_BY_VP. Escalation is closed. FYI to audience with VP's reason. If circumstances change, submit a new one.

Step 2 — Ops validation

After VP approves, Ops Coordinator gets an Action email to validate the requested ship date.

2A · Date feasible → Status: APPROVED. Order is tracked through production by the monitor. ISS notified.

2B · Counter-propose new date Ops proposes an alternate date with reasoning → goes to Step 3 (ISS records customer decision).

Step 3 — Customer confirmation (only when Ops counter-proposes)

ISS gets an Action email: "Alternate date proposed: 2026-07-08" with Ops's reasoning + a "Record customer decision" button. ISS contacts the customer (call/email, outside the system), then clicks the button.

3A · Customer accepted → Status: APPROVED. The alternate date becomes the commit. Monitor tracks against the new date.

3B · Customer rejected → Status: CLOSED. Order ships on its standard lead time. If you need to renegotiate, open a fresh escalation.

Step 4 — Production tracking (automatic, no human action)

Once APPROVED, the monitor checks every 30 min where the order is in production. It updates the "Currently at" column and detects shipment automatically.

4A · Shipped on time → Status: CLOSED with was_on_time = true. Contributes to the On-time Ratio KPI.

4B · Shipped late → Status: CLOSED with was_on_time = false. Shows up in Analytics as a missed commit.

4C · One or more lines cancelled in production Monitor logs a warning event but does not auto-close. The escalation stays active until a real decision is made or the remaining lines ship.

For ISS in Step 3: the Action email goes to your regional mailbox by default (e.g. northeast@sonance.com) so anyone on your team can record the decision if you're out. Personal email gets used only when Region = N/A.

The Open dashboard

Use the Status dropdown to filter what you see:

All open Default — everything still in flight

Pending VP Approval / Ops Validation / Customer Filter by who you're waiting on

Approved (in flight) In production — tracked every 30 min by the monitor

Closed (on time / late) Historical view of shipped escalations

Rejected by VP Declined escalations with reason

All (every status) Full firehose — everything in the system

Risk column: countdown to committed ship date with green/yellow/red badge. Currently at: production step the order is in right now.

The drawer + Comments & Activity

Click any row in the Open tab to slide open the drawer. It shows full context, decisions, audit log, and the Comments & Activity section.

DRAWER · COMMENTS & ACTIVITY

ISS team member · Jun 24, 9:12 AM

Customer mentioned the install date moved up — can we ship by Friday?

Ops Coordinator · Jun 24, 9:34 AM

Talked to Manufacturing — we can hit Friday if we expedite the paint. Updating commit.

ADD A COMMENT

[ Name ] · [ your@email.com ] · [ Comment textarea ]

Post comment

When you post, the whole audience receives an FYI with your name, a snippet, and a "Reply in dashboard" button. No email threading.

For Jorge & Alex — Self-manage your settings

Every Action email Jorge or Alex receives has a ⚙ Manage your settings link at the bottom. One click opens your personal settings page — no login required.

Out of office toggle When ON, action emails route automatically to your backup. Your FYI subscription stays active.

Backup email The person who acts on your behalf when you're out. Falls back to Alex by default if Jorge is OOO.

The settings link is yours alone. Don't forward your escalation emails — anyone who clicks the link can change your settings.

Daily VP digest at 4:30 AM

If there are escalations still pending Jorge's approval, he gets a single digest email at the start of the day. Each pending escalation shows up as a card with its own Approve / Reject / Need More Info buttons.

Sent only if at least one is PENDING_VP_APPROVAL — otherwise inbox stays clean
Skipped when Jorge is marked Out of Office (bypass to Alex handles those)
Each card shows age ("4h pending", "2d 3h pending") so urgency is obvious

Roles & responsibilities

Requester ISS team

Submit the escalation with full context
Classify root cause (or toggle "not yet identified")
Respond if VP asks for more info
When Ops counter-proposes, confirm with the customer
Comment in the dashboard — never reply by email

Approver VP Ops (Jorge)

Decide Approve / Reject / Need More Info from email or daily digest
Set OOO when traveling so system bypasses to Alex
Review FYIs to stay aware of escalations in flight
Read dashboard comments before approving recurring escalations

Validator Coordinator (Alex)

Validate whether the requested ship date is achievable
Counter-propose a feasible date with reasoning when it's not
Coordinate informally with Manufacturing leads
Set OOO & backup when traveling

If you only remember three things

1 Submit at the source Don't email Jorge or Alex about an issue — open the form, fill it out, the system routes it. escalations.mindenops.com/new.html

2 Never reply by email FYIs are read-only. Click "Open in dashboard" and post your comment there — everyone sees it. escalations.mindenops.com

3 Check the dashboard daily Open tab + filter to your area. If something's pending you, act. If you're CC'd, scroll the comments to see what's new.

Need help? Reach out to Miguel Limon (miguell@jamesloudspeaker.com) for access issues, missing escalations, or feature requests.

Root Cause Analysis

Account & Channel Patterns

Action Tracking

How to use Escalation Watch.