# Channels

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Before you can be assigned to a team or placed on a schedule, you must define how you want to be reached.
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This page allows you to manage your personal contact information, ensuring critical alerts reach you through the most effective medium, whether via a phone call, SMS, or email.

#### Supported Channel Types

ITOC360 supports multiple communication methods to ensure redundancy:

* **Voice (Phone Call):** The system places a call to your mobile or landline and uses text-to-speech to read the alert details.
  * *Best for:* Critical/High-severity alerts, waking up on-call engineers at night.
* **SMS:** Sends a text message containing the alert summary and a link to the incident details.
  * *Best for:* Quick context when you are away from a computer.
* **E-mail:** Sends a detailed notification including logs, charts, and extended descriptions.
  * *Best for:* Low-severity alerts or archiving incident details.

#### Adding a New Channel

To add a new contact method to your profile:

1. Navigate to Management > Channels.
2. Click the "Create Channel" button in the top right corner.
3. In the configuration modal, fill in the following fields:
   * User: Select the related user.
   * Type: Select the communication method (e.g., Phone Number, SMS, E-mail).
   * Label: Give this channel a recognizable label (e.g., "Personal Mobile", "Work Email").
   * Value: Enter the phone number or email address.
   * Locale: Select the language to use when contacting you through this channel.
   * *Note: For phone numbers, always include the Country Code (e.g., +1 for US, +90 for TR).*
4. Click Save to confirm.

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#### Verifying Your Channels

To ensure reliability, ITOC360 requires you to verify every new channel before it can be used in notification rules or teams.

* **For E-mail:** Check your inbox for a verification email from ITOC360 and click the confirmation link.
* **For SMS & Voice:** You will receive a 6-digit One-Time Password (OTP) via text or call. Enter this code in the verification prompt on the screen.

> **Warning:** Unverified channels will appear as "Pending" and will not receive alerts.

#### Best Practices

* **Redundancy is Key:** Do not rely on a single channel. We strongly recommend adding at least one Voice number and one E-mail address. Internet connectivity issues might delay emails, but voice calls often get through.
* **Clear Naming:** Use descriptive names for your channels (e.g., instead of just "Phone", use "Primary Mobile" or "Home Landline"). This helps when setting up specific notification policies later.