# Post-Mortem

Structured after-action reports for incidents and maintenance.

Source: https://statusdashboard.com/docs/events/post-mortem

> This is a plan-gated feature. If it isn't available in your account, visit the [Billing](/docs/org-mgmt/billing) page or contact support to review your options.

After an incident or maintenance event is resolved, you can attach a structured post-mortem report with root cause analysis and remediation action items. Publish the report when you are ready for a callout and dedicated page on your status dashboards.

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## Report sections
A post-mortem is a structured report you attach to an **incident or maintenance** event after it is resolved. It is not available on informational events.

The **Post-Mortem** tab manages its own save cycle — changes are saved separately from the main event form.

> The Post-Mortem tab is only visible when 
>   **editing**
>    an existing incident or maintenance event. It does not appear during event creation or on informational events.

A post-mortem has four parts:

* **Executive Summary** — the opening overview of your report: scope, impact, and outcome. Gives readers the key facts before the detailed analysis. Max 10,000 characters.
* **Root Cause Analysis** — a detailed explanation of the root cause and contributing factors. Max 10,000 characters.
* **Action Items** — a list of remediation tasks with completion tracking. Max 50 items.
* **Published** — a toggle that controls public visibility of the report.

Both the executive summary and root cause analysis fields support Markdown.

## Action items
Each action item includes:

| Field                   | Description                                                                                             |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Description**         | What needs to be done. Max 500 characters.                                                              |
| **Status**              | `Open`, `In Progress`, or `Done`.                                                                       |
| **Owner**               | Optional owner or team name. Max 100 characters.                                                        |
| **Expected completion** | Optional ISO 8601 date (`YYYY-MM-DD`).                                                                  |
| **Actual completion**   | Optional ISO 8601 date (`YYYY-MM-DD`) when the work is done.                                            |
| **Public item**         | When off, the item is hidden from the public post-mortem page but remains visible in the admin console. |
| **Public owner**        | When off, the owner name is hidden on the public post-mortem page.                                      |

Use the up/down controls to reorder items. Display order on the public post-mortem page matches the order in the tab.

## Publishing the report
Post-mortems are **private by default**. Toggle **Publish Post-Mortem** to make the report publicly visible. When published:

* A callout appears on the event's entry on all status dashboards linking to the post-mortem report.
* The post-mortem report is accessible at `/event/{id}/post-mortem` on your status dashboards.

Unpublishing a post-mortem removes the callout and the public page immediately. The post-mortem data is retained and can be re-published at any time.

Publishing the post-mortem is independent of publishing the event itself — see [Publish](/docs/events/publish). When the event is **published** and event **Notifications** are enabled, **publishing** a post-mortem or **saving changes while it is published** can notify matching subscribers. Private draft saves, unpublishing the post-mortem, and changes on an **unpublished** event do not notify.

When dashboard **Visibility** is off, notification emails and SMS can still send on post-mortem changes for a **published** event, but they do **not** include a link to the post-mortem report. See [Notifications overview — FAQ](/docs/notifications#frequently-asked-questions).