The only way to know a store's alerting works is to make it work once. Readiness checks the configuration; a test alert checks reality — that the phone number is right, that the carrier delivers, that the person receives it.
It runs through the real routing path, so whoever receives it is exactly who a real alert would reach.
And it is careful to leave no trace that could be mistaken for an event:
- No alert cycle is created, so nothing appears in alert history as an incident.
- No acknowledgment links are issued — there is nothing to acknowledge.
- No escalation is scheduled.
- Messages are clearly marked as tests.
Worth doing once per store at install time. It is the single step most likely to catch a typo in a phone number, and the cheapest possible moment to catch it.