Alert system tested

By Elliot Njus

Published Dec. 7, 2007

A test of the new campus alert system among MU Division of Information Technology staff was a success, IT Director Terry Robb said.

In the Dec. 3 test, the division sent a message to 267 members of its staff. Of those, 199 confirmed within an hour that they had received the alert.

Many people who didn't confirm were off campus or away from their communication devices, Robb said.

At least one message was erroneously sent to a university employee who wasn't a member of the DoIT staff, Robb said.

"We think it was as some bad data entry," he said.

Robb said the misdirected call might have been the result of a typo that occurred one of two ways. The intended recipient of the message could have entered incorrect contact information into the employee information database, or the typo could have occurred when the National Notification Network, the company contracted to provide the alert service, put the number into its database. But, he said, he was only speculating on the mistake.

"We're still looking into it," he said.

The message was sent to the employees via cell phone call, then text message, then e-mail and then their business phone. When the employee received the alert, they were asked to confirm reception of the message by pressing one on their cell or business phone, clicking on a link in an e-mail or replying to a text message.

"Once started, the average elapsed time to confirmation was seven minutes," Robb said.

Robb said other departments with the authority to initiate the system are conducting smaller tests among their employees. He said other departments are planning tests and the Division of IT is assembling a list of Residential Life hall coordinators to try issuing an alert to them.

Robb said in the event of an actual emergency, the responsibility of activating the alert system will fall on senior campus officials.

"At some point, the campus will control the broadcast," Robb said. "It will not initiate it."