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Rave Alert Emergency Notification System at CSU

Rave Alert Emergency Notification System at CSU. Pat Burns Colorado State University CHECO September 18, 2007. Theme. “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” – Mark Twain “Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.” – Mark Twain. Findings after Virginia Tech.

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Rave Alert Emergency Notification System at CSU

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  1. Rave Alert Emergency Notification System at CSU Pat Burns Colorado State University CHECO September 18, 2007

  2. Theme “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” – Mark Twain “Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.” – Mark Twain CHECO - ENS at CSU

  3. Findings after Virginia Tech • Email notification • Takes over an hour to complete delivery • Does not reach many students on campus • Does not reach students in transit • University of Central Florida study and CSU student focus groups • Students prefer to be notified by text messages • Notification is almost immediate CHECO - ENS at CSU

  4. Parameters • Criteria • Require text messages (SMS – Short Message Service) injected directly into the cellular network • Must handle > 10,000/min • No sendmail into the cellular network • Spam filtering • Long delays otherwise, too • Flexibility to respond to changing situations • What • Rave Alert, a hosted service CHECO - ENS at CSU

  5. Approach • Purely opt-in programs seem to attract 25-30% participation • CSU wants to “own the customer” to increase participation • We want to be the ones collecting emergency contact information, including cellular number and other emergency contact information CHECO - ENS at CSU

  6. Implementation • Therefore, we collect cellular numbers from our users, and store them in our SIS, along with other emergency contact information • We are doing uploads into the Rave Alert hosted service nightly, from our databases at CSU • SMS notification of registration from Rave “turned off” • Now, Rave Alert can accommodate only a single number per user • Multiple numbers in development CHECO - ENS at CSU

  7. Participation • Mandatory participation for devices purchased by the University • Database pre-load • Opt-in program for students, we collect cell phone numbers for students as follows • Now, via a self-subscription, opt-in web page • Also during pre-registration (hope to obtain > 70% penetration) CHECO - ENS at CSU

  8. Policy – On the Subscription Web Page • System will be used only for emergency life and safety situations, and testing once per semester • “Trust, but verify” – essential • Will not be used for other communications, even “official University communications” • Students regard this as spam • Very strong negative reaction from student focus groups CHECO - ENS at CSU

  9. Sending an Alert • Administrative “single sign in” to Rave web page, grants permissions to a small number of senders • Currently, about half a dozen • Me, Jose Valdes (Assoc. Director of Telecom) • Two co-chairs of our Emergency Management Team, and their administrative assistants CHECO - ENS at CSU

  10. Rave Alert Features • 6¢ per individual SMS message • Anticipate sending no more than 20k per semester ($1,200), except in the event of an emergency when cost will not be an issue • To receive, must be enabled in the cellular program, with an associated cost • Does have groups that we will define, and feed via email (included in annual subscription cost) • Warnings most important • Also meals, athletics, etc. • Notifications from BlackBoard CE6 CHECO - ENS at CSU

  11. Rave Notification (Resolved at 9:38 PM) From: notifications-bounces@intranet.ravewireless.com on behalf of Vladimir Vuksan [vvuksan@ravewireless.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:21 PM To: notifications@intranet.ravewireless.com Subject: [Notifications] SMS message delays and undelivered messages We are currently experiencing connectivity issues connecting to our SMS aggregator Verisign mQube. As a result SMS messages are being delayed or are undelivered. We have opened a case with Verisign and will update you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for you patience. -- Vladimir Vuksan Director of Technical Operations Rave Wireless http://www.ravewireless.com CHECO - ENS at CSU

  12. Emergency Communication Strategy“All of the Above” • EMT assembles, and triggers: • Text messages • Bulk email • We use our internal system, as it gets to virtually 100% of constituents, rather than just those with a mobile device who have subscribed to the service • Campus web page • Emergency announcements – 491-SNOW • R-911 • Pre-set conference calls to principals • CSU Police with bull horns CHECO - ENS at CSU

  13. Questions • Are most welcome. CHECO - ENS at CSU

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