Special Report on the April 9th Test of SFU Alerts
Many thanks to all who took part, and apologies to all who encountered problems. There certainly were some glitches and difficulties, and we will address those before any further testing.
The test message went to 29,374 people. The good news is that 8,600 were able successfully to receive the message AND acknowledge its receipt. Others received it but chose not to acknowledge it. The not-so-good news is that many others, for various reasons, got flawed messages or were not able to acknowledge receipt.
There’s a detailed report below on what people experienced, but, first, a note on what the system is supposed to do.
The system (which is in use at a number of universities including Virgina Tech) is designed to send you university-approved emergency messages by:
- Text messages (SMS) to mobile devices (cellphones, BlackBerrys, etc.)
- Instant messages: AIM/AOL, MSN, and Yahoo
- E-mails to SFU and non-SFU addresses
- Calls to home, office, or mobile phone numbers
During an urgent situation, SFU Alerts is set up to begin cycling through the emergency-contact information (phone numbers and e-mail addresses) that you have provided to SFU. It begins with a text message to your cellphone if you have given us that number. If you acknowledge that message, the system stops trying to reach you. If no confirmation is received, SFU Alerts will continue cycling through your other points of contact.
The aim is to advise you quickly of any security or safety situation that requires you to leave or avoid an area of the university. We would also advise you if the university is closing one or more campuses (because of snow or other issues) or is on standby to close.
THE APRIL 9, 2008 TEST
SFU Alerts is an off-the-shelf system from an outside supplier. The university had tested it several times prior to Wednesday April 9, but on a limited basis rather than university-wide. Wednesday was the first university-wide test, conducted under realistic “as is” conditions and covering those 29,374 people.
Here are the key glitches we experienced:
Many got blank or incomplete text or e-mail messages. Some got broken-up or incomplete voice-alerts.
Some got no instructions on how to acknowledge receipt of the test-messages. And many who did get the instructions had difficulty acknowledging receipt, or simply could not do it.
Although they had entered contact information in the databases (see “Updating Your Info” below) a small number of people (26) could not be reached by the system.
And despite advance warnings by e-mail, website and SFU News, some people did not know about the test. Some called Information Technology staff to warn them that some kind of Internet attack or malicious phishing scam was under way.
CELLPHONE ALERTS
More than 6,500 members of the SFU Community received the message, and were able to respond to it within five hours. It look longer for another 2,100 to confirm receipt.
Many others, though, were unable to acknowledge receipt. “Network congestion” was a very common explanation, and many got busy signals—even some hours later.
Some got text messages that were divided into two parts—and some got Part 2 before they received Part 1. Some reported erroneous time-stamps on the text message.
Some people were on cell-systems that could not handle the number set up for them to confirm receipt: +447786208130.
Some people were confused by that number, and took it to be a phone number in the United Kingdom (whose country code is 44). At least one cellphone company’s computer thought the same, and automatically inserted 011- in front of it.
E-MAIL ALERTS
Some people received e-mails that had no content; they were simply blank. Some messages were only partially received; they were cut short.
While the system was booted into action at 12:25 p.m., many did not receive their e-mail alerts for an hour or more.
(This is not at all unusual with e-mail systems, by the way. When SFU sends out an e-mail message to the entire community, it can take well over two hours before the last recipient gets the message. That’s one reason why SFU is trying out this new system.)
For those who DID receive complete e-mails, many people were unable to acknowledge them as requested. Again, congestion was a pretty common explanation. And some got no web-link, or an incomplete link, to click to acknowledge the mail.
PHONE ALERTS
Some received voice messages that were broken up, garbled, and/or difficult to follow. Some got their voice message late. (One reported a delay of almost 80 minutes). Some did not receive the automated instructions on voicemail as to what they should now do.
INSTANT MESSAGING (IM) ALERTS
We have no report on this; very few people have registered IM addresses with the university.
OUR THANKS
To those of you who patiently tried to figure out and acknowledge the test-alerts, thank you. To those who sent detailed reports on their experience, thanks for some very helpful information that we can place firmly on the contractor’s desk.
To those who sent frustrated or angry flames—and to those who “shot the messengers” in SFU’s Communications office or in SFU’s IT offices—please be patient. This is a system that is already in use at a number of North American universities. We and the contractor clearly have some glitches to fix in our version, and we are already at work on those.
UPDATING YOUR INFO
Login to the Student Information System (for students) at http://sis.sfu.ca, or myInfo (for faculty and staff) at http://myinfo.sfu.ca to get started. Make sure your contact information is up to date, and that your phone numbers correspond to the correct type of phone (for example make sure your cellphone number is listed under "Cell phone," your home number under "Home," etc.).