A University Approach to Emergency Notification

Below are some notes from a webinar presented by Mark Katsouros, Telecommunications & Network Services from the University of Iowa on the topic of Emergency Notification also presented by EDUCAUSE.

•  The University of Iowa has a requirements driven approach to review technology and vendor-driven solutions for auto-notification systems.
• Auto-notification situations are broad and varied for both emergency and non-emergency.
• Establishing a model of use based on requirements is important.
• Challenges for an auto-notification model are related to the establishment of policies which govern the use and are clearly separate from the technology.
• Challenges for establishing a broad usage auto-notification model is related to the maintenance and existence on an "Institutional Contact Database".
• Potential Stakeholders
• Members of the campus community in an impacted part of the campus
• Individuals responsible for the facility
• Executive leadership
• Emergency Response Teams
• Communications Staff
• Student/Employees in transit to school/work
• Parents/spouses
• All members of the Campus Community
• Maintaining a single database for emergency contacts and notifications is important to reduce errors and to aid in proper notifications. Tie into campus directory. 
• The overall variety of forms of communication are numerous and yet would support a variety of users should policy and support be provided. (ex. video, audio messages, VOIP messages, email, radio messages)
• Having a "multi-pronged approach" is critical to ensure notifications are made and received.
• Most people have mass email, but multi-pronged approach is different because it is based on communicating with groups.
• Some auto-notifications solutions lend themselves to a more useful model for non-emergencies so that usage under pressure is alleviated and familiarity is increased for emergency and non-emergency purposes.
• Iowa's emergency notification is NOT an opt-in solution. They are using an Enterprise Directory to track contact information.