Website to be disrupted during Oct. 14 emergency communications test

Please be advised that on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010, there will be a university-wide test of our automated notification service, McGill | Attention!  The test will occur at approximately 10:40am.

While we anticipate that disruptions will be minimal, there will be some impact on classes at that time. We thank you for your understanding as we get this very important service up and running.

Here’s how the test will work:

McGill | Attention!

A text message will be sent to all cell phones that have been opted into the notification service. If you have opted in, you will see a text message on your cell phone originating from the number 624455. Please read the text message.
Should text message feature fail, a voice message will also be sent to all student, faculty and staff cell phones that have been opted into the notification service. You will see a voice call originating from 514-398-8700. Please pick up the phone, say “Hello” and listen to the message.

A voice message will be sent to all faculty, staff office phones and to classroom phones. You will see a voice call originating from 514-398-8700. Please pick up the phone, say “Hello” and listen to the message and follow the instructions
On October 12th and in preparation for the McGill | Attention! test, some individuals who have recently opted-in to the system might receive an SMS confirming their registration.

Public display screens

An emergency test message (see below) will be broadcast on 27 public display screens around campus.

McGill website

A three-phase emergency test message will be posted on the McGill website (www.mcgill.ca):

1. Phase 1: At 10:40am, a banner will appear at the top of all McGill pages, with the following message: IMPORTANT NOTICE:   As part of the Campus-Wide Emergency Notification Test, the www.mcgill.ca website will be unavailable from 9:00pm to 9:30pm on Oct. 14. However, myMcGill and Minerva will not be affected.
2. Phase 2: At 9:00pm that evening, we escalate to a level-2 announcement, which diverts all McGill home page traffic to the McGill Emergency Announcements Website, where our emergency announcements will be displayed.  After they have viewed this page once, users will be free to navigate the McGill website normally.  As well, this announcement will appear in a yellow banner at the top of every page on the McGill website.  The same message as above will be used.
3. Phase 3: At 9:15pm, all traffic to www.mcgill.ca  will be redirected to the McGill Emergency Announcements Website.  Again, the same message as above will be used.

Expected Disruptions

• noise (phones ringing) and chatter in the classrooms for some time after 10:40am, difficult to predict how long the chatter will continue
• noise (phones ringing) and chatter in the libraries, open areas, cubicle spaces for some time after 10:40am
• usual messages displayed on the Public Display Screens will be interrupted for 30 minutes. Due to technical limitations of the Public Display interface, the usual messages will have to be reinitiated by the local Public Display Screen manager after the test.
• between 9:00pm and 9:15pm access to mcgill.ca  will be redirected once to the McGill Emergency Announcement Website. Users will be free to navigate to other McGill sites after the first redirect.
• between 9:15pm and 9:30pm , all traffic to www.mcgill.ca will be redirected to the McGill Emergency Announcement Website. Therefore, users will be unable to consult other McGill affiliated web pages. The homepage will effectively be “blocked.”

After the test

• You will be able to provide your comments about the test via e-mail to Emergency Measures at emergency.measures [at] mcgill.ca.

Sign up now

If you haven’t already done so, please go to Minerva and sign up for the automated notification service. Click the “Personal” tab and then “Mobile Devices” to sign up for this service. It only takes a minute and will connect you to a service that will deliver important messages about the university or your safety and wellbeing. More information regarding the sign up process can be found at  www.mcgill.ca/it/ansinfo