IT Crisis Communications - Steps to Take

How to communicate critical IT messages during incidents

Follow these steps in this order. For details on each step, select the link for that communications channel.Note: if this were a real book, each of the bullet points (numbered or bulleted) would have a link to that specific page in the notebook. For this sample, only the first item - Notify IT first - is shown.

1. Notify IT first

   1. Notify Public (campus community) through ITalerts

   2. Notify Help Desk so they can update their voice mail

   3. Notify Public through alldepts, pres-fac, ustudents

   4. Update ITweb pages manually if docs.university.edu is down

   5. Notify Public with ITheadline announcement on IT, VPIT web sites

   6. Notify Public through Voice Mail Broadcast

   7. (Optional) Notify Public through Bulk Mail

   8. (Optional) Notify Public Affairs

   9. (Optional)Create a detailed announcement on IT web site

Subsequent announcements

During business hours, follow up announcements should be made through ITalerts on a regular basis after the incident begins.

• • 1 hour after incident began or occurred, send a status update

  • 3 hours after incident began or occurred, send a status update

  • close of business, if the incident is still not resolved, send a status update.

  • Incident resolved? Send a status update.

During non-business hours, follow up announcements should be made once in the morning and once in the afternoon until the issue is resolved.

Incident resolved

Send a status update, even if you recently sent out an update before the incident was resolved.