Posted by Carlyn Foshee Chatfield on February 12, 2010

In the IT Crisis Communications notebooks, you will find an overview as well as specific steps to take, and lists of phone numbers for people you will need to contact. Be prepared to take action in the dark (example, don't rely on a crisis communication plan that is detailed on a web site or wiki if your electricity is out). Pick a target date to complete all updates and revisions each year. For Rice University, May 1 - which coincides with the beginning of hurricane season - is our target date for all data to be reviewed and revised each year.

IT Crisis Comms - Plan Overview

This is a high-level overview of the Crisis Communication Plan.

Notify IT First

Notify IT first, using IT-headsup. When a campus-wide outage occurs, the first communication that should occur is a person-generated message from the custodian of the server or application to the IT staff: IT-headsup@university.edu mailing list or using the MIR3 channel for text.

Public Notification

The second communication that is distributed goes through ITalerts to that mailing list's subscribers and appears on the IT and VPIT web sites. This public-directed message is usually written by a member of the Communications and Marketing team, but can be published by any of the directors, managers, or several system/server custodians.

• • Write and spell-check IT-Alerts message in Word

  • Use the form to publish IT-Alerts

  • The IT and VPIT web pages are updated every 5 minutes with IT-Alerts

Help Desk Notification for Public Awareness

• • Send same IT-Alerts message to helpdesk-l@university.edu

  • Call the Help Desk: 713.348.HELP(4357) and ask to speak to a permanent staff member, then read them the announcement

  • The Help Desk publishes this same announcement on their voice mail recording

    • • General voice mail message for anyone, including the Help Desk: The university is closed due to inclement weather. The status of the university can be found online at:www.rice.edu

Updates

Follow up announcements should be made through ITalerts on a regular basis after the incident begins. Continuing to update the public on the status of the incident is critical to regaining and maintaining our credibility with the public.

• • 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.

Service Back announcements

When the incident is resolved, send announcements to IT and the public.

• • Custodian sends a "service back" message to IT-headsup

  • Communications team notifies the Public through ITalerts

  • Communications team notifies the Help Desk so they can update their voice mail message.