Share:

Miami to test Emergency Notification System Sept. 21

University ENS will include all registered student, employee cell phone numbers

ens-signupMiami University plans to test its emergency notification system (ENS) midday Friday, Sept. 21.

This year, all cell phone numbers registered in Banner as belonging to Miami students, staff and faculty will be automatically uploaded to the ENS tool, e2Campus, before the test is run. In the past, email addresses for those groups were in e2Campus, but only cell phone numbers that individuals uploaded received text alerts.

The alert methods include:

  • Text messaging.
  • Email.
  • Voice and display notices on VoIP telephones, including those in classrooms and residence halls.
  • Voice broadcast on emergency phone towers (blue light phones) in Oxford.
  • Digital signage screens on the Oxford, Hamilton and Middletown campuses and the Voice of America Learning Center.
  • Twitter (MiamiOH).
  • Computer screen alerts.

ens-phone-screenWhat to expect:

  • The text and email tests will say "Test" in the subject line. The message will ask you to note the time you saw the message. (If you added another person's cell phone number or email address without their knowledge, please notify that person of this planned test of the system.)
  • All staff, students and faculty on all campuses should receive an emergency test text and email from Miami U (e2campus@omnilert.net). Do not reply to these messages.
  • The telephones in offices and classrooms should give a loud verbal message that starts with “This is a test.”  The voice feature will run 32 seconds, so if you’re not near a phone, you won’t hear it later. The display message will remain until it is deleted. You can delete the message from your display by using the phone’s exit button.
  • Most computers owned by the university will show a full-screen alert. Users can click off the alert. It goes away by itself after 10 minutes.
  • Digital signage will show a test emergency message for up to 10 minutes.

The ENS team of Miami’s Institutional Response Team worked with information technology services to collect cell phone numbers from Banner, the university database. In the interest of improved safety communications, more universities are changing to opt-out from opt-in emergency notification systems. People not desiring to receive text alerts from Miami are able to opt-out of that feature.

Some university members will receive a randomly sent survey. If you receive a survey, please give the time when you received/read the messages, not when your carrier or email shows the message arrived. Do not reply to the email message with your read time.  We ask that you respond to the survey by midnight on the second day following the test (Sept. 22). If conditions prohibit running the test on Friday, it will be conducted Monday, Sept. 24.

You can update your e2Campus account by going to miamioh.edu/ens. To test your phone, please visit http://www.e2campus.com/support/test-my-phone. All the other messages will be delivered automatically.

More information on Miami’s emergency preparedness as well as information on what you can do in a variety of emergencies, including an active shooter, is online at www.miamioh.edu/emergency.

A national test in early October

Separately, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is running a test of WEA, Wireless Emergency Alerts, Oct. 3. Not all cell phones are WEA-activated. If you receive Amber Alerts or National Weather Service alerts, you will likely receive this test alert Oct. 3. More information is at this FEMA site. (Note: this test was originally scheduled for Sept. 20.)