POSTING ANNOUNCEMENTS
The following instructions will detail how to post an IT announcement for approval by the
EOP phone carrier.
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Visit the URL: https://app.it.okstate.edu/itannounce/admin/Login.php
You will authenticate using your O-Key credentials.
Click on the link “Post Message”
The following form will appear.
5. Choose your category from the following options: Outage/Service Interruption, Virus
Alerts, Scheduled Downtime, or IT News, as appropriate.
6. Enter a title of the announcement. Please make the title as descriptive as possible, yet
under 50 characters (including spaces). For example: “Bennett Hall Network
Downtime”, or “Student Email Quota Implementation”. Some people receive these
subject lines in a text message sent to pagers, which not only explains the need to keep it
under 50 characters, but also the need for a descriptive title.
7. Choose a start date. This will be the date the event occurred, or will occur. Please note
that this is not the date that the announcement will publish to the website. Once posted
for approval, announcements should publish within 15 minutes of the EOP person being
notified.
8. Choose an end date. The end date is not the date that the event ends, but rather the last
day that the announcement will publish to the website. Please ensure that your
announcements publish for at least three business days.
9. Ensure the “Pending” radio button is checked.
10. Indicate which campus (s) are affected by the event. Some systems not only affect OSUStillwater, but also branch campuses such as OSU-Tulsa and OSU-Okmulgee.
11. Indicate which services are affected by the event. Similar to the title of the
announcement, this field is also limited to 50 characters or less (including spaces).
12. In the Announcements Contact Information fields, the following information is listed by
default: First Name = IT, Last Name = Helpdesk, Phone Number = 405-744-4357, and
Email = helpdesk@okstate.edu. Of course, if this is not the area that customers should
contact in the event that they need further assistance, please modify this information as
appropriate.
13. Enter the detailed description of the announcement. If you include an acronym, it must
be defined (i.e. Storage Area Network (SAN)).
a. Announcements should include a detailed description of the event,
buildings/areas/people affected, the service (s) affected, the date/time that the
event occurred and the expected date/time that the event will end.
b. Time format: It is noted that some IT staff would prefer the use of the 24-hour
format to list the time (i.e. 17:00 = 5:00pm). However, several customers did not
care for this decision. Therefore, we will use the following format: 5:00PM (not
5:00 pm, or 5:00p.m.).
c. Date format: Reported feedback indicated that the date format preference is as
follows: 03/17/2006 (not 17March2006, or 3/17/06).
d. Updates: Should any aspect of the event change (such as date/time of expected
resolution), please contact the EOP phone. The EOP person will add the
following text to the title of the announcement: "UPDATE:" The text of the title
may require slight modification in order to fit the word UPDATE due to the
character limitation of the field. In addition to the title change, the following text
will be included in the annoucement: "UDPATE TIME DATE: Text of the
update". In some cases, those that post an announcement for approval are able to
update their own announcements. However, it is recommended that the EOP
person is contacted for editiorial purposes.
e. Resolutions: Once the event is resolved, please contact the EOP phone. The
EOP person will add the following text to the title of the announcement:
"RESOLVED:". The text of the title may require slight modification in order to
fit the word RESOLVED due to the character limitation of the field. In addition
to the title change, the following text will be included in the announcement:
"RESOLVED TIME DATE: Text of the resolution".
f. Please review the additional documentation which provides detailed descriptions
of each type of announcement, including examples of updates and resolutions.
14. Click on the “Submit” button at the end of the form. By doing so, a text message is sent
to the Emergency Operating Procedure (EOP) device. The staff member carrying the
device at the time will review the announcement, edit if necessary, contact the person
posting the announcement for clarification purposes if necessary, and approve the
announcement to publish to the website. Please contact EOP to publish updates or
resolutions.
15. After the announcement is published to the website by the EOP person, those customers
that have chosen to participate in the Listserv list will receive an email or a page. Each
time the submit button is clicked by an approver, whether for an editiorial change, an
update or a resolution, an email or page is sent. Those that have access rights to approve
announcements will do well to bear this in mind. It is not recommended that an approver
post several versions of a single announcement, but rather make all necessary changes
during the initial round of editing. Any other changes should post as an UPDATE, in
order to avoid confusion. Please see the additional documentation for examples of
UPDATES and RESOLVED status additions.
EXAMPLE: OUTAGE/SERVICE INTERRUPTION
The following is an example of a proper Outage/Service Interruption announcement submitted for
approval.
Please note the date and time format, as well as the services affected and the detailed description
of the event. In this case, the IT Technician did not know what had caused the event; therefore
simply stating that it was caused by a malfunctioning network device (such as switch, or the main
feed) was all we could announce at the time.
The following example will show the proper method by which this Outage/Service Interruption
will be updated…
Please note that the title of the announcement now indicates that this announcement has been
updated from its original version. Also, the body of the announcement includes the UPDATE at
the TOP of the text, and that the ORIGNAL ANNOUNCEMENT text separates the update from
the original announcement.
The following example will show the proper method by which this announcement will include an
additional update…
Please note the format of the title, in that it now reflect UPDATE(2). Due to some interested
parties receiving pages as announcement notifications, indicating that this update is a SECOND
update (different that the first update) attempts to prevent confusion. Also, please note that this
update text is located ABOVE the text of the original update, also with an UPDATE(2) indicator.
Please change the number of the update, both in the title and body of the announcement, as more
updates are required.
The following example will show the proper method by which this announcement will list as
resolved…
Please note that the title of the announcement now reflects an indication that this announcement
has been resolved. Also, the body of the announcement includes the RESOLVED indication
ABOVE the most recent update. The resolution will include, if possible, a detailed description of
the cause of the event and what the technician did to resolve the event.
EXAMPLE: VIRUS ALERT
The following is an example of a proper Virus Alert announcement submitted for approval.
Please note that the title of the announcement does not include unnecessarily panicky text, but
rather a simple and easily understood indication as to what information the reader may find in the
body of the announcement.
Virus Alert announcements are generally posted by a member of the Systems Security team, and
are usually quite lengthy. Details such as a description of the virus, the infection risk level, How
one's machine can become infected, what to look for in an email's subject line (or other "red flag"
issues, of which the customer should be aware), what will happen to the customer should their
machine become infected, suggestions for prevention and links to online sources for more
information are typically included.
It is recommended that the start date indicate the date that Information Technology was informed
of the risk, and that the end date is a sufficient amount of time in the future to ensure that the
OSU community has a chance to read the announcement and apply the appropriate measures for
protection.
Generally, updates and resolutions to Virus Alerts are not necessary.
EXAMPLE: SCHEDULED DOWNTIME
The following is an example of a proper Scheduled Downtime announcement submitted for
approval.
Please note in this example, the title indicates WHAT is affected and WHERE. The services
affected are accurately described, and the body of the announcement details exactly WHY the
service is affected, WHO is affected, and WHEN. In this particular example, the planned switch
replacement may take an unknown length of time. Therefore, an exact estimated service
restoration time is not listed. However, a general statement that service should be restored that
afternoon is included in order to indicate that the downtime will take hours rather than days.
It is also imperative that Scheduled Downtime announcements post well in advance of the
interruption in service. For example, some areas may need to prepare for the downtime. It is
recommended that a window of at least 24 hours is provided, more if possible.
The following example will show the proper method by which this announcement will be
updated…
Please note the title change, services affected change, and the body of the announcement format.
The title has been changed from the original title, "USDA Network Downtime" to now include
that the ETS building has been added. Additionally, the Services Affected field now indicates
that not only network connectivity, but also access to the OSU Calendar will be affected. This
additional service downtime is also noted in the body of the announcement.
The following example will show the proper method by which this announcement will list as
resolved…
Please note that the title of the announcement now reflects an indication that this announcement
has been resolved. Also, the body of the announcement includes the RESOLVED above the most
recent update. The resolution also indicates that all services affected by the downtime have been
restored. However, this may not always be the case. In the event that one service, such as
network connectivity, has been restored but another service, such as the OSU calendar, is not, the
proper procedure would be to post another UPDATE and not a RESOLUTION. The event is not
resolved until all affected services have been restored.
EXAMPLE: IT NEWS
The following is an example of a proper IT News announcement submitted for approval.
Please note the detail provided in both the title and the body of the announcement. News items
do not typically require an update or resolved status, but it can be necessary under certain
circumstances. Most News items post for a significant period of time, and detail events that will
occur that do not fit within the alternate announcement types.
NOTE TO ANNOUNCEMENT CREATORS (A.K.A. POSTERS):
At times, Information Technology may wish to soften an announcement in order to avoid undue
confusion or anxiety. Under these circumstances, generalizing a particular aspect of the event
may become necessary. For example, we may not wish to announce that IT is fighting a brute
force hack attack, but rather state that IT is investigating an issue that may affect network
connectivity for a particular area. It is recommended that strong words such as "suffer", "attack",
or "failure" are softened to avoid unnecessary drama associated with an event.
As a poster of announcements, if you find that your announcement has been modified erroneously
and now does not reflect your intended message, please contact the EOP person immediately.
He/She will be more than happy to adjust the announcement to meet the needs of your area.
1. NOTE: If you have posted an announcement for approval, and it is not published to the
site within 15 minutes, please call the EOP person. They may not have heard the
notification sent to the EOP device, or they may be experiencing complications of which
you are unaware. If you cannot reach the EOP staff member, please contact the IT
Helpdesk Manager or Charles McCann, Director of Technology Support.