Central Alert FAQ

Q: What is Central Alert?

A: Central Alert is the emergency notification system that allows authorized UCO officials to send news and instructions simultaneously to individuals through landline phones, cellular phones, text messaging and e-mail. The benefits of the Central Alert system are its immediacy and direct access to individual campus members through multiple points of contact.

Central Alert complements tools the University already has in place to respond to a range of emergencies.  In the event of an actual emergency, the University will continue to relay critical information using the most appropriate options from a full range of notification resource: Central Alert, Web announcements, e-mail, the local radio/TV stations, door-to-door notifications and posters.

Q: How does a member of the University's campus community enter contact information so that it can be available for use in emergencies?

A: All students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to update their contact information through the Central Alert Channel on the Home Tab in the University's portal, UCONNECT (http://uconnect.uco.edu).  Each person will be able to opt-in to receive text messages.  There may be a charge from your cell phone provider for each text message you receive.

Q: When entering data for use by the Central Alert system, may one include contact information for a spouse or significant other so that they too will be alerted during emergencies?

A: Central Alert notifications are directed solely to the University member via the contact information provided. While students, faculty and staff are asked to provide "In Case of Emergency" contacts in the self-service databases for other purposes, this information will not currently be used by the Central Alert emergency notification system.

Q: When entering data for use by the Central Alert system, may a person only include a text message phone number, but no phone numbers?

A: The Central Alert system requires at least one valid phone number in order to accept the entire record for a specific person.  If one provides only a text message phone number, the system will not notify that person.  The phone number may be a home phone, business phone or cell phone.

Q: Is my text message phone number the same thing as my e-mail address?

A: No.  Your UCO e-mail address allows you to receive an emergency notification in a text format via traditional e-mail through your computer or personal data assistant (Blackberry, Treo, etc.), but a text message phone number allows you to receive an SMS text message on your cell phone or PDA.  Please enter the phone number that is available to accept SMS Text Messages in the UCONNECT Central Alert Channel, http://uconnect.uco.edu.

You may be able to forward your UCO e-mail to your cell phone/PDA.  Please contact your cell phone provider for instructions.

Q: Other members of the University community received emergency notification messages, but I did not. What should I do?

A: First, check your contact information in UCONNECT.  Update any missing or incorrect information.  Ensure that you have at least one valid phone number listed.

If your contact information is up-to-date and you believe you should have received a message, please send an e-mail to support@uco.edu or contact Support at 974-2255.

Q: I did not receive a text message on my cell phone. What should I do?

A: Check your contact information in UCONNET to ensure that you entered your cell phone number correctly.  Verify that you included at least one valid phone number, as well. If your contact information is up-to-date and you believe you should have received a message, please send an e-mail to support@uco.edu or contact Support at 974-2255.

Q: Are employees of University affiliates included in the emergency notification system?

A: Currently, affiliates are not included in Central Alert but this option is under review.  As configured, the system draws data from sources that do not include affiliate organizations.  Employees of affiliates have access to more traditional communications methods including Web postings and other aforementioned tools.

Q: Are non-University of Central Oklahoma Community members who use University resources, such as recreation facilities, or University contractors included in the emergency notification system?

A: No, non-University members are not included in this system.  Visitors to the University, including contractors and recreational facility users, may refer to the University website, the telephone hotlines, signs, and personal communications for information.  In recreational facilities, Athletics personnel inform facility users onsite when that facility must close for an emergency.

Q: Another member of my household is also a member of the University community, yet we received only one phone call to our home. Why?

A: The system recognizes phone numbers that are duplicates and will only connect to a phone number once.

Q: The phone directory lists a common phone number for multiple people in our office. Will we receive multiple phone calls via that phone?

A: No.  The system recognizes phone numbers that are repeated and will only connect to a phone number once.

Q: I did not receive a message on my off-campus office phone. What should I do?

A: If your phone has a call distribution system (e.g., press 1 for person A, press 2 for person B, etc.), the Central Alert system is unable to leave a message.  Otherwise, please refer to question 6.

Q: I received the message, but my answering machine cut it off. Why?

A:  The system attempts to detect what type of response it is receiving on the other end of the line.  In most cases, the system accurately detects an answering machine and the message plays correctly.  In rare instances, the system incorrectly detects a live person and starts to deliver the message prior to the start of the recording.

Q: The message on a cell phone kept looping and repeating. Why?

A: The system does its best to detect whether it has reached a live person or an answering machine.  Sometimes when there is noise in the background, the system detects an answering machine.  When this happens, it waits for a brief moment of silence before starting to play the message.  Using the mute feature on the phone or moving to a quieter location may prevent the message from looping or repeating.

Q: The e-mail notification from Central Alert included a button to listen to the message, but not all computers have sound systems. Is the voice message the same as the text included in the e-mail?

A: Yes.  The text of the voice message is repeated in the body of the e-mail.  There is no need to listen to the .wav file with the voice message.  The voice message is the same one that was transmitted via phone.  Please also note that some emergency notification messages will utilize a computer voice instead of a live person.  In that case, there will not be a voice message attached to the e-mail.

Q: The message included too many graphics, particularly for a Blackberry or other PDA device. Are there plans to improve this?

A: Yes.  Our vendor is working on template that will not include graphics.  This should make it easier to read the actual message, whether from a computer or PDA.