Purpose: Announce unplanned service outages that affect a large portion of campus.1
This template is used for communicating with end users as well as technical support providers.
1 Some CIT services have existing methods for communicating directly with the users of their services. Outages of those services may be better handled using those methods.
download this information -- Unplanned Service Outage template (MS Word)
From: Information Technologies Special Bulletins
Subject: Unplanned outage - [KEY SERVICE NAMES] -- for example, Unplanned outage - NUBB
OR Issue with [KEY SERVICE NAMES]
Paragraph 1 to include this info:
- Key service names
- Approximate start time of the outage (or when problem was noticed)
- Day and date
- In what ways are end users affected (as appropriate, specify which groups of people, which platforms, what parts of the services are affected, is the service "down" or just slower than usual) -- be sure to describe the "symptoms" from the end-user's perspective, even if that's not what is technically wrong
For example: NUBB has been experiencing problems since approximately 8:00 a.m. on Monday, May 4. Users are unable to access the NUBB web site to view their network usage information.
Paragraph 2 to include this info:
- What CIT is currently doing about the issue (for example, CIT is currently investigating the issue; CIT is currently working to resolve the issue)
- Pointer to Current Status of CIT Services page for latest updates
For example: CIT is currently working to resolve the issue. Please check the Current Status of CIT Services web page <http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/status.cfm> for the latest information.
[Additional paragraphs as needed to provide adequate detail on the impact of the outage.]
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Person's name (OPTIONAL)
Cornell Information Technologies
CIT division or group (OPTIONAL)
E-mail address (OPTIONAL)
URL (OPTIONAL)
For example:
Cornell Information Technologies
Network and Communication Services