Overview
This article provides a summary of the Service Disruptions and Informational communications provided by Technology Services.
- Communication Matrix: how and when we communicate
- Communication Types, Definitions and Notification Timing
- Service Advisory: Scheduled Maintenance
- Service Advisory: Unplanned Outage
- Service Advisory: Emergency Maintenance
- Service Advisory: Degraded Performance
- Service Notice: Informational
- Best Practices
- Project / Change Initiatives
- Security Advisory: Phishing / Compromised Accounts/Systems
- In other words - descriptive examples
- Related Reading
This article provides the ways in which Technology Services provides announcement and communications to our stakeholders. For how to access support and how to contact Technology Services, please see the
Related information associated at the bottom of this article.
How and when we communicate is based on considerations of Impact (system-centric) and Scope (stakeholder-centric).
- Impact: a measure of the impact the disruption or initiative will have on organizational processes and systems.
- Scope: a measure of the number and types of stakeholders potentially impacted.
Common questions that consider the scope and impact include:
- What services are being disrupted?
- How the disruption affects our users?
- Who is being impacted?
- When is the service disruption?
- Why is the disruption occurring?
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Types
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Definition |
Communication Methods
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Notification/Timing
** every effort made **
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Service Advisory:
* Scheduled Maintenance
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Advisories related to planned maintenance activity with an anticipated impact to system performance, availability, or functionality.
Planned maintenance activities requires prior approval by the Change Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB meets weekly to review Change Requests.
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Status Portal
- Portal updated
- User subscribed emails/texts
Technology Services Announcements
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Initial 5 business days in advance
- Optional Reminders/Notices, depending on scope/impact of disruption: 2 days in advance;4 hours in advance
Updates are provided only if maintenance is not expected to end on time
Resolution when work is complete
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Service Advisory:
- Unplanned / Unscheduled Outage
- Emergency Maintenance
- Performance Issues
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Advisories related to an adverse event and unplanned maintenance that impacts Acadia services/systems and has a user impact. |
Status Portal
- Portal updated
- User subscribed emails/texts
Teams Technology Services Announcements
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Initial notification is Immediate
Updates are provided every 2 hours, or as often as possible
Resolution when work is complete
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Service Notice: Information
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Notices related to systems/services with some potential user impact. This may include notices regarding best practices, launches or changes to services and systems. |
Faculty-staff, all-student email distribution lists
Targeted emails to affected stakeholders
Twitter notifications @tsacadia | Twitter feed on hub.acadiau.ca
Facebook notifications
Technology Services website (IT-Security News)
Status Portal
- Portal updated
- Project dependent: User subscribed emails/texts
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Informational Best Practice notices immediate and on a regular basis.
Informational Change to Service notices depend on the scope and impact of the initiative.
Initial: If a service is changing is due a project/initiative, communications occur a minimum of one month prior to the change date.
Reminders. On-going with the last as a minimum 5 days prior to the change date.
If an outage is associated with the initiative, a Service Advisory will be sent with appropriate protocols.
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Security Advisory:
- Phishing
- Compromised Account
- Compromised Systems
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Notices related to phishing attempts on campus. These usually describe the phishing attempt and ask users to report receipt and any actions taken.
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Faculty-staff, all-student email distribution lists
Targeted emails to affected stakeholders
Teams: Technology Services Announcements
Status Portal
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This is an immediate notification.
This often results in individual follow up conversations. If a compromised account is suspected, the account will be locked until Technology Services consultants can speak to the individual.
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Service Disruption Planned
- If the planned outage affects the entire campus (such as outages with the network, Colleague and the Self-Service Portal), we will communicate through our Status Portal, and the Technology Services Announcement Team, a minimum of five (5) business days or more in advance. Notifications include initial, optional reminder, and resolution updates. Notifications will not be sent using faculty-staff/student distribution lists.
- If the planned outage is isolated and affects a specific group of individuals (isolated access to Wi-Fi, classroom technology), we will communicate through our Status Portal, and the Technology Services Announcement Team, minimum of two (2) business days or more in advance. In some cases, TS Consultants will communicate via email to affected departments (such as Open Acadia, Department of Safety and Security, Human Resources). Notifications include initial, optional reminder, and resolution updates. Notifications are not sent using Faculty-Staff/Student distribution lists.
Service Disruption Unplanned
- If there is an unplanned outage or degraded service, we will communicate, as soon as possible, through the Status Portal and the Technology Services Announcement Team. Notifications will include regular updates and a resolution when available. Notifications are not sent using Faculty-Staff/Student distribution lists.
Service Notice: Project/Initiative
- If the planned change/update requires no service downtime, but affects the entire campus, we will communicate through email (Faculty Staff, Students, or individuals), Technology Services Announcement Team, TS website and Twitter/Facebook. Communications will be sent a minimum of one month or more in advance with reminders closer to the go-live date.
- If the planned change/update requires service downtime and affects the entire campus, we will communicate through the Status Portal, Technology Services Announcement Team, Technology Services website, and Twitter, a minimum of thirty (30) days in advance. Emails using distribution lists or individual emails may be utilized on occasion, especially if direct action is required. In some cases, TS Consultants will communicate via email to affected departments (such as Open Acadia, Department of Safety and Security, Human Resources). The service downtime follows the Planned Disruption protocol.
Service Notice: Best Practices/Promotions
- We will communicate through email distribution lists, Team’s channel, TS Website, and Twitter/Facebook.
Security Advisory: Phishing
- If there is widespread and/or unusual phishing attempts on campus, we will communicate through email (Faculty-staff, students or individuals). The communication will provide details of the phishing or other compromise. It will provide instructions to those who may have fallen victim as to subsequent actions. Limited information, if any, will be posted on Twitter or Facebook.
Security Advisory: Update Browser
- If there is a widespread compromise affecting browsers, we will communicate through email (faculty-staff, students). The communication will provide details of the compromise and ask you to take immediate action.
Security Advisory: Compromised Accounts
- We will have individual follow up communications with individuals affected by cybersecurity attacks to determine the extent of a breach. This may happen through telephone or email messages. If a compromised account is suspected, the account will be locked until the individual has been reached.
A guide to Technology Services Communications. Provides an overview of Technology Services communications.
Help article regarding the status portal and how to subscribe: what is the System status portal
Help article: how to check service availability
Help article: how to get Technology Services Support
Help article: What is a compromised account and What to do if your account may be compromised