Facilities would like to notify (initially via email only) a subset (as identified by FO) of the University population regarding COVID-19 positive location(s) as they are identified. Initial meeting was held on to discuss what ITS has as options — the focal point of discussion being, if Everbridge—which is the University's primary system that is used for all (emergency) notifications.
Everbridge sounds like the most logical solution for two main reasons, among others—
We already provide certain areas of the University to execute a non-emergency notification to limited population
We can build rules, within Everbridge Administration UI, to limit the population that will be exposed to given role
This COMPLETELY ensures that a notification executed by a specific/setup role will ONLY reach the population that they have access to and not the entire user-base within Everbridge
In other words, say we have total user-base of 50K within Everbridge; the requirement (derived from the rule(s), provided by the customer) calls for access to 150 of those users. The role can be setup as such, that when the notification is triggered by this new role, the most people that the notification would reach is no more than 150
Of course, provided Note: All such requests of using the Everbridge system, regardless of which department is requesting, has been & is subject to Office of Emergency Management's approvalfor the usage of the Everbridge system/authorization.
Most, if not all, of the following, by themselves is NOT a road-block... however, taking (or treating) them as a whole, makes it a road-block!
...
Setup each and every Department:Unit combination within Everbridge
Pros
Cons
Setup will be within Everbridge
Limited as to how optimally this can be done, due to system limitations (See 3, 4, and 5, above)
We will still be able to limit the overall number of users exposed
No precise control over the number of users exposed
No way to capture individuals who do not have a value for UConn Unit
VERY time consuming to setup (by IT)
Conclusion: Meh.... Do-able. NOT Recommended...
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Setup the new role in Everbridge, such that it has access to ALL users. The individuals assigned to the new role within Everbridge can build/hand-craft a group membership within Everbridge, as desired
Still be able to limit the overall number of users exposed
Pros
Cons
Setup will be within Everbridge
Limited as to how optimally this can be done, due to system limitations (See 3, 4, and 5, above)
Precise control over the number of users, so long as
the Group is built correctly AND
when the notification is triggered by the new role, the target population is set correctly
Still be able to limit the overall number of users exposed
Has a potential of sending a notification to the entire user-base
No IT involvement, outside of creating the role and assigning an empty group which can be populated by the new role
Has a potential of sending a notification to the entire user-base
Each of the 466 contacts will need to be manually added by the designated role admins
Contacts without UConn Unit can now be added (compared to 1 above)
Each of the 466 contacts will need to be manually added by the designated role admins
Can maintain group membership at whim
Conclusion: Better. However,...
This will expose ALL records. There is a potential of every user receiving a notification — I would tread lightly!
3
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No Compromise v1-A
Modify our Everbridge feed-file processor.
...
We are using 3 of these for the following purposes:
Custom Field 1
Custom Value 1
Custom Field 2
Custom Value 2
Custom Field 3
Custom Value 3
Usage
Primary Campus Location
example: Storrs
UConn Unit
example: Nursing
UConn Department
example: Nursing Instruct and Research
Since there is an "open" custom mapping we can take advantage of, I recommend we do... as such, the above table would look as follows—
Custom Field 1
Custom Value 1
Custom Field 2
Custom Value 2
Custom Field 3
Custom Value 3
Custom Field 4
Custom Value 4
Usage
Primary Campus Location
example: Storrs
UConn Unit
example: Nursing
UConn Department
example: Nursing Instruct and Research
FONTeam
<arbitrary, yet unique val/str here>
Here are high-level steps that need to happen, if this approach is taken:
...
Overall, this entire effort should take approx. 1 hour.
Pros
Cons
Full control of inclusion / exclusion of records
Setup will be outside of Everbridge
Full IT involvement: initially and on-going group membership maintenance
Full IT involvement: initially and on-going group membership maintenance
No record filtering limitations or limitations due to contacts without UConn Unit etc.
Customer cannot maintain group membership at whim
No potential of All UConn Alert!
Conclusion: Best and I Recommend we take this approach.
Road-blocks
3