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HPU has rolled out a campus emergency notification system that will notify students and employees by email and text message. The system was announced on Pipeline on 25 September. I discussed similar systems on 17 April, and USA Today discussed Rave in an article on 25 October 2006.

HPU students and staff can enroll online with Rave at https://www.getrave.com/login/hpu/

The service is free, and the enrollment process requires a Pipeline ID and password.

I did notice that the telephone number fields will not support international calling codes. Most students on Oahu would use a North American phone number, but there might be distance education students who would want emergency notification messages. The Rave system could be used to announce unscheduled WebCT and Pipeline outages.

Subscribers can get their Rave notifications by email, which is a good alternative for users of push email systems like the iPhone, Blackberrys, Sidekicks and some Windows Mobile devices.

Also, the enrollment form appears to validate entries as they are typed. Many web forms include programming code to catch data entry errors in the web browser, before the submit button is pressed. Client-side validation can reduce network traffic and server load, if the validation scripts are well-written and carefully tested.

To test the form, I entered some incorrect data. Then I tried to edit the data. I had to click and hold with my trackpad while retyping the numeric fields.

It’s not the most obvious solution – I tried deleting and backspacing over the bad data, but the cursor kept jumping to another field. The validation script assumed that I’d entered the data correctly the first time.

The Rave system does send a confirmation message to the mobile phone number that was entered on the enrollment screen. The user get on a web browser and enter a 4-digit code from the text message to activate their account.

The email side of the system does not send an activation or conformation code, which I found curious. I entered my Gmail email address.

There’s been a surge in notification system deployments since April, as universities and colleges look for better ways to notify stakeholders of important events.

Some universities have found these systems useful when the weather gets bad. At other schools, these systems are also used to notify students when classes are canceled or events are rescheduled.

An emergency notification system is also an important part of disaster recovery planning (DRP) for any large organization. CIOs and their staff must have a reasonable, well-tested action plan to resolve issues that threaten the organization’s employees, staff and information systems. Rave’s system can improve a DRP implementation by asking people to staff off-campus during an emergency.

Of course, the Rave system works best when many users are registered with their correct information. Students tend to change email addresses and phone numbers often, and there’s nothing that compels students to use the system.

Another issue involves marketing. An emergency notification system should not be used to send advertising and marketing messages to users. There are some services that allow these messages. However, the last thing I expect from an emergency notification service is spam and ads.