During Monday's testing of the text message alert system, Ball State University overcame an initial delay and recorded a time of 17 minutes to send about 4,000 texts.
Loren Malm, assistant director security, policy, systems and assessment, said the delay was caused by a simple coding error attributed to the large number of message recipients.
"The developers had to rewrite [some coding]," he said. "It was a small change they had to make to make it work properly. This is the first test they had with a large number of phones."
Director of University Communications Kevin Burke said various facets of the emergency system were tested, including voicemail, e-mail and text message capabilities.
He said other aspects of the test included the university sending 40,000 e-mails to department listings, students and faculty in five to eight minutes. He said 1,820 voicemail messages were sent in under ten minutes.
"It is very pleasing if the point is to dispatch information in a crisis or emergency," he said. "I think the response time to that many individuals is a good response time."
The university does not have a specific time frame in mind for the messages to be sent, Burke said, but the test served as a benchmark for the system.
"Nobody [knew] what was realistic to expect," he said. "So the test helped us get an assessment of that. [It] helps establish a realistic time frame [so] we know what we're dealing with."
The text message alert system uses vendors to send the message to students, Burke said, but only one vendor was used to send the messages in Monday's test.
"When the second vendor [is used] it will potentially double the speed," he said.
Burke said it was important for the university to conduct the test to realize what needs to be done.
"Those kinds of things will create glitches in the system," he said. "All things have to be taken into account and that's precisely why the university completed testing today, so we can identify some of those issues."
The university was already planning a second test of the text alert system in about one month, he said.
Malm said the university could always add messaging equipment to the system to increase time, and a benefit to the system was that they are addressing a defined group.
"Our audience is well-defined as students and employees," he said. "We're not trying to reach the whole world."
Burke said University Computing Services, University Marketing and Communications and the Crisis Management Team organized the test.
"There will be considerable evaluation, assessment and consideration," he said. "Deliberation hasn't begun but we will look at that."
Malm said the code developers would receive the test results and work toward making the system faster.
People can sign up to receive the emergency text messages at
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