IMITS delved deep into how system outages are communicated so we could better address the information needs of staff and physicians across VCH, PHC, and PHSA. The changes we introduced on December 28, 2016 are a result of many conversations with operational leaders across the health organizations, who told us that the current broadcast emails:

• were too technical and not written in a way that our system users could understand,
• did not clearly identify who was impacted by a system outage and what they could and couldn’t do as a result of the outage, and
• were often unread because it took too much time for busy clinicians to open individual emails to identify whether an outage applied to them or not.

New IT outage email template

The new IT outage broadcast emails have addressed these concerns. We have completely revamped the email template to focus on key information—when the outage is occurring, who is impacted, what you can or can’t do as a result of the outage, and, if required, any special instructions you’ll need to prepare for it. That’s it.

And we’ve made it easier for you to see which outages apply to you simply by changing how outage notices show up in your email box. Instead of the non-descript “Unscheduled/Scheduled Downtime …” where you have to open the email to see which system is affected, the email subject line will contain the name of the system that’s impacted. So you can open emails that apply to you and delete the emails that don’t.

Outage calendar and register

We’ve also created a calendar for all planned outages, which should help with planning and coordinating resources around these dates. This, along with an Outage Register that is populated with all IMITS outages, provides a centralized source of all outages. You can access this register via a link on the Computers, Phones & Technology page on VCH Connect or via this link: http://our.healthbc.org/sites/vpp_broadcast_communications

Note that for now, the new templates will be used for all applications/technology supported by IMITS and BCCSS. We’ll be working with other application owners wishing to use the new process to onboard them in the coming months.