Service overview

McGill's automated Emergency Notification System allows the University to rapidly send messages to students, faculty and staff during time-sensitive situations and disruptions in the use of various buildings.
BlackBerry AtHoc is a cloud-based service, which will be used to send urgent information to the McGill community via several channels:

• Email: Notifications are sent to the McGill email addresses of all active McGill staff and students.
• Desktop notifications: The BlackBerry AtHoc Notifier application is installed on all McGill‑managed Windows computers and displays urgent messages directly on the screen. 
  • Students, faculty, and staff who use computers that are not managed centrally are encouraged to install the BlackBerry AtHoc Desktop Notifier on their personal laptops. See the How to request/access section below for a link to the Mac and Windows installation files.
• Mobile devices (text messaging): As part of McGill University's ongoing commitment to ensure the safety and well-being of students, staff, and faculty, we encourage every member of the McGill community to opt-in their mobile devices to receive text messages.
  • McGill University reserves the right to contact a member of the community on their mobile device if the number is provided through the BlackBerry AtHoc self-service portal.
    Note: If your mobile device is configured to use text-to-speech, notifications from McGill will be read aloud.
• Mobile App: The BlackBerry AtHoc mobile app allows users to receive emergency notifications on their mobile device; it may be used as an alternative to text messages if you do not want to provide your mobile phone number.
• Web pages: When emergency notifications are published, they will appear on McGill websites. Depending on the criticality of the event, alerts may appear on the main page and/or individual faculty/department sites.

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Who can use this service

• All active students and staff will receive email through the BlackBerry AtHoc system at their McGill email address. Those who are active as both staff and student will receive emergency notifications on both of their active email addresses (@mail.mcgill.ca / @mcgill.ca / @affiliate.mcgill.ca).
• All McGill-managed Windows computers automatically have the BlackBerry AtHoc Desktop Notifier installed to receive desktop notifications.

• (Strongly recommended) All active students and staff members can provide their mobile number to receive emergency notifications via text message. (see below) 
• (Optional) All active students and staff members may download and install the BlackBerry AtHoc mobile app for Android or iOS to receive emergency notifications through the app.
• (Optional) All active students and staff members may download and install the BlackBerry AtHoc desktop notifier on their personal computers. The personal Windows version must not be installed on computers managed by McGill system administrators.

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How to use this service

Faculty and staff are required to opt in a mobile device if it is owned and paid for by McGill. Others are highly encouraged to opt in their personal mobile devices to receive text messaging and/or download the BlackBerry AtHoc mobile app. 

McGill uses multiple points of contact to reach the McGill community in the event of an emergency, as shown in the table below.

Communication method	Students	Faculty and Staff
McGill institutional email	Automatic and by default. You can't opt-out of this communication method. All active staff and students are given an AtHoc profile, which includes their McGill email address. Those who are both staff and students, will have two separate profiles with their respective staff and student email addresses. Email is the default method by which notifications are sent to the McGill community.
SMS on Mobile devices	Highly recommended	If your mobile device is owned or paid for by McGill, faculty and staff members are required to opt-in to receive text messages as well.
AtHoc application on mobile devices	Optional	You can install the AtHoc mobile application on your mobile device to receive notifications in that manner as well. This can be an alternative for anyone who does not wish to provide their personal mobile number, or those who do not want to incur text messaging charges.
Desktop notifier for PC and Mac computers (requires BlackBerry Athoc application)	Optional	Optional for personal computers. Automatically installed on McGill managed computers.

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Provide your mobile device phone number to receive text messages:

1. Go to the BlackBerry AtHoc Self-Service portal at https://mcgill.ca/alerts-myprofile
2. If prompted to authenticate, sign in with your McGill Username and Password. (Use single sign-on to log in.)
3. Read the disclaimer and click Accept.
4. Under the My Profile tab, click Edit;
5. Enter your mobile phone number in the Text Messaging – Personal field.
   • Staff members who have a work device should enter that mobile number in the Text Messaging – Work field.
   • Do not enter the same number in both fields. If you do, you will receive duplicate text messages. 
6. Save. You will not receive a confirmation notification.

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Download the BlackBerry AtHoc mobile app and/or desktop notifier on your personal computer

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Cost

There are no fees associated with this service.

Text messaging/data rates may apply when receiving messages via text message or the mobile app.

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Availability

This service is available 24/7, except during scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

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Frequently asked questions

Consult the Emergency Notification System application FAQs for more information about the service and applications.

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Best practices & policies

• See How to recognize messages from McGill's Emergency Notification System for tips on protecting yourself from fraudulent messages.
• Provide your mobile number via the BlackBerry AtHoc Self-Service portal to ensure you receive alerts wherever you may be.
• Do not enter the same mobile device number in both Text messaging – Personal and Text messaging – Work because you will be alerted twice on the same device.
• If you don’t have a North American mobile number, you may download the BlackBerry AtHoc mobile app as a more cost-effective alternative.

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Training & documentation

No training is needed for the general McGill community.

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Support

Contact the IT Service Desk for assistance and information.

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