Testing is key. One trial run of using a set of university computers to generate e-mail warnings had the messages still being sent hours after they were initiated.

Logs of who uses the iMacro software to trigger which alarms are created by the software and are useful for forensic analysis afterwards, he says.

If power dies on campus during an emergency, the school could still send text messages to student cell phones. Students can opt in to the e2Campus messaging service available via the university intranet.

Beyond writing scripts to issue warnings, the toughest part of setting up the warning system was getting the personnel in charge of declaring emergencies to agree who would decide and how those decisions would be made, says Christopher Waters, the director of information systems and assistant CIO at the university.

He says he pushed university officials to accept responsibility for calling emergencies, leaving the IT department to enable delivery of warnings. He says it took some doing to get these officials to set policies and procedures. "It's not necessarily about egos," he says, "it's about comfort."