MessageNet

Category: Support

  • How to Create an Active Shooter Alert

    Sometimes it seems like the only news we see nowadays is of mass shootings. Gun violence is everywhere, from schools to public places. It’s more important than ever before for an emergency communication system to be able to address this kind of emergency with an active shooter alert that provides detailed instructions so that everyone knows what to do in an emergency. With MessageNet Connections, you can create an active shooter alert message (and an accompanying drill message) that has both text and audio as well as flashers to get people’s attention more easily. So how can you create this active shooter alert message?

    Create a New Message

    Log in to the MessageNet Connections Administrative Interface and navigate to the Message Directory. Choose a message to use as a template and click on the question mark button to open that message. To create a new message, first select the Message Directory in which the new message will be saved – if you have an Emergency Message directory, it’s best to save the message there. Then, enter a new name (for example, Active Shooter Alert) into the Message Name field. Once those two fields have been changed, click Save as New.

    Send to Sender

    Because this message will display on signs, it’s important for it to be set to send to Sender. This means that the message will appear in the Inbox of the user who sent the message. That user can thus maintain control of the message and can cancel it and relaunch as needed, in case there was a mistake, such as the wrong message being sent by accident. If it’s not configured to send to the Sender, then if the Sender needs to close the message, they will have to contact the person who received the message in order to do so. This could take time in an emergency situation that just isn’t available. Sending the message to Sender instead of to another user will automatically send the message to the Inbox of the user who sent it so if any corrections need to be made, it can be done quickly.

    In the Send To field, click on the arrow button – this will open a new window with a list of all users in the system. At the bottom is a button for Sender. Click Sender and then OK.

    Select Sign and Audio Groups

    Messages can be sent to any combination of signs, but for an emergency message, it’s recommended that the message goes to all of them. The MessageNet system automatically creates an ALL SIGNS sign group that contains every sign defined on the system – new signs will also automatically get added to this group. If the available signs have audio capability (Omni devices, MediaPorts, IPSpeakers), there will be a corresponding All Signs audio group.

    Click on the arrow button for each of the Sign Group and Audio Group fields. Select All Signs in the window that pops up (or other group if needed). Then, click OK to save the change.

    Message Text

    The Message field is where the text that will be the body of the message is entered. This is what will be displayed on the signs. For an active shooter alert, it should read something like this: “Emergency Alert. Active Shooter reported. Lock and barricade all doors until further notice. Take cover. This is not a drill.”

    Flashers

    For emergency alerts, flashers are always recommended. They can get people’s attention much more easily than a scrolling message can alone and they are color-coded so anyone seeing the message will readily understand that it’s an emergency. Omni devices and IPSpeakers have built-in flashers.

    To add flashers, go to the Sign Appearance section of the Message Editor. The method for adding flashers is different depending on the device. For IPSpeakers, use the Msg Alarm field and select which combination of flashers is needed for the message. For Omnis, the flashers are more sophisticated and have both more colors and more options. For an active shooter message, either flashing red (for emergency) or flashing blue (for shelter in place) is recommended. Select the color and the action in the Signal Light field. Then, in the Light Duration field, select how long that action should be performed (for example, for ten seconds, thirty seconds, the duration of the message, etc.).

    Emergency Alert Status

    On an Omni device, the background color of the screen can be changed to reflect the emergency alert status of a message. For example, an emergency message will have a red background, while a shelter message will have red at the top and yellow at the bottom. To set the emergency alert status of the message, go to the Security Controls section of the Message Editor. Select the desired status – for an active shooter alert, either Emergency or Shelter is best.

    Save the Changes

    Once the changes to the message are complete, it’s important to save the message. Scroll all the way back up to the very top of the message and click the Save button. Then, test the message to make sure that it works exactly as expected.

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  • How to Close Messages

    Closing a message removes it from active status and, if archiving has been set up in the Message Editor, sends it to the Archives. Messages that do not have archiving set up will disappear when closed. Closing a message will also stop any additional features of the message, including text or media on signs, signal light flashing, etc. Messages can be closed manually via the Inbox or Stop Active Messages, or automatically via duration or by another message with a command list. There may be limitations to who is allowed to close certain messages, depending on user class and other restrictions.

    Inbox:

  • Click on the Inbox tab/
  • Click the checkbox next to the message you want to close.
  • Click the close button.
  • The screen will then refresh.

    • Note: MGR users with access can use the arrow button to navigate to another user’s Inbox and follow the steps above to close messages sent to someone else.

    MessageNet Connections Inbox

    Stop Active Messages:

  • Click on the Other Screens tab and select Stop Active Messages.
  • Click the button next to the message you want to close.
  • The screen will refresh.

    • Note: MGR or AMG users can close any active message from the Stop Active Messages screen. Users of any other user class can close only messages that also appear in their Inbox.

    Stop Active Messages

    Duration:

    Messages can be set to close automatically by specifying a duration in the Message Editor. Navigate to the Message Editor (either by clicking on the button next to the message name in the Message Directory, or by clicking Other Screens and selecting Message Editor and using the Message Directory and Message Name fields to select the message

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    Message Editor

  • Use the button next to the Message Duration field to open the Message Duration pop-up window.
  • Enter the hours, minutes, and seconds you would like the message to remain active, and then click OK.
  • Click the check box if you want the option to change the message duration when the message is launched.
  • Click No Expire to have the message active until manually closed by a user or closed by another message.

    • Message Duration

    Command List:

    Messages can be closed by another message, which will require set-up in both the message that will be closed and the message that closes it.

  • First, navigate to the Message Editor for the message that will be closed.
  • In the Label: field, enter an appropriate label name of your choice and click Save at the top of the message.

    • Note: This feature closes all messages with that label, so any messages containing that same label will also be closed.

    Label

    Next, navigate to the Message Editor for the message that will close the other. Scroll down to the Command List and click on the icon, which will open a the Command List screen in a new window.

  • When: On Launch
  • Command: Reply Msg
  • Column A: LABEL:
  • Column B: the label (all caps) that you created in the first step
  • Click Save, then Done, which will close the Command List window

    • Command List Label

  • Click Save at the top of the Message Editor.
  • Scroll down again to the Command List field and it will now say Exists next to the icon.

    • Command List Exists

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  • Complete Guide to the User Database Manager

    Complete User Database Manager

    User Directory Navigation

    • Browse: Click to browse a full list of all users
    • Find: To find a user by name, clear out the last name or first name field, enter the appropriate name, then click find. If there are multiple users with that same first or last name, make sure the cursor is in the field that you used to search, then click Next.
    • Previous: Click to navigate to the previous user record – the system sorts users alphabetically by either first or last name, depending on which field contains the cursor.
    • Next: Click to navigate to the next user record.
    • Save: Click to save changes to a user record.
    • Save As New: Click to save a new user. Note that the PIN/User ID must be changed to create a new user record.
    • Delete: Click to delete the user record.
    • Clear: Click to clear out all fields.
    • Com Ctrl: Click to navigate to the Comm Control screen. See How to Change Comm Control Preferences.
    • Ctrl List: Click to navigate to the Sys User Database Access List to change which users have access to the User Database Manager.
    • Check Boxes: Next to several fields, there is a check box – selecting this check box will allow the user the ability to change that field themselves.
    • Question Mark: The question mark icon will display more information about the field it’s next to if you mouse over it.

    User Directory by Field

      The required fields to create a new user are: Last Name, First Name, Directory, PIN/User ID, Password, Sign Group, and Class.

    • Last Name: This is the user’s last name.
    • First Name: This is the user’s first name.
    • Initial: Enter an initial if the user has the same name as another to differentiate.
    • Directory: Select a Message Directory to be the user’s default directory. This will be the directory that automatically loads when the user clicks on the Message Dir tab.
    • PIN/User ID: This is the user’s unique ID, which is used to log in to the MessageNet system.
    • Password: Enter the user’s password, which will be used to log in to the MessageNet system. Note that if a user forgets their password, for security reasons, MessageNet Support staff cannot reset the password. That must be done by the on-site system administrator.
    • Courtesy Title: Select the courtesy title for the user. This does affect the Gender field – if Ms. is selected here, Male cannot be selected for Gender.
    • Sign Group: If the user has a sign or other public device that can be used to contact the user, select its sign group here. Because this is a required field, if the user has no sign group, select No Signs.
    • Class: Select the user’s class. This determines what features and screens of the MessageNet system the user has access to. See below for a full list of user classes.
    • SS Num: This is the user’s social security number. The MessageNet system does not use this field, so it is for informational purposes only.
    • Short Name: Enter a short name for the user, if they have one. This is to help differentiate users of the same name.
    • Gender: This field sets the gender of text-to-speech messages sent by this user. It is affected by the Courtesy Title field – for example, if a masculine title is selected, the Gender field will automatically change to Male.
    • Text Device Control: See How to Set Up Text Device Control.
    • Commercial Pager: Use the down arrow to select the user’s commercial pager, which is pre-defined in the Hardware Pager Database. This is the user’s primary text device and can be either a pager or a cell phone (See How to Define Text Devices).
    • Inhouse Pager: If a user has multiple text devices, select the second one in this field.
    • Audio Group: If the user has a sign or other public device with audio capabilities that can be used to contact that user, select its audio group here. This will allow other users to send audio messages for that user to this audio group.
    • Work Phone: Enter the user’s work phone number.
    • Extension: If the user has an extension, enter it here, with the main work number in the Work Phone field.
    • Cell Phone: Enter the user’s cell phone number.
    • Reports To: If the user reports to a superior, select that user here.
    • Home Phone: Enter the user’s home phone number.
    • Other Phone: If the user has an alternate phone number, enter it here.
    • Street: Enter the user’s street address. This and all fields relating to the user’s address are fore informational purposes only and are not used by the Messagenet system.
    • City: Enter the city in which the user lives.
    • Email: Enter the user’s e-mail address. Note that this field is used for messaging, but that e-mail does need to be set up to work between the organization’s e-mail server and the MessageNet server.
    • State: Enter the state in which the user lives.
    • Zip: Enter the user’s zip code.
    • Fax: Enter the user’s fax number. Note that this field is also only for informational purposes. The MessageNet system cannot send a fax.
    • Dept: Select the user’s Department. This field can be used to logically sort users into lists.
    • Group: Select the user’s Group. This field can be used to logically sort users into lists.
    • Organization: Select the user’s Organization. This field can be used to logically sort users into lists.
    • Site: Select the site at which the user works.
    • Room: Select the room in which the user works.
    • Job Title: Enter the user’s job title.
    • Employee ID: Enter the user’s employee ID number.
    • Check Msgs: Enter the length of time (in seconds) that will be the interval at which the Inbox refreshes automatically to check for new messages. A zero in this field will indicate never auto-refreshing, while any number smaller than 60 will be treated as 60.
    • Max Priority: Enter the maximum priority the user can assign to a message.
    • Note: enter any notes about this user here.
    • Auth List Cell: Select a list to restrict who can view the user’s cell phone number on the User Directory screen.
    • Auth List Home: Select a list to restrict who can view the user’s home phone number on the User Directory screen.
    • Auth List Other: Select a list to restrict who can view the user’s other phone number on the User Directory screen.
    • Auth/Dist List: This field has two functions. If the user is a LST or LSI user class, which should only be used for lists, this field will distribute any messages sent to the user to any users in the list selected in this field. If the user is any other user class, this field instead restricts who can see or message the user within the system to only those on the list.
    • Automated Attendant: If MessageNet manages the phone system directly instead of interfacing it, click this check box to add this user and the extension listed above to the automated attendant.
    • Default Locations: this field is used to specify a specific map as the default when the users accesses the Locations tab.
    • Max Voice Msgs: Enter the maximum number of voice messages the user can have in their voice mail box at once.
    • Voice Msg Dir: Select a message directory that will hold voice messages for the user. If none is selected, the default of SYSTEM.DEFAULT will be used.
    • Voice Msg Name: Select the name of the message that will launch when the user receives a voice message. If no message name is selected, the default of VOICE MESSAGE will be used.
    • Button Control: Check the box to allow the user the ability to change messages attached to a button associated with them.
    • Auto Login: Check the box to allow auto login for this user. For security reasons, this is not recommended for any user that has multiple devices, uses any public devices, or shares devices with other users.
    • Show on User Dir: Check the box to include the user on the User Directory. Without this box checked, the user will not be listed in the User Directory.

    User Classes

    Class defines a user’s access within the MessageNet system. The on-site system administrator should decide what duties each user should have and what features they’ll need access to before creating users. A full list of user classes and what features they have access to is available by clicking on the Help tab from the User Database Manager. There is also a chart of screens and the most common user classes and what those classes have access to. The most commonly used classes are MGR, LIB, CL1, CL4. JOB, LSI, and ROM.

    • MGR: MGR stands for Manager and is the highest class of user and has access to all screens. Any on-site system administrators should be this level of user class.
    • AMG: This is the assistant manager user class. It has the almost the same access as the MGR user class and is intended for high-level users who are not system administrators.
    • LIB: This is the library-class user and is meant for creating Message Libraries for the Connections Mobile app.
    • CL1: This is the highest class of standard user. This user class has access to the Message Editor for message creation.
    • CL2: This standard class of user also has access to the Message Editor, but has access to fewer Other Screens.
    • CL3: This standard class of user can launch messages, but not edit or create them.
    • CL4: This is the lowest class of standard user.
    • JOB: This is used to define a role or job within the organization that can then be forwarded to different users who hold that position at varying times.
    • CST: This is the customer-class user and allows access only to the inbox and message directory screens and is only valid for a default of twenty days.
    • GUC: This is the General User Class. It allows access only to the Send, Reply, User Directory, User Database Manager, Comm Control, and Stop Active Messages screens
    • MUC: This is the Message User Class. It allows access only to the Send, Reply, User Directory, and Stop Active Messages screens.
    • LST: This is a list-class user that is used to forward messages on to user lists. The LST user class sends one message to all of the users on the list so that if one person replies to it or closes it, it is closed for all other users as well.
    • LSI: This is a list-class user that is used to forward messages on to user lists. The LSI user class sends each user on the list their own copy of the message so one user replying to or closing the message does not affect the other users’ copies of the message.
    • ROM: This is a room-class user and is used to define rooms or locations so that messages can be sent to public devices with no user owning them from the User Directory.
    • STU: This is a student-class user and is only allowed access to view their new and old messages.
    • GRD: This is a guardian-class user that is associated with a student and is allowed access only to view old and new messages.
    • TAP: This is a user class designed to define other computer systems as users so that the MessageNet system can receive input from the computer system’s TAP protocol via the modem connection. When the MessageNet server sees input from the TAP protocol it matches the TAP user’s PIN and then looks in the Directory field for the user’s default directory and then looks for a message that matches the input to launch.
    • XPA: This is an Extend PA user class that has access only to the Locations and User Directory screens.
    • LOC: This is a location-class user that has access only to the Locations screen.
    • SGN: This is a sign-class user that can only send pre-defined messages from their own directory and to reply to messages.
    • KSK: This is a kiosk-class user that can only send pre-defined messages from their own directory.
    • PAG: This is a pager-class user that can only send pager messages from the User Directory. All other User Directory icons will not be visible.
    • UDM: This is a User Database Manager class user that is only able to manage, create, and delete user accounts in the User Database Manager.
    • ADM: This is the Administrative User class. It’s designed to be able to manage, create, and delete user accounts but cannot assign passwords to user accounts.
    • SCR: This is the Security user class and can only assign passwords to user accounts or upload CSV files.
    • DIR: This is the directory class user and is allowed access only to the User Directory.

      • Browse

      If you click on the Browse button, this will take you to a new screen that is a list of all users saved in the MessageNet system in order alphabetically by User ID/PIN. You can navigate by filling in the Last Name, First Name, PIN/User ID, or Extension fields and then clicking Find. Click Next to navigate to the next user in order based on the field that was used with Find. The CSV button will allow you to create and export a CSV file. At the bottom of the screen are up and down arrows that will page up and down. Clicking on the number next to a user entry will take you to the User Database Manager entry for that user. To return to the User Database Manager, click Revert at the top of the screen.

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  • How to Create a New User

    Creating and managing new users is the responsibility of the on-site System Administrator. For security reasons, MessageNet support staff cannot manage user accounts, as they have no way of knowing which users should have access to which features of the MessageNet system. Before creating a new user, the System Administrator should know what features of the system that user will need to use, so that the user account can be granted the appropriate permissions.

    To create a new user, navigate to the User Database Manager from the Other Screens tab. Your own user record will appear as the default. The fields that are highlighted are the fields that are required to create a user account, but only the PIN/User ID field needs to be unique.

    sample user database manager

    Erase the current contents of the Last Name, First Name, PIN/User ID, and Password fields and enter the correct information for the new user. Then, click Save as New. This will create a new entry (Save will override your own user account, so be careful). The PIN/User ID and Password fields will be used to log in to the MessageNet system and the First Name and Last Name fields will be used by messages and lists that the user will receive.

    The other highlighted fields are Directory, Sign Group, and Class. In the Directory field, select the Message Directory that the user will be need most often. For some users, there is only one message directory that they use and they thus may not know how to navigate between directories. The directory selected here will be the default directory that appears when the users clicks on the Message Dir tab.

    If the user has a sign that is dedicated to their use, then you can select the Sign Group for that sign so that other users can send messages to that user on their sign from the User Directory. Otherwise, this can be set to ‘No Signs’.

    Class is the field that controls what kind of access and permissions a user will have to the MessageNet system. System Administrators will always need to be MGR-class users. Users who need to create messages will need to be at least CL1 (the highest level of standard user), while users who only need to send messages but not create them can be CL4 (the lowest level of standard user). To see a full list of possible user classes and what permissions they entail, click on the Help tab. Scroll down to the list of fields and select Class to quickly jump to the class descriptions. There will be a comprehensive description of each user class as well as a table of the different screens and which user classes have access to them.

    Don’t forget to click Save after any further changes have been made.

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  • How to Save Messages to Connections Mobile

    There are two ways to save a message to your Connections Mobile app. If you have access to the Message Editor for a particular message, there is a Mobilize button at the top of the screen. Click that button to save the message to your mobile app. Note: some users may not have access to the message editor to use this method.

    Mobilize Button

    The second option is available to all users who have permission to launch messages. To save a message to the app, navigate to the Message Directory in which your message is saved and then right-click on the message name. A message will pop up for you to click that reads ‘Add to Connections Mobile.’

    Add to Connections Mobile

    All messages added to the Connections Mobile app will appear in your DropBox and will need to be moved to a different section before they can be used or edited.

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  • How to Set Up Message Archiving

    One way to keep records of everything that happens in the MessageNet system is to set up messages to be saved to the Message Archives when they expire. Messages that are set to archive will later be viewable via their Archive Directory as well as by the sender and recipient of the message. If a message is not set to archive upon expire, then the message records will disappear after expiration and cannot be retrieved.

    Note that while keeping records of messages can be important, launched messages are also recorded in the log files. Archiving allows you to organize saved messages any way your want, but the archives do take up space on your server, so it is important to decide which messages would be worth saving and which are not. If you need to create records of certain types of messages, setting up archiving is recommended.

    In the administrative interface, navigate to the Message Editor for the message you want to archive. Scroll down to the Message Controls section, or click on the Message Controls link at the top of the screen. Then, in the Archive to Directory field, enter the name of the Archive Directory that the message will be saved in. If that name already exists as an Archive Directory, the message will save to it upon expiration. If that name hasn’t yet been used for an Archive Directory, an Archive Directory with that name will be auto-created when the message expires for the first time.

    archive directory

    Alternatively, you can create new Archive Directories from the Directory Archive Manager (available from the Other Screens tab). Keep in mind that if you create a new directory here, you will still need to add it to messages in the Message Editor in order to save messages to it.

    Directory Archive Manager

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  • How to Reset User Passwords

    If you are a user of the MessageNet system but not the system administrator and have forgotten your MessageNet password, please contact your on-site system administrator for a password reset. For security reasons, MessageNet support staff are unable to manage users or reset passwords.

    For on-site system administrators, to reset a user’s password, log in to the MessageNet Connections administrative interface, click on the Other Screens tab, and select User Database Manager. Your own user profile will appear as the default. To navigate to another user’s profile, you can click Browse and search through the full list of users, or you can enter the user’s surname into the Last Name field and click Find.

    sample user database manager

    If there are multiple users with the same last name, you may need to click Next until you find the correct one. Once you are at the correct user profile, change the password, click Save, and then give the updated password to the user, who can then change it again if needed once they have successfully logged in.

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  • How to Log In to MessageNet Connections

    MessageNet Connections is browser-based on PCs and on Android devices (while the mobile app for Apple devices has been released, the Android version is still in progress, so a web browser must be used on Android devices until the app is released), so to log in, navigate to any web browser and enter the MessageNet server’s IP address (or dns host name, if your organization uses that instead). You may need to obtain this information from your on-site MessageNet system administrator. Once you have navigated to the log in screen, the MessageNet logo will appear.

    MessageNet splash screen

    Click anywhere on the logo and the sign in window will pop up. If it does not, you may need to allow pop ups from that address. Enter your user name and password into the appropriate text boxes. If you do not know your user name and password, check with your on-site system administrator. For security reasons, MessageNet support staff cannot manage user accounts or reset passwords.

    To log in to the administrative interface, click the Connections button. To log in to the Connections Mobile user interface, click on the Connections Mobile button. Some web browsers offer the option to save your log in information so you don’t have to type it in every time. If you choose to do this, the button for Connections Mobile may appear grayed out. If this is the case, simply click in the password text box and the Connections Mobile button will become clickable.

    MessageNet log in window

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  • How to Apply the Intel Security Patch

    If your MessageNet server is a black 4U server, it has an AMD processor in it and is not affected by the recent Intel security flaws. However, if your server is a newer silver 1U Dell server, then the processor is by Intel and may be affected by the security flaws. Any patches to fix this issue would be at the hardware level, provided by Dell on their website, and would therefore need to be applied directly on the server by someone on-site and cannot be done remotely by MessageNet support staff. Note: It is possible that applying a patch may cause the server to slow down by up to 40%.

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  • How to Back Up Server Data

    In order to avoid risking lost data in the event of a server failure, it’s very important to have a complete backup of all of the MessageNet server’s data. Because every customer’s system, network, and organization are different, MessageNet cannot provide or suggest a backup method. However you decide to back up your data, however, it’s important to backup everything, as data restoration may be impossible without a full backup. A full backup includes everything in the server’s root partition and home partition. The paths for these two partitions are:

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    /home

     

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