ICEFLO Communications
The ICEFLO application provides a real-time alerting system which can send communications to all Team Members or Interested Parties in a Runbook. These communications will be related to current updates on the status of Events, Runbooks and Tasks.
Types ICEFLO Communications
When configured at Runbook level, ICEFLO will send email and/or SMS Communications.
There are two flavours of outbound communication:
- Comms are standard regular health and progress updates, such as stage and task completions, and are configured by those constructing the Runbook and its contents
- Escalations are messages that indicate attention should be given to or action should be taken on a particular component of the Runbook being executed. Escalations typically indicate where a problem has arisen, for example, when an active implementation RAG status changes from green to amber. This indicates that the implementation is now forecast to end within the Service Protection Period and the threat of an unplanned outage or rushed backout looms, unless a decision is made in a timely fashion.
The table below categorises the Communications which are sent from ICEFLO.
| Communication Message | Communication Type |
|---|---|
| Runbook Activated | Communication |
| Runbook Complete | Communication |
| Backout Forecast to end after Warning Threshold | Communication |
| Implementation End Time forecast to end after Warning Threshold |
Escalation |
| Implementation End Time forecast to Impact Service |
Escalation |
| Backout now forecast to Impact Service | Escalation |
| Issue Raised | Escalation |
| Issue Resolved | Escalation |
| Issue Late to Resolve | Escalation |
| Issue Severity increased from Low to High |
Escalation |
| Issue Severity increased from Low to Medium |
Escalation |
| Issue Severity increased from Medium to High |
Escalation |
| Issue Severity decreased from High to Medium |
Escalation |
| Issue Severity decreased from Medium to Low |
Escalation |
| Issue Severity decreased from High to Low |
Escalation |
| Notify Owner | Communication |
| Backout Activated |
These will be sent to anyone who has their Comms switched on to receive Communications or Escalations |
| Backout Complete |
These will be sent to anyone who has their Comms switched on to receive Communications or Escalations |
Receiving ICEFLO Communications
All users control how they receive Communications (Comms) from ICEFLO:
- Two channels are available - SMS and email Comms can be configured
- Each user enters their <mobile number> and / or <email address> and checks the boxes according to which channels they wish to use, from My Profile, Communications Preferences
Please note that this is the Users Individual Preference and does not mean that they automatically receive Communications for Runbooks they are part of.
For each Runbook there are default settings which can then be configured:
- All members of the deployment team are potential members of the listening community, but the default send setting is NO.
To change these default settings from a No to a Yes, you can do so from the ... More Options > Communications, from within an individual Runbook.
From the Users Tab, the deployment team members will be listed, and any potential Interested Parties can be added from the Potential Users Panel. For everyone who needs to receive communications from the Runbook ensure that the Communication and/or Escalation options have been changed from No to Yes. It may be that the audience for Comms is different to the audience for Escalations.
If you see the above headphone icon with a cross in the bottom, this means that although the Deployment Manager has set that User to receive the Escalation Communications that User will not get them as they may have opted not to set them on under their Personal Profile. In order to change this, the User must do this or someone who has User Admin Permissions can change this in the Maintain User Page on a User's behalf.
In addition to checking all the settings above, remember to set the flags at Task level for Comms to go out indicating the Task is available or has been completed.