During the spring semester of 2015, the emergency alert system was tested for Wayne State College, and it proved to be a valuable test.

But the system did not work for everyone.

Along with the mass notification company AlertSense and Verizon Wireless, WSC’s Network and Technology Services (NATS) has been working to find a solution to the error that occurred during the last test.

According to the data that was collected after the test, Verizon customers were delayed in receiving the original emergency test message, and the “all clear” message was not received at all.

Because of NATS’ hard work with each company to repair the problems encountered, another test of the system will be taking place on Saturday.

“Both providers will be watching their systems specifically for our test,” said John Dunning, chief information officer for WSC. “We want to ensure that we gather as much good information as possible to help keep campus informed in the event of an actual emergency.”

For students that have not yet done so, it is important to sign up for these emergency alerts. It’s a simple and quick process and can be done by signing into eCampus, going to “eCampus Content” and clicking on “Campus Emergency Contact.”

If any students have had a change of phone number, it is important that they, too, take the time to update their numbers on the site.

After Saturday’s test, a survey will be provided via eCampus on Monday so that further data may be gathered by NATS in order to catch and fix any problems if they pop up again. While the survey is voluntary, Dunning encourages everyone that is signed up for emergency alerts to follow through with it, since the information could be vital to keeping students safe.

“The emergency alert system is one of Wayne State’s primary tools to keep members of the campus constituency informed in the event of an emergency,” Dunning said. “We are making every effort to ensure that the system is working as expected to enhance the safety of the campus.”