A Visual IT Notification System Improves Help Desk Support

Located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Kootenai Health provides healthcare services to northern Idaho, eastern Washington, Montana and the inland northwest. Kootenai Health is anchored by a 254-bed hospital and has aggressively developed an information services infrastructure to serve the region’s critical access hospitals, clinics and primary care physician office groups. Kootenai Health continues to partner with a variety of healthcare providers to improve physician access and deliver advanced diagnostic imaging, radiation therapy, laboratory services and outpatient surgery. When Kootenai wanted to streamline their IT alerts and immediately direct resouces on critical problems, the healthcare organization selected T2 Alert Insight, a visual IT notification system developed by T2 Tech.

“T2 Alert Insight has been an effective visual notification system at Kootenai Health. It cut through the excess noise of alert fatigue, provided immediate visibility into IT issues and empowered us to actively monitor and maintain our IT environment.”—Steve Garske, Ph.D., CIO

The Challenge: A Solution To Centralize IT Alerts

After implementing a new help desk support center to improve IT operations, Kootenai Health was in need of an effective solution to centralize key IT alerts and immediately focus resources on critical problems as they arose. With numerous IT systems, and an overwhelming influx of information, it was difficult to discern true priorities from inordinate noise. Upon evaluating a number of potential solutions, Kootenai Health selected T2 Alert Insight, a visual IT notification system developed by T2 Tech Group™.

Superior Support

Within the help desk support center, T2 Alert Insight’s ambient LED lighting system provides visual notifications based on the current state of all monitored IT systems.

Data Center Configuration

The data center lighting system has also been configured for maintenance mode, which provides lighting for maintenance in each cabinet.

Team Education

T2 Tech provided hands-on training for Kootenai Health staff, and detailed system documentation so they were able to own and easily operate the system moving forward.

T2 Tech Collaborates With Kootenai To Realize T2 Alert Insight

T2 Tech worked closely with Kootenai Health to understand the organization’s specific use case for T2 Alert Insight, prepare an implementation plan, document appropriate systems for alert aggregation, design lighting layouts for each intended space, install lighting in each space, configure system states and lighting colors, setup email notifications and configure the system dashboard. Additionally, T2 Tech provided hands-on training for Kootenai Health staff, and detailed system documentation, so they were able to own and easily operate the system moving forward.

An Innovate Tool For IT Systems Monitoring

Within the help desk support center, T2 Alert Insight’s ambient LED lighting system provides visual notifications based on the current state of all monitored IT systems. If a system goes down, the lights turn red; if a non-critical error is logged or a scheduled change control begins, the lights turn yellow; if all systems are normal, the lights remain green. In order to quickly drill down into specific issues, the Project Hollywood dashboard also provides pertinent details about current system states, key alerts and a running log of issues. The system also sends targeted email notifications to ensure that critical resources are aware of the issue, regardless of their location.

Within the data center, T2 Alert Insight’s ambient LED lighting system illuminates each server cabinet with a customized Kootenai Health blue. If a system experiences an issue, the lights in the cabinet containing the problem system turn red to quickly identify the system’s physical location. This is especially helpful when physical troubleshooting is required. The data center lighting system has also been configured for maintenance mode, which provides lighting for maintenance in each cabinet.

T2 Alert Insight has been a huge success at Kootenai Health. When issues arise, IT management and support teams are immediately aware of the problem and working actively to resolve it, even before users call in or submit a ticket. T2 Tech and Kootenai Health are currently exploring a number of additional use cases for T2 Alert Insight to improve and help facilitate patient care.