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Communicate an IT outage clearly

A good outage message answers four questions before anyone asks them: what is not working, who is affected, what people should do and when there will be news. The earlier it goes out, the fewer tickets and calls IT gets. This guide covers structure, timing and templates for an outage, a progress update, a fix and maintenance.

By 404desk editorial teamUpdated: 11 November 2026 · from the day-to-day work of an in-house IT team

At a glance

Announce early, even if you do not know the cause yet. Write briefly, in the words of the people affected, with a clear instruction and the time of the next update. Say when it is fixed, otherwise the outage stays in people’s minds.

What every outage message needs

  1. What is not working, in the words people use: “Second-floor printer”, not “print queue PRN-02”.
  2. Who is affected: everyone, one site, one department.
  3. What they should do: do not report it again, use another printer, do not restart.
  4. When there will be news: a time, not a guess at the fix if you do not know it.

Four points in time

First message
As soon as more than one person is affected. The cause can still be unknown.
Progress update
At the announced time, even if nothing has changed. “Not fixed yet, next update at 11:00” is a good message.
Fixed
Straight away, with one sentence on what people can do now, such as resending a print job.
Review
Only for major outages, internal, with what you will change.

Templates to copy

Template: outageready to copy
[Service] is not working at the moment. We are on it.

Affected: [everyone / site / department]
Please: [do not report it again / use an alternative / do not restart]
Next update: [date, time and time zone]
Template: progress updateready to copy
Update [date, time and time zone]: [service] is still not working.
We are [brief explanation of current action].
Next update: [date, time and time zone].
Template: fixedready to copy
Fixed: [service] has been working again since [date, time and time zone].
Please [resend the print job / sign in again].
If it still does not work for you: [portal link].
Template: planned maintenanceready to copy
Maintenance on [day and date], from [time] to [time], [time zone].
[Service] will be unavailable during this period.

What to do beforehand: [save your work / sign out / nothing].
We will remind you the day before.

Choose the right channel

The message belongs where people look when something is not working. If email is down, a circular email will not help. A banner in the IT portal works as long as the portal is running, and a notice at the printer always works. For major outages, a quick call to the department leads is faster than any message.

Common mistakes

  • Waiting until the cause is clear. The calls come in meanwhile.
  • Technical detail. Nobody outside IT needs the name of the switch.
  • Guessing the fix time. “Back in 30 minutes” becomes a burden if it takes two hours. Say when the next update will be instead.
  • No “fixed” message. Then people still get in touch in the afternoon about an outage that ended at lunchtime.

Who announces an outage

Decide who in IT officially announces an outage, so that two people do not give different times. In a one-person IT team, that is you. Even then, it helps to have a second person who can send the message in an emergency, such as the managing director’s assistant with a ready-made template.

Reports keep coming in during an outage. Do not answer them one by one. Link them to the outage so that everyone affected is told at the end. Without a ticketing system, a list of names is enough. With one, use a shared ticket or group the tickets together. What matters is that nobody is forgotten when service returns.

When to announce maintenance

  • A week beforehand, if a system matters for people’s work.
  • The day before, as a reminder.
  • Shortly before it starts, if the maintenance happens during the day.
  • Afterwards, with one sentence to say that everything is working again.

Schedule maintenance for quiet times, and ask departments that have their own peaks: accounts at month end, dispatch on Friday afternoon.

A review in five questions

Template: incident reviewready to copy
Incident: [service], [date], [start/end and time zone]
1. What happened, in three sentences?
2. When and how did we notice?
3. When did we inform employees?
4. What helped, and what was missing?
5. What will change, who owns it and by when?

The right tone

An outage message is neither an apology nor a technical report. It is short, calm information. Write “We are on it” instead of “We ask for your understanding”, give a time instead of “as soon as possible” and leave out blame, even if a supplier is at fault. People want to know what to do and that someone is taking care of it.

A worked example from start to finish

At 08:40, three reports arrive about the second-floor printer. At 08:45, the first message goes out: “Second-floor printer not working, we are on it. Please use the first-floor printer. Next update at 10:00.” At 10:00, the progress update follows: spare part ordered, delivery tomorrow morning. At 10:05, a notice goes up at the printer. The next day at 09:30: “Fixed, the second-floor printer is working again. Please resend yesterday’s print jobs.” Three messages, no calls and no follow-up questions.

Be ready for the next one

Keep the templates from this page where you will find them in an emergency, even if email or the network is down: printed out, on your phone or as a note in your password manager. And write down who sends the message when you are not there.

One banner instead of twenty tickets

A message saves the most time when people affected can join the outage instead of writing a ticket of their own, and are told automatically when it is fixed. In 404desk, the Radar suggests a banner as soon as several similar tickets come in, and you announce maintenance with an email and a reminder the day before. See incidents and maintenance.

Frequently asked questions

When should we announce an outage?

As soon as it is clear that more than one person is affected. Better a message that turns out to be smaller than twenty phone calls.

Which channel should we use?

Where people look first when something is not working. If email is down, do not use email. A banner in the IT portal or a notice on the wall helps.

Do we need to explain the technical cause?

Only if it changes something for people. “A switch has failed” helps nobody, but “Please do not restart, it only makes it take longer” does.

Should we announce small incidents?

If more than one person is affected, yes. A short message takes a minute, while ten follow-up questions take half an hour.

Who should receive it?

Everyone who could be affected. Better one message to a whole site than twenty individual questions. For very small outages, the banner in the portal is enough.

How often should we update people?

For major outages, roughly every hour. For small ones, a message at the start and one when it is fixed is enough. What matters is that you keep to the time you announced.

Further reading

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