Oxford Talks and Vacancies are the final applications that make use of the Data.Ox platform which is no longer supported and cannot be maintained.
The project was initiated as a response to the strategic roadmap which sees the University moving away from legacy, unsupported and on-premises solutions towards shared solutions that fulfil a variety of needs in a range of applications.
Oxford Talks
Oxford Talks (OxTalks) is an event listing and event curation application made up of two components: a publicly available website where events are displayed, and an administrative tool for managing those events. This system underpins the process of event creation, promotion, and attendance tracking, ensuring a consistent experience for both organisers and participants.
This project has worked on exploring options for replacing OxTalks. In the early stages of the project, we documented requirements, explored how people were currently using OxTalks and investigated possible alternatives.
After careful consideration and in adherence to the recently introduced University-wide Microsoft First Principle, it has been decided to proceed with a Microsoft-based solution for this project. Additionally, it has been agreed to transfer responsibility for delivering the replacement event listing capability within the first phase of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Programme.
Vacancies
The Vacancies application is a feed of job listings from the University’s recruitment website and a widget that shows these listings on department web pages.
The University’s recruitment website is based on legacy technology, which makes it difficult for people to configure job listing information on their websites. So, the Vacancies application was created, using Data.Ox to make job listings easier to display on websites. Software Solutions have now made a new widget, which provides the same information but without relying on Data.Ox, and which is compatible with both Oxford Mosaic and Fresco sites.
We are reaching out to all departments using the Vacancies application with Data.Ox to provide enough time for them to find an alternative solution.
Decommissioning of Vacancies using Data.Ox
The Data.Ox platform is no longer supported and cannot be maintained. This project has been tasked with identifying a quick, sustainable path to enabling the decommissioning of the platform by August 2025.
We aim to provide all departments with sufficient time to transition from Data.Ox to a sustainable solution that meets their need but please note that the project team are not responsible for providing a solution.
The project is part of the strategic roadmap which sees the University moving away from legacy, unsupported and on-premises solutions towards shared solutions that fulfil a variety of needs in a range of applications.
Impact on Users
If your website uses the Mosaic/Fresco widget to display vacancies, then no action is required on your part and the decommissioning of Data.Ox will not affect you.
If your local solution uses the XML feed directly from People XD, you will not be affected, and no action is required.
Users of Data.Ox are impacted in terms of implementing a solution for pulling the raw recruitment data from PeopleXD themselves before Data.Ox is decommissioned in August 2025. The project was not tasked to find a solution and is therefore outside the scope of the project.
Expected Outcomes
A well-informed set of users for the Vacancies widget.
The ability to decommission the Data.Ox platform, which is beyond end-of-life
Elimination of risk of unexpected unavailability of Data.Ox and associated applications
Timeline
The project is aiming to stop using Data.Ox as soon as practically possible, with planned decommissioning in August 2025.
Vacancies Replacement Timeline:
- March 2025: Communications to users and documentation of use cases
- April-June 2025: Transition support
- August 2025: Decommission of Data.Ox
Project Team
