Transforming Oxford's Digital Communications Programme

Effective and impactful communications with staff, students and the public are critical to digital transformation at Oxford. To achieve this, we need to transform our communications platforms and approach.

Transforming our platforms and content will improve the quality and effectiveness of our communications. It will also improve the experience for content creators, with easier to use tools and clearer processes.

The Transforming Oxford’s Digital Communications programme is delivering secure, scalable and accessible digital communications platforms and tools for internal and external audiences. This will ensure all our audiences – staff, students and external – can find information, access online services, and keep up to date on what’s happening across the University, and ultimately support our academic mission.

Our new platforms

At the heart of this change are two new platforms for everyone at Oxford.

Oxford Fresco, our new web CMS platform, will be a secure and versatile platform  for all public-facing content at the University.  It will enable easy and secure publishing with flexible tools, replacing existing solutions like Mosaic, and becoming the new platform for Oxweb, the University's main website.  Oxford Fresco aims to enhance digital experiences for hundreds of creators and the audiences who use our websites. For more details on the  Web CMS Development Project, visit the Oxford Fresco page here.

OxIntranet will provide a singular digital experience for all staff and students - bringing together content published across the University into a consolidated view. This will be underpinned by enhanced people data – allowing information to be targeted to the needs and interests of the individual based on where they are in the University. In the future we’ll also invest in our email and additional communications tools, making it easier for everyone at Oxford to find the information they need to study and work. More information, including details regarding the status of this project can be found on the intranet and internal communications page.

Making the change

Migration

Moving our content to the new platforms will be a large undertaking, and the Migration Project will ensure this critical activity receives the level of attention needed.

Content currently hosted on Mosaic and OxWeb will be prioritised for migration to the new platforms.  This is because these platforms are built on technology that is going out of support.  The Migration Project is working hand-in-hand with the Web CMS Development and Intranet projects to enable migration to take place in a smooth and timely way.  More information about the Migration Project can be found on the Migration Project page.

Content

Earlier this year, we published a draft content strategy for the University.

The strategy outlines how we will publish, organise, manage and govern content - informing how we manage content across our platforms, both internally and externally.

This includes establishing principles for content, and ways of managing and refreshing it over time.  It also outlines how we plan to publish content across web and internal platforms, to ensure relevant information is available to internal and external audiences.

The strategy has been developed collaboratively with input from communications officers and other key stakeholders around the University, and the latest draft has received positive feedback.

The draft strategy is available here, and we would welcome any further feedback you may have.

Skills and capability

To enable the flexibility and scalability of the University’s communications platforms, we are working to build skills and capability across our teams, including the successful recruitment of a Web Experience Manager and an Intranet Manager, and to share best practices through the introduction of a community of practice.

Platform and content governance 

Ongoing, joined-up oversight and decision-making regarding the new platforms will ensure we continue to provide effective and supported communications platforms for the University.  We are working closely with colleagues across the University to develop the governance framework in more detail and will roll this out alongside the new platforms.

Governance arrangements

As they are so closely related, we are coordinating the WebCMS Development, Intranet and Migration projects under this single programme - enabling us to be joined-up so that delivery is effectively managed and supported with the right resources.

Each project operates under the governance of a project board as well as an overall programme board.  These comprise representatives from across the University and, ultimately, the work falls within the remit of the Engagement & Dissemination Portfolio Group. The work has been made possible by the Digital Transformation Programme and works closely with related digital transformation initiatives such as the Student Hub project.  Representatives on each of the governance bodies are provided below.

More information

We are committed to providing regular updates about the programme and these pages will be updated on a regular basis with the latest information.

Briefings

In December 2023, we initiated a series of sessions for current Mosaic users.  Copies of the slide packs and recordings of presentations are available on the Web CMS project page.

Additional questions

If you have any further questions, please use the links on the right hand side of this page to access our Frequently Asked Questions.

Contact

If you are unable to find the information you want in our Frequently Asked Questions, please email us at transformingdigitalcommsprogramme@it.ox.ac.uk.