Transforming Oxford's Digital Communications Programme

Transforming the University's digital communications

Page last updated: 18 November 2025

This programme will create new web and intranet platform solutions driven by user needs and capable of adapting and evolving with the University. The work involves delivering the initial foundations of these platforms, as well as supporting their ongoing growth and development over time.

Our new platforms will prioritise security, scalability and accessibility, ensuring that they meet the full spectrum of our requirements. By adhering to core principles of simplicity and clarity, we’ll provide digital experiences that help our internal and external audiences feel more connected and informed, while safeguarding the University's global reputation.

The aim is to ultimately ensure all our audiences (including staff, students and external visitors) can find information, access online services, and keep up to date on what’s happening across the University, supporting our academic mission.

Latest News

Programme: 

  • We hosted a programme update briefing in October for all Mosaic users. Thank you to everyone who joined and shared questions. We look forward to more opportunities to engage with you soon.  
  • Our FAQs page has recently been updated, and we encourage you to use it as a first stop for any questions you may have. The page is continuously updated and will evolve alongside the programme to keep you informed. 

Fresco: 

  • Fresco has launched with its first group of simple sites, marking an important step in the platform's iterative development.
    • While the core features are in place, new functionality and design improvements will continue to roll out as the platform evolves over time.
  • Our latest walkthrough video of Fresco and the migration process is available to watch
  • The Fresco roadmap has been updated, indicating plan for future developments

Oxweb: 

  • Oxweb site build continues, and the team is focusing on content preparation and planning to enable migration starting in Michaelmas term. Site launch is planned for March 2026. 

OxIntranet:

  • The initial offering of OxIntranet is now live with some University-wide staff content, and a small number of pilot sites from the Collegiate University
  • We recently held an OxIntranet open-house briefing, offering an update on progress within the project, plans for next steps, and time for questions.

Migration:

  • A Pre-Migration Checklist has been created to help Mosaic site owners prepare for a smoother migration process to Fresco down the line and to improve user experience. 
  • A large number Mosaic Site Owners and Migration contacts have recently been contacted with details of the migration month allocation for moving to Fresco (with the exception of MPLS, Biochemistry and UAS contacts, who can expect this communication soon). If you are a Site Owner expecting to need your site beyond October 2026 and haven't received a migration email, please contact us at mosaicmigrationsupport@it.ox.ac.uk.

Why are we doing this? 

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

The platforms

To transform Oxford's digital communications, we're developing three platforms: Fresco and Oxweb for external content, and OxIntranet for internal content. To help understand where everything will sit in the new structure, access a visual representation of the programme.

OxIntranet:

OxIntranet is Oxford’s new University-wide intranet, which has just gone live with its' first group of sites. The platform will grow over time, bringing together all the internal information staff and students need to work and study in one secure, SSO-protected platform. Everything will be underpinned by up-to-date people data, so that news, resources and announcements can be targeted to the right audiences, like your department, college or division. In the future, we’ll also invest in email and other internal communication tools to further improve how information is shared across Oxford. Find out more: Intranet and internal communications project 

Fresco:

Oxford Fresco, our new web Content Management System (CMS) platform, will be a secure and versatile platform for the majority of public-facing content at the University. It will offer easy and secure publishing tools, replacing the existing platform, Mosaic, which goes out of support in 2026. Oxford Fresco will be developing iteratively, and while the core features are now in place, more functionality and design will be coming over time, in line with the project roadmap. Find out more: Oxford Fresco 

Oxweb:

Oxweb, the University's main website, will be migrating to a new build based on a more up to date, secure platform. In the first instance, only external-facing, Oxford-wide content will be included on Oxweb. Departmental sites will be migrated to Fresco, and we will work hard to ensure content and visual alignment with the main University site. Oxweb and Fresco sites will be aligned using a common design library and aligned governance and content approaches to ensure a consistent and familiar feel across platforms. 

Navigating between platforms:

Content for external audiences will continue to be published online, and we are working closely with our web teams to ensure it is easy to reach Oxintranet content from the University website.  This will include staff and student gateways, directing staff and students to commonly used content on OxIntranet. 

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. This process will continue until Michaelmas term 2026. Content currently hosted on Mosaic being prioritised for migration, because these sites are built on technology that is going out of support.  

The Migration Project is working hand-in-hand with the Fresco, OxIntranet and Oxweb development teams to enable migration to take place in a smooth and timely way. 

A variety of support will be available to help site owners through the process, including auto-migration of Mosaic content (for non-UAS sites), a migration toolkit, and hands-on assistance where resources allow. Site Owners will be responsible for reviewing their migrated content prior to go-live.  

More information about the Migration Project can be found on the Migration Project page. 

Content

Oxford's Digital Content Strategy outlines how we will publish, organise, manage and govern content - informing how we manage content across our platforms, both internally and externally. It is a live document, designed to support our needs around digital content. It will evolve as platforms and governance become more established, but the principles articulated will remain the same.  

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 staff and other key stakeholders around the University, and the latest draft has received positive feedback. We would welcome any feedback you may have. 

Platform and content governance

Ongoing, joined-up oversight is in place to ensure the new platforms remain effective and well-supported. A governance framework is being developed in collaboration with colleagues across the University and will be rolled out alongside the new site request process soon. 

A Programme Board, with representation from all divisions, colleges, GLAM and UAS, is overseeing the programme to ensure it meets the needs of the whole University. The group, chaired by Social Sciences Divisional Registrar David White, reports to the Dissemination and Engagement Portfolio, chaired by GLAM Director Richard Ovenden. 

We’ve also launched the Content Network, a supportive community of those working on websites, intranets and digital content across the University. For more information on training and resources available, please see the Digital Content pages on the Communications Hub. 

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. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Please see our regularly updated programme FAQS where we answer your questions about Transforming Digital Communications and the individual projects.

Briefings 

NOTE: If you're based in Saïd Business School, you’ll need to make sure you're signed in with your Nexus account (format: SSO@ox.ac.uk). If you're logged into Office365 using your SBS credentials, the links may not work until you switch accounts. Generic guidance for how to log into the Nexus Service can be found in the getting started guide. If you have any further difficulty, you will need to contact IT Services directly.

Contact 

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

Contact

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