Migrating a large government or enterprise website to a new platform, what we call a “Drupal migration,” can be a daunting, time consuming, and resource-intensive challenge.
In this article I’ll walk through how to reframe the process as continuous improvement by prioritizing outcomes to ensure a smooth and successful process. (This is the first in a two-part series, in the next post we’ll look at the nuts and bolts of the actual migration.)
To start, we’ll define the steps in the process of migrating to a new platform:
- Phase 1: Replatforming your content (to Drupal)
- Phase 2: New information architecture
- Phase 3: Content editing
This approach helps clients to determine “Can we go live?”. Phase 1 is the primary objective to get to yes. Phase 2 is a decision, but not required. Phase 3 can come later as part of ongoing, continuous improvement.
Why this works for clients: Projects are constrained by budget and timelines, so prioritizing is key. A phased plan helps agencies prioritize and fund what matters most, and see a clear win at each stage.
The process at a glance
| Phase | Focus | What success looks like |
| 1. Replatforming: Moving your content | A new home for your content | You’re now on a new platform. Success is everything a modern Drupal platform brings: better search, empowered content creators, a foundation for continuous improvement. Content quality is not the measure here. |
| 2. Content Strategy: Information Architecture | Better organization | A clearer structure built around defined user needs. |
| 3. Content Strategy: Content editing | Better content | Improved, rewritten, redesigned content, delivered over time through continuous improvement. |
We don’t need to solve every content problem during the migration. Separating the replatforming from the content strategy is the key to an efficient and effective migration.
When we embrace a continuous improvement approach to migration, the replatforming is generally followed by design and content strategy in Phases 2 and 3:
- New information architecture.
- New designs – often with a component based architecture.
- Content refinement:
- Content rewriting for brand alignment, accessibility, SEO, and readability.
- Fill content gaps.
- Consolidate / merge content.
- Eliminate stale content.
- Leverage structured content types.
All of the above is part of a phased continuous improvement process. But first, we start with Phase 1.
Phase 1: Move your site to a new platform
Phase 1 includes the mechanics and process of rehoming your existing content on a new platform.
The primary objective of Phase 1 is to have a modern CMS that empowers content creators to create and manage content.
Enterprises generally don’t migrate to a new system because they want to rewrite content. They do it because of one or more of the following reasons:
- Friction points with their existing tools for creating and managing content
- The existing system is end-of-life or poorly supported.
When you successfully move your content over to a new Drupal website you have achieved the primary objective.
If the primary objective is to have a modern CMS, the new website “could” go live. We should always separate “could” from “should” which means we need to determine the importance of the steps in Phase 2 and 3 before going live.
Phase 1 benefits
- A modern platform
- Content workflows
- Editorial governance
- Accessibility improvements
- Better search capabilities
- Structured content foundation
Phase 2: Information Architecture (IA)
The argument for going live after Phase 1 is not to say that a new information architecture, improved navigation, and design updates aren’t important. They can be critical to a site’s success, but they typically aren’t the primary reason for moving to a new platform. The secondary steps are done to support continuous improvement of the primary step.
The primary objective of Phase 2 is to improve the flow and findability of your content.
We do this with the following steps:
- Define sections and menus – Once the content is in Drupal you can reassign pages to different sections and menus, improving the flow of content.
- Combine and split content – Sparse pages and pages that only exist to provide a link to another page can often be combined with other content to provide higher value pages for users. Additionally, dense pages that are too large or cover too many topics can often be split into smaller, more focused pages.
- Remove stale content – Sites grow organically, and over the years accumulate content that may no longer be of value. Now is the time to review all of the content to see what might be purged or archived. This can improve search results as well, by removing “noise”.
The misconception is that IA needs to be part of the replatforming. Instead it can be thought of as Phase 2 of the migration. Why would we do Phase 2 after Phase 1? Because if IA is part of Phase 1, you have to complete both Phase 1 and Phase 2 to go live.
Remember that if we are asking “Can we go live?” not “Should we go live?” we can go live after Phase 1. And as we’ve seen from the Phase 1 benefits above, there is already a big win to Phase 1. Additionally, having your legacy content already in Drupal can make the IA process smoother. Drupal makes it easy to create and modify menus, reassign content to different sections, and implement workflows for reviewing and approving IA changes.
Phase 2 benefits
- Improved findability through an improved information architecture.
- Better organized sections.
- Improved menus and navigation.
- Content “value” audit and pruning.
Phase 3: Content editing and refinement
Once your content is re-organized and structured, you can strategically prioritize content refinement, editing, and redesign.
The primary objective of Phase 3 is to refine and prioritize the content that matters most.
We do this with the following steps:
- Rewrite low quality content
- Fill content gaps
- Improve messaging and content experience
- Refine layouts and component usage.
A key part of this phase is defining user needs to make sure they are being met by the new content. We want to define the user need for each page or section of the new site, and prune any content that isn’t serving those needs. (This content may include text content, graphics, videos, documents, tools, or forms.)
To define user needs, we strive to answer the following questions:
- What does the user need to do or get from this page?
- What content serves these needs?
- How can the experience of the content be as consistent and predictable as possible?
A content team might use the following means of determining user needs:
- Interviews and surveys with users to research how they approach the issues addressed on the site
- Data and analytics from the current site to understand user pathways
- Research into analogous sites to glean user language and objectives
The above information is also used to improve the information architecture (IA) for the new site and improve user flows throughout the site.
Phase 3 benefits
- High quality content that meets user needs.
- Engaging content for intended audiences.
- SEO optimization.
Conclusion
With a phased approach to a Drupal migration the conversation shifts from:
“How many hours will this migration take?” and “What can we afford to do?”
To a focus on value and outcomes:
“How quickly can we start delivering value?” and “What should we improve next?”
Instead of doing a Drupal migration all at once, a phased plan helps agencies prioritize what matters most, and see a clear win at each stage.
Learn more
- Contact us for a demo to learn more about how we customize the process to your needs.
- Why Websites Need Content Gardeners: Content stewardship keeps websites growing for the long term, by Brett Kana
- Govern Your Content, Don’t Let It Govern You: Best practices and tools for governing content in Drupal, by GWW Staff
- 9 Best Practices for Web Content Accessibility: How to grow accessible digital experiences, by Sarah Crossman
