The Requirement
- The client wanted to launch their new platform and related Supply Chain Work Management solutions. So, they needed their website to be redesigned and re-platformed into a true front-end web application built on the right information architecture and can deliver a fully harmonized and seamless user experience.
- The website had to be migrated from their existing CMS to Drupal and launched on Acquia Cloud. The effort included designing the content architecture, simplifying user onboarding, and developing custom pages for the website.
- The existing website content structure had to be realigned with the Drupal CMS structure, which included significant content migration.
- The content creators had to be empowered with tools to create custom templates and page layouts, without depending on developers.
The Challenges
- The website was central to the launch. They wanted a partner who could deliver the end-to-end solution within the extremely tight timeline of 6 weeks.
The Solution
- We migrated the client’s website to Drupal 9 and Acquia within the stipulated timeline of 6 weeks.
- We rethemed the website that enabled driving a smooth, unified experience across their applications, the new platform, and other business tools. The unified experience also enables a harmonized, shared UX design model, as well as the sharing of content and data across all user-facing applications and tools.
- We also enhanced the authoring experience and workflows for the authors. This empowered them to seamlessly create and manage content faster, even with negligible experience. They can now create custom templates and landing pages, without developer assistance. The additional integrations allowed admins to manage customer data consistently at the backend to provide a better user experience.
- We also integrated Marketo and Salesforce to facilitate performance marketing, demand generation, and customer support capabilities.
Overall Approach
The migration to Drupal, retheming, and building the content infrastructure, had to be accomplished concurrently in a short turnaround time with the utmost flexibility and accuracy.
Using Acquia Site Studio for development:
- We leveraged the out-of-the-box component library and customized 11 out of the 14 default components. Its drag and drop feature made it incredibly easy to rapidly build themed pages.
- We created custom ‘helper templates’ to enable in-house content authors to add and update content or make basic design changes, without coding. They could also review the template in real-time with the preview functionality.
Using Drupal, Acquia Cloud and Acquia BLT for Migration:
Acquia products’ out-of-the-box features enabled fast, secure, and timely migration. We were able to adhere to the stringent project timeline. The products were used in the following ways:
- We automated parts of the content migration from the existing website to Drupal 9. Only complex content was migrated manually.
- The setup was done on Acquia Cloud, as it provided Drupal optimized cloud hosting. The pre-configured secure environment helped save a lot of development time and resources.
- Debugging production issues was quicker with the log streaming services and access to physical log files on servers.
- We leveraged Acquia BLT to automate the testing, building, and launching of the new website.
Tech Stack
Business Benefit
- Executed a market-ready website within 6 weeks.
- Future-proofed the editorial experiences for content creators. They can now build custom page templates and publish content faster with minimal developer dependence.
- Enhanced the ability to drive greater, more contextualized user engagement on the website with easy navigation to educational content, community programs, and much more.