- What is the timeline for this transition?
- The main site will transition to Drupal by August 2024. All other university websites must transition by November 22, 2024, with rolling launches available for completed sites beginning in August. Be sure to stay tuned to UofL News for updates or reach out to your content or technology lead for the latest information.
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- My unit hasn’t received instructions on the project. When will we start moving?
- The first sites to move include most schools and colleges, Admissions, Financial Aid, Campus Safety and other student-focused offices. These areas required the highest degree of planning and journey mapping. If you manage a site under one of these areas, you’ll soon receive instructions from OCM and your content lead on training and integration.
- In summer 2024, all remaining sites will start the planning and content integration process. This includes ITS, International Services, DEI, research labs, centers and institutes and several other departments. Watch out for instructions on next steps if you manage a site under any of these areas.
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- Will I have to rebuild my current website?
- We are currently helping schools and units decide on the best ways to transition their content to Drupal. Since the places and ways that we communicate and share information online will be changing significantly, we will be giving great consideration to what happens to existing content. Some content will need to be re-written, while other content can be recreated on the new CMS pages.
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- We recently launched/redeveloped our site. Will we have to switch?
- Eventually, yes. However, due to the complexity and length of this project, that transition date may be further into the future than you may think. Once the committee has announced a transition timeline, schools and units will have a better understanding of this process.
- Some sites may need additional scoping and research to determine if Drupal can accommodate their functionality. If this becomes a concern, OCM will work with your school or unit on accommodating those needs within Drupal or investigating an alternative solution.
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- Our group never used Plone. Will we have to switch?
- Yes, one of the primary goals of the Web Improvement Project is to centralize the platforms which help create, distribute and promote valuable campus content. Not having all UofL entities in a central environment (e.g. a content management system) prohibits this and causes inefficiencies, inconsistent messaging to our audiences and unnecessary overhead.
- Some sites may need additional scoping and research to determine if Drupal can accommodate their functionality. If this becomes a concern, OCM will work with your school or unit on accommodating those needs within Drupal or investigating an alternative solution.
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- Our website has a different address (.com, .org, etc.). Will we be affected?
- If your unit or group has a website that meets any of the below criteria:
- is created by or maintained by University of Louisville employees or contracted designee
- utilizes university funding, in part or in whole, for creation, maintenance, hosting or other associated costs
- directly supports the mission of the University of Louisville and it’s strategic goals
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- What is the process for integrating into Drupal?
- The process of transitioning content from Plone to Drupal will be highly collaborative. The project team has met with university leaders to identify content and technology leads for major academic and strategic areas. These leads will shepherd the process for their respective areas, working closely with OCM, ITS, Mighty Citizen and individual contributors from their areas.
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- Will my site be automatically migrated to Drupal?
- While Mighty Citizen is investigating the capability of automating some content migration, the majority of our existing website content will go through a thorough process of inventory and evaluation to help us make decisions about what to keep, leave behind or change as we migrate to the new content management system. Automatic migration will be reserved for specific content types that do not require evaluation or edits, such as news stories or university policies.
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- Will some content move to an intranet?
- Yes, OCM and Mighty Citizen are planning for an intranet in Drupal to house content geared only for internal audiences. This will create easier pathways to tasks and resources for students, faculty and staff and reduce internal clutter on public-facing sites.
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- How will the intranet work?
- Our goal for the intranet is to create a layout flexible enough to accommodate many tasks, multiple roles and individual groups someone may belong to within the university. By stacking layers of available personal data – like your role at the university (student, faculty, staff), affiliation (the college, school or unit you belong to) or group membership (committees, councils or groups you are part of) – we will be able to tailor the intranet experience to each individual user, while also delivering campuswide information to all users.
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- Will the intranet replace Sharepoint?
- No, the intranet will not replace Sharepoint. The intranet will be an enterprise communication channel, whereas Sharepoint can still be used for working group or initiative level information distribution. As we are building out the intranet, we will be sharing guidance on when to use Sharepoint vs. the intranet.
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- How long will I be able to request new websites in Plone?
- In order for the project team to succeed in the Drupal transition, requests for new websites in Plone, our current content management system, will no longer be fulfilled after Feb. 29, 2024. This will not affect your ability to create new Plone pages on existing Plone websites. A new process for site requests will be created and communicated at a future date.
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