A migration can be a daunting and time-consuming task. There are many things to consider beforehand and while each business and site is unique, here are some of our tips to steer clear and reduce potential pitfalls.
Why and when is it time to consider a migration?
Before jumping into the migration process, it’s important to get clear on exactly why your organization is looking to perform one in the first place by committing to a thorough discovery phase. Some situations that might trigger a need for a migration could include:
- Is your CMS version or pre-existing codebase no longer supported?
- Is your company pivoting or rebranding? Is there a focus on a new product or demographic?
- Has your site become too large and unwieldy?
Asking these sorts of questions can help you discover your north star and alleviate headaches that might crop up down the line, like ensuring decisions made throughout the process are aligned to your specific goals.
What should you migrate?
Once your organization has decided why a migration is important now comes the work of figuring out exactly what should be migrated. We recommend using data you have available to audit the existing content. This can give you a better picture of what should be prioritized, maintained and highlighted. To help you organize content for the migration, we even have a helpful checklist you can download!
Bonus: A migration is also an excellent time to re-evaluate your site performance and make migration decisions that’ll fine-tune site speed and yield greater SEO benefits.
Where are you migrating to?
While some might think this step should come earlier, ultimately your choice of where you migrate to should be based on your why, rather than the other way around. If your site is currently running on an older version of Drupal, it might make sense to simply migrate to a newer version. The whole process can be pretty painless, thanks to the Migrate API and the rich open-source community surrounding Drupal. Or you might realize it’s time to consider other options. Perhaps a decoupled site makes the most sense for your organization or you've tried JAMstack and realized perhaps the monolithic structure served your needs better.
Who can navigate you through the migration?
You’ve answered your migration When, Why, What and Where and now it's just a matter of Who can help you accomplish the technical side of your migration. Now, it's time to get in contact with our knowledgeable and expert team of migration specialists to begin the technical side of the migration process. We have experience with all sorts of migrations, be it big or small and we are excited to discuss your next migration project with you!
Roadmap Your Drupal 7 Transition
We’re offering free 45 minute working sessions to help you assess your organizations level of risk, roadmap your transition plan, and identify viable options!
Drop us a note, and we’ll reach out to schedule a time.
