Overview

Background

The projects website (www.projects.ed.ac.uk) was developed in-house on a Drupal 6 platform and launched in  2012.  Drupal 6 is now at end-of-life and from March 2016 no further patches will be released, so to ensure continued support the website needs to move to a more recent version of Drupal.

The website was created using a number of Drupal 6 modules and custom code which are not available in newer versions of Drupal, so the website cannot be simply upgraded.  Instead, the functionality will need to be replicated in a newer version utilising alternative modules and then the data migrated.

Scope

• Migration of the existing projects website functionality from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7
• Migration of existing project data to the new Drupal 7 site
• Migration of existing project attachments from WebFM to an alternative document management solution
• Where possible, custom-made code will be replaced by modules utilised by the University Drupal site (EdWeb) or by other standard Drupal modules
• Utilisation of EdWeb Distribution and C-hosts to allign with the University Drupal site standards
• Sharing of knowledge with Production Management as the new site develops so that they can more effectively support the site after this project closes
• Production of standard technical & support documentation

Out of scope

• The project will not be delivering enhancements to the existing functionality
• Drupal 8 is out of scope as this version does not yet have sufficient modules to support the website functionality

Objectives

• To migrate the projects website functionality and data to an actively supported version of Drupal by May 2016
• To migrate project attachments to an actively supported document management solution by May 2016
• To share knowledge on the website construction with other IS Apps staff so that the website can be effectively supported
• To ensure that the website can continue to support project activities whilst the longer term strategy is being evaluated by one of the Innovation Fund projects

Deliverables

• A working projects website on an actively supported version of Drupal (Drupal 7)
• Migrated project data
• Migrated project attachments
• Documentation on how the site has been constructed (System Description Document)
• Technical documentation on the underlying infrastructure, interfaces & scheduled tasks (Technical Architecture Document)
• Updated user documentation on how to perform basic tasks such as requesting a new project, website security etc (User Guide)
• Updated administrator documentation on how to perform routine support tasks such as creating new programmes/portfolios and maintaining site content (Admin Guide)

Benefits

• Continued supportability for a key resource for project management activities across the University
• Increased shared knowledge of how the site is constructed, which will assist Production Management in their support of the website
• Reduced reliance on custom code, which will make future upgrades/migrations more straightforward

Success Criteria

• The website is on an actively supported verion of Drupal
• Key functionality is still available to end users
• No loss of agreed priority project data
• No loss of agreed priority project attachments
• Technical & support documentation is in place