The brief
The TUC asked us to work alongside its web team and design partners to implement a new site architecture and visual identity into the existing Drupal Content Management System (CMS). The project had a strict deadline to ensure that the new website was launched in time for the 149th Annual Congress in September 2017.
About the TUC
The TUC is there to make the working world a better place for everyone. It brings together more than 5.5 million working people who make up the 48 member unions.
OWA has worked with the TUC since the early 2000s on numerous different technical projects. Our close relationship with the TUC has allowed us to help grow and evolve its online presence through the development of various web-enabled applications and mobile apps, alongside our ongoing hosting and support services.
Our approach
OWA worked alongside the TUC and its external design partners from the outset to gain a clear understanding of how the proposed designs would change the website on both its front- and back-end.
These insights allowed us to quickly identify how best to implement the new designs as templates within the existing Drupal platform.
Alongside this, we also looked at the most suitable and efficient way to re-architect the website. We proposed a carefully planned approach to automatically update content and re-assign it to its new location within the website. Where necessary, we also updated custom modules to ensure these worked properly with the new templates.
Following iteration and approval in the staging environment, we coordinated the go live process with the TUC to ensure the updated website and CMS were thoroughly tested and delivered in the right timeframe.
How we helped
Collaboration and flexibility were two important elements of this project.
We made sure our working practices and project management were optimised to support both the TUC's and its external partners' workflow.
Our technical approach centred on rapid evaluation of the Drupal architecture to recommend the necessary underlying changes, followed by sprints to create and refine the new templates.
