Best Practices and Tips on Migrating a Legacy-Based CMS to Drupal

Mediacurrent Company Overview


Atlanta, GA based web consultancy exclusively focused in Drupal



Full-service Drupal provider – front and back end development; specialize in enterprise level Drupal implementations




Acquia Gold Development Partner




Acquia Gold Development Partner

Define Drupal Site Requirements


Determine how your users will interact with the legacy data on the new site



Is there any legacy data that can be leveraged to create new content? Example: using an address record to populate a Google Map



Is there any legacy data that can be leveraged to create new content? Example: using an address record to populate a Google Map

Will content need to be re-categorized in the new site?

Sizing Up Legacy Content


Where does your content “live” and what format is it in?


Where does your content “live” and what format is it in?

Determine which parts of legacy content will be used on the new site and what new meta data will possibly need to be added during the export

Prepare Content Export


Generate CSV file containing legacy content data (most Drupal contributed modules have CSV support)


Generate CSV file containing legacy content data (most Drupal contributed modules have CSV support)

Make sure steps to generate CSV file are well-documented, especially if making complex data transformations in the export logic

Drupal Content Basics


A “node” in Drupal is the general term for describing a unit of content. A node can be a story, blog post or page for example.


A “node” in Drupal is the general term for describing a unit of content. A node can be a story, blog post or page for example.

A “content type” is a collection of fields that make up a node. Nodes can have one or more data fields and the content type serves as a container for those fields.

Drupal Content BasicsContent Type Node

Title field

How is Legacy Content Stored in Drupal?


Imported data is matched to a specific content type by way of a Drupal module or custom PHP / MySQL scripts



Legacy content fields map to various content types’ fields such as text, numbers, checkboxes / radio button groups, categories, images, etc.



Legacy content fields map to various content types’ fields such as text, numbers, checkboxes / radio button groups, categories, images, etc.

Each row of the CSV export file becomes a node in Drupal’s database

Methods for Importing Content to Drupal


Drupal contributed modules such as Node Import, Migrate and Transformations. See http://groups.drupal.org/node/21338 for comparison of various Drupal data export/import modules



Custom PHP scripts (it’s possible to bootstrap just the database layer of Drupal to cut down on the code required) or custom Drupal modules



Custom PHP scripts (it’s possible to bootstrap just the database layer of Drupal to cut down on the code required) or custom Drupal modules

Custom MySQL scripts for database to database migration

Advantages of Migrating to Open-Source Drupal at the Enterprise Level


Scalable


Scalable Social networking feature-rich



Flexible,easy to

customize



Flexible,easy to

customize

$Lower total

cost of ownership

Case Study: In-Fisherman.com


Complements the print magazine In-fisherman



Initially built with proprietary CMS



Initially built with proprietary CMS

Averages 67,789 user visits, 266,379 page visits, and an average of 4:1 page visits/user visits per month

Why Did In-Fisherman.com Choose Drupal?


Multi-site / multi-database capability



Ability to run forums (forum module) and website on same platform with single sign-on capability




Built-in social networking features offering commenting, tagging and user generated content




Built-in social networking features offering commenting, tagging and user generated content

Active development community

Lessons Learned from In-Fisherman.com

Lessons Learned from In-Fisherman.com

Challenge

Migrate 1500+ articles from Filemaker Pro database to

Drupal 6 for In-Fisherman.com redesign

Obstacles

Obstacles

Filemaker Pro only exported XML data, needed to transform data to CSV format

Obstacles


Image files stored in disparate file system with no URL pointer stored in Filemaker Pro

Obstacles



Compromised data integrity

Obstacles



Compromised data integrity

Solution

Solution

Transform XML content to CSV format with custom PHP script

Solution

Transform XML content to CSV format with custom PHP script

Insert Drupal image filepath during transformation and transfer image files via FTP to application server

Solution

Customize Node Import module to handle importing CSV records into Drupal

Drupal’s Impact on In-Fisherman.com


Flexible web platform offering ability to easily add new features without compromising core business logic



Faster page loads



Faster page loads

Better SEO strategy: SEO-friendly URL’s via the Pathauto module, HTML title and meta-tag control at the article level



Faster page loads

Better SEO strategy: SEO-friendly URL’s via the Pathauto module, HTML title and meta-tag control at the article level

Biggest ROI: no enterprise-level licensing fees

Keys to a Successful Import


Ensure all project stakeholders are familiar with the structure of the legacy content and its intended use on the new site



Run several “test” imports




Make sure a Drupal consultant is available during the final import





Break down content migration tasks into small manageable steps





Break down content migration tasks into small manageable steps

Document what works along the way

Interested in Migrating Your Current CMS to Drupal?


Contact Mediacurrent at www.mediacurrent.com/contact to schedule a discovery call!


Contact Mediacurrent at www.mediacurrent.com/contact to schedule a discovery call!

For help on how to build an enterprise-level website with Drupal, go to

www.mediacurrent.com/download-white-paper

Technology

Best Practices and Tips on Migrating a Legacy-Based CMS to Drupal