I led the audit, migration and launch of a new hr.ubc.ca from WordPress to Drupal 8. This was completed in 4 months. The new website was launched in August 2020.
Previous to me starting the project, consultants had re-written content for the web and had made suggestions to Information Architecture.
Approach
Working with stakeholders
I worked with stakeholders to review every page of content that needed to make it on the website prior to launch. I led the project and had two colleagues assist with meeting with stakeholders and working on content with them. This was approximately 400 pages of content that needed review.
Drupal Setup & QA
From a technical standpoint, I worked with the developer to ensure our taxonomies were set up that aligned with our content strategy. Due to limited time before launch, I created a guide for QA review and trained a few clerks to do a QA review.
Treejack Test
Through discussion with stakeholders and reviewing user research our team finessed the Information Architecture once more. I then led a treejack test and there were 161 users who participated.
Migration
With the help of a team of about 5 clerks we migrated the content in 1 week for the stakeholders to review.
Training
I then trained 40 staff members on how to edit using Drupal 8 and also trained them on Web Writing best practices.
Results
Streamlined content
For launch, the page count was reduced by 84%. The website went from 2500 pages to 400 pages.
Improved findability
The content was updated to have a topic based and audience based approach instead of based on internal structures, to help make content easier to find. The treejack highlighted that key areas of the site were performing well in terms of findability (80-90%). Other areas that were more niche required review and were added to the roadmap for future content audits.
After eight months, there was a 27% increase in pageviews and the bounce rate decreased by 25%. This highlights how fewer and more purposeful pages can really help users navigate the site.
Comparing the stats from 2019 with the stats of 2021, webpage views have gone up an average of 400%. Unique webpage views have gone up 100%.
Improved Governance
With all this work and regular meetings with stakeholders about content, I was able to establish regular review meetings with each stakeholder group to continue to improve the website.
At minimum we meet once a year with each stakeholder group, and have established a process where stakeholders/ editors will conduct a ‘light audit’ and will formally review each page they own with a checklist with criteria they need to review for.
1.5 years after launch, the website’s core content has grown from 400 pages to 425 pages. All the core content pages meet the established content criteria and are required for HR services and programs.
Natalie Pope 