Need to Know

  • The new digital experience required a sizable content migration, so it was strategically structured using 39 reusable components.
  • Northern partnered with Acquia to implement Acquia Shield, providing federated authentication, security hardening, IP restricted admin logins, and two-factor authentication.
  • Drupal training for over 75 client team members.

Client

The Regional Municipality of York (York Region) stretches north from Toronto to Lake Simcoe and includes many hectares of protected Greenbelt. York Region comprises nine municipalities with about 4,000 staff working across over 40 locations.

Brief

The York Region project involved designing and building a new digital experience and a sizable content migration for york.ca andy myportal.york.ca using Drupal cloud.

Challenge

York Region’s public site is an indispensable resource for residents, businesses, and visitors to obtain information about regional services, public notices, current news items, maps, route planning and permit applications. 

Previously, York Region relied on a complex self-hosted WebSphere CMS to manage its public site and intranet portal - essential communication hubs for its users. As part of a larger digital modernization strategy, York Region desired a new user-friendly digital experience while enabling it to integrate its custom applications, provide easy access for its users and scale to meet future organizational goals. 

Strategy

The new York Region digital experience required a sizable content migration, so it was strategically structured, creating 39 reusable components to build its primary website and then its intranet portal. The reusable components allowed for quick extendability while remaining on brand and familiar to York content editors. And the new platform features notifications for outdated content, encouraging administrators to update or remove content that is no longer applicable to its users.

The modern and sleek experience is built based on user experience design principles and practices. It helps ensure ease of use, full responsiveness, and accessibility to meet WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA and AODA guidelines. Service areas group content to meet user expectations and help users find the necessary information.

Northern partnered with Acquia to integrate Acquia Shield, which provides federated authentication, security hardening, IP restricted admin logins, and two-factor authentication, making York Region one of the most secure platforms in Northern’s development history.

The sizeable regional municipality involved numerous stakeholders, many if not all introduced to the Drupal platform for the first time. Drupal training was provided by Northern for 75+ team members from York Region, across over a dozen sessions, in a continual training environment to set its team up for success.

This project was the first in a phased digital overhaul, and the next phase will include the redevelopment of York Region’s employee intranet.