Eastman Museum

Case Study: Upgrading The George Eastman Museum Website

Client Overview: The George Eastman Museum, located in Rochester, New York, is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the oldest film archives. The museum’s website serves as a crucial platform for sharing its collections, events, exhibitions, and educational programs with a global audience.

Challenge: The museum's website was running on an outdated Drupal 7 platform. As Drupal 7 was approaching its end-of-life, continuing to operate on this version posed significant security risks and limited functionality. Furthermore, the site’s performance and usability needed improvement to meet modern web standards and user expectations. Key challenges included:

• Migrating extensive data, including archival content and multimedia assets.
• Fixing broken sections of the website caused by outdated modules and custom code.
• Conducting a comprehensive audit to ensure all features were functional and optimized.
• Ensuring a seamless user experience during and after the migration.

Our Approach: Our development agency undertook a phased upgrade strategy to ensure a smooth transition while minimizing disruptions:

1. Assessment and Audit:

   • Conducted a full audit of the existing Drupal 7 website to identify critical issues, broken features, and custom modules that required updates.
   • Analyzed the data structure and cataloged all content types, taxonomies, and media assets to ensure compatibility with newer Drupal versions.

2. Phased Migration:

   • Upgraded the website incrementally from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8, then to Drupal 9, and finally to Drupal 10, following Drupal’s recommended upgrade path.
   • Migrated thousands of records, including complex relational data, multimedia collections, and user accounts, while preserving data integrity.

3. Fixes and Enhancements:

   • Identified and resolved broken sections of the site, including outdated modules and deprecated functionalities.
   • Rebuilt or replaced custom modules to align with modern coding standards.
   • Optimized site performance by implementing caching, optimizing database queries, and enhancing image handling.

4. Testing and Quality Assurance:

   • Conducted rigorous testing at every stage to ensure all features worked as intended.
   • Performed cross-browser and device compatibility testing to provide a consistent user experience.

5. Launch and Post-Launch Support:

   • Seamlessly transitioned the live site to Drupal 10, ensuring minimal downtime.
   • Provided ongoing support and training to the museum’s team for content management and website maintenance.

Results: The upgraded website delivered significant improvements across multiple dimensions:

• Enhanced Performance: Faster page load times and improved server response, leading to a better user experience.
• Modern Design and Functionality: The site leveraged the latest Drupal 10 features, enhancing usability, accessibility, and aesthetic appeal.
• Improved Security: Upgrading to Drupal 10 ensured the website adhered to the latest security standards.
• Seamless Content Management: The museum’s team benefited from an intuitive backend interface, making it easier to manage content and media.
• Future-Proofed Platform: The incremental upgrade ensured compatibility with future updates, reducing long-term maintenance costs.

Conclusion: By upgrading the George Eastman Museum website to Drupal 10, our team ensured that the museum’s digital presence remained robust, secure, and user-friendly. This project not only preserved the museum’s vast digital collections but also positioned the website to serve its audience effectively in the years to come.