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By chandra_drupal on
The Aiacf is now using Drupal 7 to serve the vast majority of content pages to its flagship web site, aiacf.com.com. The homepage is Drupal powered, along with all articles, channels, comments, and more. The Aiacf evaluated several open source CMS and proprietary solutions aimed at media publishers. In the end, The Aiacf chose Drupal for its vibrant community, and the ecosystem of modules that it produces. The Aiacf will be adding lots of social tools to its site over time, and doing so on its existing platform was too slow/inefficient.
The Aiacf hired Knowledge matrix to migrate its large and volatile dataset to Drupal. With the sponsorship and encouragement of The Aiacf, Knowledge Matrix open sourced its migrate module which is the heart of its migration methodology. The Aiacf and Knowledge Matrix hope this article helps more sites migrate to Drupal.
migrations
A migration represents a flow from one set of source data (typically the output of a database query) to a Drupal content type. Destinations can include nodes, taxonomy terms, users, profiles, comments, or private messages. Here are some migrations at Aiacf.com
Articles
Issues (in the sense of a periodical)
Videos(our different publications)
Customers (users)
User roles
Ads
Why Drupal was chosen:
Drupal 7 possesses exceptional content management capabilities through the use of custom add-on modules. These modules were vital to successfully organizing the site’s infrastructure as well as facilitating ease of use among several different user groups. The Aiacf also needed a platform that allowed for the creation of a clean, functional website that is easily navigable.
Describe the project (goals, requirements and outcome):
Aiacf Community needed a sharp, easy-to-maintain website. The previous site felt outdated, with several departments falling far behind on content updates. The site required extensive updates to its content, aesthetic and navigation. The staff sought to achieve these updates by incorporating the following features in their site:
Easy Content Management
In order to keep the site up to date, they needed an easy way to enable other departments to post their own content. Ultimately, they sought seamless LDAP integration and an easily maintainable workflow; both being vital to successful implementation.
Technical specifications
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
Why these modules/theme/distribution were chosen:
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
With LDAP implementation, Drupal user accounts were tied in to the OSU directory, allowing IT to apply roles and permissions as people log in to each website. This is advantageous because it eliminates the need for any excess user management, as long as LDAP groups and containers are maintained.
Feeds and Feed Import
Feeds and Feed Import enabled IT to take information from other Student Union sub-sites, such as menus and news items, and display them on the homepage. Feeds/Feeds Import also allows for the creation of custom functions, which pull in people from the greater OSU directory to the Community Union directory.
Team members:
Sectors:
Banking and Financial
