Content Management Systems, End-of-Life

Government websites are uniquely complex. They serve large, diverse audiences, must meet strict accessibility and security standards, and often manage thousands of pages created over the course of years, if not decades.

When an older CMS stops meeting those needs, the symptoms are hard to ignore. Here are a few tell-tale signs your CMS is reaching its end of life.

1. Even Basic Updates Slow Down Your Team: If editors can’t publish urgent public updates without calling in IT, your CMS is working against you, not for you. Many legacy systems used within government were never intended for modern communications workflows. They lack flexible content types, drag-and-drop tools, reusable components, and intuitive page editing–limitations cost time and increase operational costs.

2. Non-Technical Staff Struggle To Manage Content: Comms teams shouldn’t need specialized technical skills to perform routine updates. If your team can’t reliably manage landing page layouts, insert media, or reuse components across the site, the CMS is preventing you from keeping your site current, accessible, and user-friendly.

3. PDFs Replace Proper Web pages: Why do government agencies so often turn to PDFs? Usually, it’s because their CMS makes digital publishing too difficult. But PDF-heavy sites create major accessibility barriers, frustrate mobile users, and bury information that should be searchable. When your CMS can’t support structured content, content sprawl and compliance issues follow.

4. Developer Reliance Inflates Costs: When every layout tweak or content adjustment requires web development hours, budgets take a hit. More importantly, comms responsiveness slows, impacting how quickly citizens receive information.

5. Your CMS Is No Longer Supported: Using unsupported software is more than a risk—it’s a compliance issue. Without security patches, your website becomes a potential entry point for attackers. This applies to both proprietary and open-source platforms. For example, organizations still on Drupal 7 face increasing risk because the version has reached end-of-life and no longer receives updates. If you’ve reached this stage, upgrading is no longer optional.

A CMS upgrade is most successful when approached as a phased modernization project. Use the following checklist to guide your CMS migration decision-making and preparations.

Step 1. Audit and Restructure Existing Content

Most government websites have content sprawl. This is the time to realign content around citizen needs. Conduct a content audit to surface

• Outdated or redundant information
• Accessibility issues
• Low performing content
• Use of PDFs and other media
• Overlapping pages across divisions
• Navigation challenges

Step 2. Define Clear Requirements

Both IT and Comms must participate here—your CMS needs to satisfy both groups. Requirements for government agencies typically include:

• Accessibility by default
• Secure infrastructure
• Compliance with federal, state, and local standards
• Scalable architecture for future needs
• Editor-friendly tools
• Integration with internal systems (CRMs, data feeds, scheduling tools)

Step 3: Evaluate CMS Options Through a Government Lens

Remember to avoid consumer-grade tools that don’t meet security or accessibility requirements. Your platform must support:

• WCAG accessibility
• Strong role-based permissions
• Clear audit logs and versioning, mandatory retention policies
• Built-in content workflows
• Multilingual support
• Scalable, reliable uptime

Step 4: Select an Implementation Partner With Government Expertise

The migration partner you choose matters as much as the CMS itself. Look for a development partner who has:

• Experience with government website migrations
• Proven accessibility and security track records
• Familiarity with government procurement processes
• Strong case studies of government work
• Experience replacing PDF-heavy content with structured pages.