Sustaining a multisite Drupal ecosystem

In addition to its flagship website, OACA manages over a dozen centers and institutes. Each one has a unique subsite, with its own content and audience. These were all initially built on a soon-to-be unsupported older version of Drupal. 

OACA needed to migrate and rebuild each of their subsites in a newer version of the CMS, while implementing updates to the overall design of each. Each site was to be based on University branding and build upon the university-wide base build of Drupal, while customizing each site as needed for their target audience. 

Post launch, OACA needed a partner that could also continue to support and improve on their website as it continued to grow and evolve.

Electric Citizen rebuilt and modernized OACA’s flagship website, along with 13 center and institute subsites, establishing a scalable, university-aligned Drupal platform for long-term growth.

Working within the University of Minnesota’s Folwell design system, we managed DevOps setup, site architecture, theming, quality assurance, and coordinated launch support for each site. 

Because OACA completed wireframes and visual design internally, our role focused on translating those designs into flexible, well-structured Drupal builds that aligned with university standards while supporting the unique needs of each center.

Across the portfolio, we:

• Standardized content architecture — Built consistent, reusable content types for landing pages, news, events, staff profiles, grants, and specialized research content—tailored as needed for each institute.
• Modernized legacy functionality — Replaced deprecated components with flexible, structured Drupal patterns using paragraphs and modular elements.
• Improved content organization and discoverability — Implemented dynamic views and filtering for news, events, staff directories, funding opportunities, and research resources.
• Supported specialized features — Integrated tools such as research resource listings, impact maps, and program-specific microsites.
• Established scalable DevOps workflows — Managed environment setup, QA testing, and coordinated launch timelines across the full ecosystem of sites.

Following the initial rebuild, Electric Citizen has continued to support OACA through a structured, ongoing Drupal support engagement.

At a foundational level, we manage regular software updates, security patches, bug resolution, and version upgrades across Drupal core and contributed modules — ensuring the stability and security of OACA’s growing web ecosystem.

Our partnership extends well beyond routine maintenance, however. Since 2021, we have provided:

• Platform upgrades and new site launches — Built additional subsites such as health.umn.edu and virology.umn.edu on the UMN Enterprise Drupal platform, as well as a Community Engagement & Education (CEE) microsite within the MIDB site
• Component enhancements and feature expansion — Developed new content types, custom widgets, views, landing page variations, and microsite configurations as OACA programs evolved.
• Navigation and UX refinements — Implemented adjustments to global navigation, breadcrumbs, landing page layouts, homepage content blocks, and mobile behavior to improve usability across sites.
• Accessibility improvements — Addressed accessibility issues, heading structure updates, ARIA fixes, and form improvements to support compliance and inclusive design.
• Content governance and editorial support — Assisted with new view configurations, taxonomy updates, search refinements, image handling, video embeds, and content formatting issues.
• Analytics and tracking updates — Implemented Google Tag Manager and tracking refinements to support better reporting and insight.
• Performance and infrastructure support — Resolved PHP compatibility issues, addressed server-level concerns, and responded rapidly to site errors or downtime events.

The range of enhancements over time reflects our strong, embedded partnership — spanning iterative UX improvements, accessibility hardening, feature additions, and strategic enhancements.

Rather than a one-time rebuild, OACA’s web ecosystem has been continuously strengthened through proactive platform stewardship. This long-term approach ensures the sites remain secure, usable, accessible, and aligned with the University’s evolving standards.