The Integrated Web Platform, or IWP, project will transform UC ANR's digital experience for internal website editors and the people who visit our websites.
In the coming months, UC ANR will transition its website from the homegrown Site Builder to Drupal – a more stable, flexible, and powerful CMS that will make our content more discoverable to the communities we serve. This much-needed change will bring significant improvements in how we manage and present web content, as well as optimizing our content for search engines.
There have been challenges with transitioning from Site Builder and the blog system in the past, and that is why we are now working with Kanopi, a new vendor that has experience joining projects and guiding them to launch. The IWP Core Team is leveraging the work of previous UC ANR committees and vendors (including UC Davis IET) who provided feedback, initial planning efforts and prototypes.
Site Builder and the current blog system will be retired and replaced with Drupal. As part of this change, UC ANR will have a whole new navigation and look and feel for our web editors and site visitors. Drupal is expected to go live in December 2024. If the launch date changes, the IWP team will make an announcement.
UC ANR employees should begin cleaning up Site Builder now. See https://ucanr.edu/sites/sb3help/bestpractices/site-builder-maintenance for ways to help.
Once Drupal is live, you will no longer be able to create new sites on Site Builder. During the transition, Site Builder and Blog content will continue to be available.
For website editors who have questions, Stephen Dampier is offering office hours 3-4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Zoom. Feel free to drop in at https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/97937501529?pwd=Zm1PaGRuc0htcnVZbmZQaGcya3oxQT09. You may also email questions and comments about the IWP to iwp@ucanr.edu.
To learn more about the upcoming changes, visit https://it.ucanr.edu/IWP and be sure to explore the FAQs page.