Requirements.

Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Heritage Services faced a critical need to upgrade their suite of 8 websites, originally built on Drupal 7, as the software was scheduled to reach end of life in November 2022. In September 2021, they sought a partner capable of redesigning and rebuilding the websites on Drupal 9. The chosen partner was expected to handle not only the design and development but also ongoing hosting, support, maintenance, and further development of the websites.

Process

The project entailed a thorough discovery phase, engaging with representatives from 8 distinct departments and key stakeholders. This phase involved workshops and expert interviews to create user personas, outline user journeys, and define prioritised requirements. This formed the basis for developing the information architecture and design of the Drupal 9 multi-domain platform.

We proceeded to create user-centred websites for each department while adhering to individual brand guidelines. The ticketing management system underwent a redevelopment to allow the heritage team to effortlessly manage various tiers of ticket pricing for the Roman Baths.

Improvements were made to the ticketing section, offering clearer pricing information and seamless links to the ticketing system. The development process also included crafting media-rich components and flexible layout templates, empowering each department to create distinctive content within standardised design patterns.

To enhance search functionality, the project incorporated Apache Solr, ensuring efficient and fast search results for end users.