Drupal 11 
Readiness Audit

All good things must come to an end. With Drupal 7 being left behind and hanging on a lifeline, Drupal 8 already EOL, and Drupal 9 EOL in November 2023 time is running out! It's imperative we get your upgrade or migration plan to Drupal 11 in order ASAP. 

Learn how our Drupal 11 Readiness Audit allows us to determine the precise amount of work required and plan the optimal approach to migrate or upgrade your Drupal 7 or Drupal 8/9 application to Drupal 11.

Understanding Upgrades and Migrations

First, let's differentiate between upgrading to D11 and migrating to D11. It's not just semantics. If your site is built on Drupal 8 or Drupal 9, you'll upgrade to Drupal 11. If your site is built on Drupal 7, you'll migrate to Drupal 11.

At a high level, this means one is more complex than the other. Drupal 7 and Drupal 11 are two completely different codebases. So, in order to move from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11, the codebase of the D7 application needs to be evaluated and (in many cases) sections of code need to be re-written to conform to the new standards on which D8 and above are based. It's a labour-intensive process and the reviewers must be meticulous when evaluating code, content and configuration.

Going from Drupal 8/9 to Drupal 11 (and all subsequent versions) is significantly less complex because your D8/9 codebase is (for the most part) already D11-ready... and if your Drupal 8/9 site was properly architected and kept up-to-date then the move from D8/9 to D11 is more accurately termed an upgrade, as opposed to a migration. 

The next important thing to address is time frame. Drupal 7’s end-of-life (EOL) is forever being pushed out, Drupal 8's EOL was November 2021, Drupal 9's EOL is November 2023. Beside the fact a complex D7 application can take quite a bit of time and effort to migrate, the best agencies are filling their schedules - quickly! Wait too long and you could be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

Regardless of whether you're upgrading or migrating, the best place to start is with a Drupal 11 Readiness Audit by One Cloud Media. We'll accurately assess the resources required (time-line, effort, budget) for either path and provide recommendations as to what you'll need to do to prepare for clear sailing to Drupal 11.

What is a Drupal 11 Readiness Audit?

A Drupal 11 Readiness Audit assesses the resources required and provides recommendations and preparations for a smooth upgrade or migration path to Drupal 11.

Depending on if you are migrating from Drupal 7 or upgrading from Drupal 8/9, the steps will vary. Below is a high-level list for each.

Understanding the Transition: Upgrading vs. Migrating

Let's distinguish between upgrading to Drupal 11 and migrating to Drupal 11. The distinction is not just semantics. If your site is currently on Drupal 8 or Drupal 9, you'll upgrade to Drupal 11. Conversely, if your site is built on Drupal 7, you'll migrate to Drupal 11.

Drupal 8/9 to Drupal 11

  1. Audit the codebase for deprecated code
  2. Audit the codebase for composer compatibility
  3. Identify deprecated code
  4. Define compatibility issues
  5. Produce estimate for migration effort

These five steps have proven a most effective process for the countless upgrades we have performed. You can rely on our tried-and-true method to accurately determine what your organization needs for a successful upgrade.

Let One Cloud Media make your D8/9 to D11 move a "once and done" event.

The Drupal 8/9 to Drupal 11 Readiness
Audit starts at $2,500

Drupal 7 to Drupal 11

  1. Audit the current state of the website, including all types of functionality and entity types (e.g. Modules, Content types, Taxonomies, Paragraphs, etc.)
  2. Review current Drupal 7 theme and determine if scope of work will include a 're-theme' in Drupal 11, as opposed to a complete re-design.
  3. Determine if any maintenance needs to be performed.
  4. Identify the content types and structure of the existing site.
  5. Document any broken or duplicated code, as well as a list of items to be programmatically migrated.
  6. Identify items which should be manually re-created, as opposed to the step above (occasionally, it's more efficient to manually re-create certain items... but only occasionally).
  7. Create a modules checklist to identify custom code and missing contrib functionality. Modules are the best way to customize the Drupal CMS to your specific needs. Some modules may have been customized. Some may not yet be compatible with a specific Drupal version. Such items are necessary to note beforehand.
  8. Identify any custom modules and document either existing alternatives which are contrib for Drupal 11 or what will be required to customize them to operate properly with D11.

The Drupal 11 Readiness Audit for D7 to D11 is far more time-intensive than a D8/9 to D11 upgrade - and it will result in both a deep understanding of the state of your current Drupal 7 site and the steps we will need to take to get your site prepped for Drupal 11.

The Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 Readiness
Audit starts at $4,500

Drupal 11 Readiness Audit Report

When all is said and done, not only will the experts at One Cloud Media have a thorough understanding of the idiosyncrasies of your site, you'll also have a detailed report with a prioritized list of action items (with associated time estimates) to execute the upgrade or migration to Drupal 11.

You will receive a full presentation of this report. After which, we can address any questions you may have and discuss next steps.