A new MCAA website will be up and running - MCAA Magazine News January 2021

The Information and Data Access (IDA) working group will soon bring to life a newly updated MCAA website.

The website currently uses the Drupal 7 content management system (CMS). However, this version will soon become outdated and will no longer be supported. Maintaining the old system would render the MCAA website vulnerable to cyberattacks, downtimes and other problems related to old and non-maintained software.

ON THE ROAD TO DRUPAL 9

This is why the MCAA website will upgrade to Drupal 9. “We need to redevelop the code for most of the website,” explains Marco Masia, who chairs the IDA working group. “This entails redesigning from scratch most back-end and front-end functionalities. To this end, we will have to migrate the data stored in the old database to a new database, devise the functionalities we want to keep and develop the new website while updating the old one.”

Using Drupal 9 will ensure that the MCAA website is more secure, faster and better performing, and with a cleaner code base. What’s more, Drupal 9 supports digital media and will provide more flexibility in terms of graphical and functional capabilities.

“We are using this opportunity to streamline the current website, change its design, and make it more user friendly,” adds Marco.

FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS

Upcoming changes will include a dashboard for the board to cast their votes on decisions related to microgrants, for example.

What’s more, the management of the applications to subscribe for the association will be taken to the next level thanks to a better automated process.

“Recently, we have automatised the process, but we still need to work on it. Finally, we will outsource many functionalities currently hosted by us to third parties,” says Marco.

The IDA working group started on this Drupal migration in June 2020. The new website should be up and running in Spring 2021. Stay tuned!

MCAA Editorial Team