EDF Energy

Where it started: the EDF Energy platform

Consultancy, Drupal website development, platform deployment and support

The Challenge

The client had an existing website which was running on a legacy platform that they wanted to move over to Drupal. There was a key requirement that multiple websites would need to sit on the same code base, so that the client could benefit by reusing functionality across a number of different websites, and we needed to develop with this in mind.

There were also requirements for a sophisticated workflow process to allow content to be properly moderated before it made its way onto the live website accessible by normal users. In addition to this there were a number of backend integrations that would be required to get everything working in the way the client wanted.

Our Solution

ComputerMinds were involved with this project from an early stage, which allowed us to properly drive the direction of the project to maximise efficiency when it came to development of the core platform on which a number of distinct websites would sit.

IBM Datapower Integration

The first major development stage of this project was to create the main EDFEnergy.com website. In order to allow us to talk to the client's other internal systems we had to make use to IBM Datapower as an abstraction layer to these services.

A Platform Solution

From the off we knew that the client wanted to have multiple websites all sitting on the same codebase, so that common functionality could be easily shared between websites without a huge development overhead as we could simply just reuse functionality!

A seamless move to Drupal 10

Moving a multisite to Drupal 10 could have been fraught with pain and danger, but ComputerMinds' expertise and experience brought the new Site online on time and on budget (and we're still friends!)

The Challenge

Moving a collection of sites was always going to be hard, but there were many benefits to upgrading EDF Energy's Drupal sites.

Achievements

⭐️ Built, tested and migrated 6 websites to Drupal 10

⭐️ Migrated all site content, with custom automations that ensured every page looked good in the new system

⭐️ Supported the client-side team with high quality technical project management

⭐️ Industry-leading performance when rated by customers in internal testing

6 seamless upgrades

We built, tested and migrated 6 websites to Drupal 10

Automated reliability

Migrated all site content to a new data structure, with custom automations that ensured every page looked good in the new system

Five Star Reviews ⭐️

Industry-leading performance when rated by customers in internal testing

A new Drupal build is an opportunity

Whilst some have groaned at the time and cost of a Drupal 10 rebuild, for many it's an opportunity. The new site was to be a reimagining of their Digital Experience, not just some boring reboot. edfenergy.com was going to carve a new future with streamlined channels for each user group and a new fresh theme.

Working with our partners in the EDF Energy team, we reviewed every feature added to the site over the last five years. Customer Experience Managers were able to choose what they wanted and needed - only the used features would be taken forward to the new site - and where it wasn't obvious, we obtained data and analytics to guide the decision making process.

This wasn’t just a cost-cutting exercise, either. Whilst it’s always good to skip over old unused functionality, the features that were taken forward were not just copied and pasted, but reviewed and discussed and redesigned - each ready for a new future.

Still need to upgrade?

See these key pages:

• Upgrading to latest Drupal Our dedicated D7 page, where we discuss in further detail your LTS options and how we can help
• Why upgrade from Drupal 7

Effective planning and organisation

Alongside the development work, our team provided the data and technical experience needed to guide the Drupal 10 build and migrate process, leading to a well-scoped, successful project.

As is common with big builds, the design work was not complete when we started. We were able to work in an Agile way to deliver the designs as they were ready. Our flexibility well beyond just agile principles means that we're often able to flex or stretch to help keep projects moving effectively.

Structured communication and frequent deliveries allowed for regular QA testing, performance testing, UAT testing and Content testing. Even as the end of the project neared, there were no surprises. The client team had been able to see, review, try out and test every workflow, process and page.

A very smooth content migration

The new www.edfenergy.com site came out on top in their customer testing - probably because they had a great site with excellent content!

It was decided that the migrations from old sites should retain the original content as much as possible. Customer success rates were already high, and it would be a lot of work to rebuild all the content. Bespoke automations converted the layouts of the original content into layouts for the new site, meaning it wasn’t necessary for editors to spend extensive hours recreating every page and checking layouts. Everything looked good as standard.

We ran the existing sites and new sites side-by-side in the same infrastructure, giving content teams chance to review the new sites before they went live. The new editorial experience made it easy to tweak wording or rework page layouts as needed.

Great teamwork

A platform of six sites has many stakeholders - and they all love us ❤️

The managers, leads and CxOs

Alongside edfenergy.com there are five other sites, all with their own teams, goals and stakeholders. Needless to say, we had a fair few meetings over the project timeline! We brought our best selves and were able to not only keep everything on track, but also ensure everyone was heard, everyone understood all the tech speak, and everyone was happy.

The project team

Large site rebuilds like this always bring up a selection of significant changes en route. It’s just how it works! 😇 Our knowledgeable team were able to steer those conversations with confidence, building trust in not just our words but in our real ability to work together through big changes and compromises.

The admins and editors

We’re pleased to have some really effective communicators and teachers among us, so were able to deliver both on-the-fly-mid-meeting training and officially scheduled training sessions. It helps that Drupal 10 has really simple and intuitive interactions, and we were able to ensure that by project completion the EDF Energy teams and stakeholders had sufficient knowledge and confidence to drive their new platform.

The Help Centre

Rebuilt for speed and usability

The rebuilt Help Centre enjoyed the refresh, and is now faster and smoother. Switching, too, has never been easier.

Pragmatism and real usage data ensured that effort was spent effectively on pages and functionality that needed it. That put critical pages like the Help Centre first in line for the resources required to redesign and rebuilt.

Reimagining the Help Centre

A successful reimagining of a vital customer interaction.

The Challenge

As mentioned in our guide upgrading to latest Drupal, a major site upgrade is an opportunity to revisit, revamp and reimagine site functionality (or just entirely cut it out!).

EDF Energy’s Seamless upgrade to Drupal 10 provided such an opportunity to review their Help Centre. The original Drupal 7 build had performed very well, exceeding expectations both in Customer Experience and business KPIs.

The original Help Centre had supported a large shift toward Self Service, simplifying access to important information and bringing reduced load to Customer Support. Whilst it’s important to not break a working Customer Experience, it’s also important to invest continually in your online experience and bring new developments based on recent User Research. Maintaining, improving or breaking this key site experience could have notable impact on the business.

On the editorial side, the amount of content created for the triage process was becoming more and more difficult to work with - an unfortunate side effect of its success - so editorial UX and data architecture reviews were also required.

Our Approach

Often taking project-leading roles as Business Analyst or Solution Architect, we’re proud of our ability to assess problems with pragmatism - and real data where possible.

This project desperately needed some clear content modelling to help the system architecture meet the aspirations of the experience refresh. Our team were able to extract a selection of visualisations and helpful data models to support the process.

Analysis showed that content needed to be reusable from multiple points in the tree, and design analysis gave further detail to the modelling requirements. The final content model was then designed to facilitate those needs, and our admin experience design made it simple to work with.

A successful reimagining

Through the use of EDF Energy’s data on customer interactions and our modelling of the existing content, we together designed and built a valuable iteration on the previous Help Centre triage workflow. The team and the customers are happy, and the refreshed look and feel deliver a positive experience.

Easier to work with

Improved data architecture and edit forms made for happier editors, who could more easily understand what they were working with and get changes made quickly.

Modernised design

Rebuilding to a new design brought the Help Centre up to scratch with clean, modern web expectations both on mobiles and larger devices.

Improved performance

Behind-the-scenes improvements delivered faster page loads and interaction times for customers.

A faster, cleaner Customer Experience

The adjusted triage tree, with clearer groups of options from the start, sets customers up for a better triage journey. Rebuilt data structures and fresh new javascript implementations bring that journey to the page quicker, helping customers to self-serve more enjoyably.

A faster, cleaner Editorial Experience

Grown far beyond the original expectations, the previous interface representing hundreds of triage data points had become cluttered and difficult to use.

Now, with just a short introduction, the Editorial team can now manage the Help Centre faster and more reliably than before.

Happy editors get things done, so this improved experience will serve benefits all round for years to come.