Migration from Custom CMS to Contentful

Project Overview

The primary objective involved replacing the custom CMS with Contentful and establishing a unified language and tool stack across all company websites. Two websites, FFN and FDR, had already successfully transitioned to the new tech stack. Recognizing the limitations of the existing custom CMS, the project introduced Contentful as the new content management system. This shift aimed to solve the maintenance challenge and enhance overall content management efficiency.

Project Objectives

Custom CMS to Contentful: The decision to rewrite the custom CMS was made due to scalability issues and the necessity to shift towards better maintainability. As the custom admin panel was replaced and moved to a new CMS, it was critical to align the client-facing side of the website with the tech stack used on the FDR website. 

From CSS to Tailwind: By providing easy-to-use CSS classes, Tailwind empowered the team to create sleek and responsive designs efficiently. Tailwind CSS's utility-first approach ensured that only the classes actively utilized in the project were included in the final CSS bundle, reducing unnecessary bloat and optimizing performance.

Industry

Fintech

Problem Statement

A migration project has been initiated to standardize the tool stack used across company websites. This decision came after facing several challenges within the existing infrastructure, such as scalability limitations, complex content structure, and the existence of divergent tech stacks across company websites that created inefficiencies and hindered collaborative efforts.

Planning

The absence of a research stage was justified by previous successful migrations of the company’s other websites, FFN and FDR. Planning encompassed the strategic segregation of pages for rewriting, identification of shareable and unique components, layout creation, the actual rewrite initiation, and high-impact paths prioritization.

Execution

Team

Software engineer - 4

Software engineers in test - 1

Project Manager - 1

Timeline

Phase 1: May 2021 - Dec 2021

Phase 2: Jan 2022 - May 2022 (working with 35-50% load)

Technology Used

Due to the need for a more dynamic and scalable approach, the migration to Next.js, a full-stack React framework, was initiated.
 

Challenges and Solutions

Content migration

Challenge: Managing content migration for approximately 8,000 pages for Bills (and 700 for FDR) required thoughtful solutions. Two approaches were proposed: template-based migration and URL path-based migration. 

Solution: The team proposed two viable solutions:

• Template-based Migration: This involved migrating content template by template, allowing for a more controlled and organized process.
• URL Path-based Migration: The team prioritized migrating paths present on most pages, providing a structured approach to handling the substantial amount of data
   

Unstructured previous website content

Challenge: Over time, the content on the previous website had become unstructured and messy, posing a challenge for seamless migration.

Solution: To address this challenge, the team opted for URL path-based divisioning. By prioritizing paths with the least number of templates and those present on most pages, the team created a methodical approach to restructuring and migrating the content.

SEO downside

Challenge: The rewrite and nature of the content structure raised concerns about potential SEO downsides due to complexity or the absence of a well-defined website structure.

Solution: The team mitigated this challenge by restructuring URLs, creating silos to enhance the website's structural clarity. 

New tech stack

Challenge: The existing project was rooted in PHP (Laravel), requiring a team proficient in this technology. Simultaneously, there was a need to have expertise in the new JS stack for the successful rewrite.

Solution: To address this duality, the team strategically integrated new team members with relevant expertise to professionally handle the project.