Transforming the American Diabetes Association's digital experience with a multisite architecture

Challenges

Operating and maintaining these sites separately consumed significant resources, and their team faced technical challenges due to different systems and technologies.

The goal was to bring these platforms together into a single system to simplify content workflows, reduce operational overhead, and provide a consistent, unified experience for users.

Approach

We worked closely with ADA stakeholders and their teams to transform each platform and manage the migration process effectively. This involved detailed review rounds, ongoing communication, and a focus on aligning every phase with ADA’s brand identity and objectives.

The process was designed to ensure a seamless transition while prioritizing the end goal—delivering an exceptional digital experience for users.

Solutions

A unified component library for future growth 

We collaborated with ADA’s design team to create a unified theme and component library. This system standardized visual elements and branding across websites while offering the flexibility to meet each site’s unique requirements.

Using Storybook, we built and tested individual components independently to ensure functionality, design uniformity, and ease of management across platforms. This step created visual cohesion across platforms and laid the groundwork for streamlined design workflows. 

Flexible page-building and improved workflows

We used Layout Builder and Paragraphs to enable modular page-building capabilities, giving ADA the flexibility to create layouts that adapt to diverse content needs.

The search system was improved to deliver faster, more accurate results, ensuring users can quickly access the information they need.

Third-party authentication, content moderation, and workflow features were integrated to simplify user management and streamline content creation, review, and approval processes, making it easier for marketers, content authors, and volunteers to perform their roles effectively.

Drupal 10 migration

ADA’s websites were operating on multiple systems, including Drupal 7 and custom CMS platforms. We developed a new Drupal 10 platform from scratch, migrating essential features and content, including 260K+ users, 2 million saved recipes, 732K grocery lists, 563K meal plans, 2K recipes, and 1K ingredients.

The migration unified multiple websites into a single, efficient platform. It improved site performance, simplified content management, and enabled teams to work more effectively. The new system ensures uninterrupted access to critical resources and offers the flexibility to support growing user activity and the nonprofit's changing needs.

The Drupal multi-site approach

The multisite architecture was implemented to simplify the development process. By using a single codebase with multiple databases, we reduced maintenance efforts and made site management more efficient. This setup also helped to speed up development cycles. 

The multisite configuration was set up on DDev for local development, which streamlined workflows and testing. We mapped databases and domains in the settings and sites.php files and configured Drush aliases for specific sites. Shared SSL certificates were installed on the server to improve security.

Building a multisite architecture reduced infrastructure costs and provided stakeholders with a flexible solution for managing their online presence.

Testing

We conducted functional, UI, usability, and cross-browser testing to verify the platform met user needs. User feedback was analyzed and applied to refine the platform, aligning it with the nonprofit’s requirements and user expectations.

Outcome

We partnered with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to simplify their digital setup into one efficient system. This transformation helped cut down on development time and costs, reduced maintenance work and allowed ADA to use its resources more effectively. 

The new platforms made it easier for the nonprofit to support new initiatives, engage donors, and help volunteers save time, without technical delays. It also strengthened ADA's connection with its existing and growing user base, providing more relevant information, resources and support  to those who need it most.