Development of a New Web Portal in Drupal
Universidad El Bosque is a private university located in Bogotá, Colombia, founded in 1977.
Universidad El Bosque stands as a multidisciplinary educational institution, focusing on integrating its development efforts (in education, research, knowledge transfer, and service) around Health and Quality of Life. Positioned within a global context, it is committed to addressing local, regional, and national needs and opportunities.
Background:
The University previously had a six-year-old web portal built on Drupal 6. While this portal met the essential functions of a university, it was based on a non-responsive template, making the main container fixed in width. The University recognized the need to refresh the design and update the content management system, which was increasingly lacking in functionality and responsiveness.
Why Drupal 8 Was Selected:
The University had gained valuable experience managing technical and content aspects of Drupal 6, and this familiarity, combined with the new features of Drupal 8—such as lifecycle management, security, stability, and support—made it the platform best suited to meet their needs.
Project Description:
The University’s goal in developing a new portal was to enhance the sense of belonging and engagement within the university community by consolidating a digital asset that promotes institutional and academic activity. This portal is an integral part of the University’s Digital Ecosystem, which encompasses various platforms and web applications.
In the improvement process, we assisted Universidad El Bosque by:
- Selecting Drupal 8 as the institutional website platform, as it best met the needs of the University and its Digital Ecosystem.
- Proposing technical and cloud-hosting connectivity requirements to suit the project's needs.
- Installing and configuring Drupal 8, as well as creating a theme according to the wireframes and renders provided by the University.
- Documenting the installation and configuration process of Drupal 8, including domain and CMS user credentials.
- Identifying and implementing additional applications, tools, and/or widgets necessary for the full functionality of the portal.
- Designing and conducting a training program for editors and administrators of the web portal.
- Recommending the use of a multisite installation.
Results:
The University now has a fully manageable Drupal 8 portal that ensures information security and platform stability. This new portal surpasses the previous one in performance, information accessibility, user experience, system efficiency, and search engine visibility.
The sections visible in this initial phase of the new portal include:
- Homepage
- Faculties
- Academic Programs
- Enrollment / Admissions
- Digital Environments
- Enrollment Process
- Graduation Requirements