Author: Elena Talanker
This fall marked an incredible milestone in my professional journey as I had the privilege of presenting for the first time at the DrupalGov Conference in Washington DC. Having been a participant in this conference for an extended period, actively learning about work done by other Drupal users from the federal, state and local governments, I always wanted to bring our Digital Commons experience there.
At our session “One State, One Platform, One Team” presented in collaboration with Mark Colebank our Senior Drupal Developer, we shared the Digital Commons' success story supporting 80+ websites for the state agencies, boards, and commissions. Many states are moving toward one statewide multi-site platform, with a majority of them utilizing Drupal as their CMS. North Carolina stands out as a trailblazer in this trend joining other renowned leaders such as Mass.gov and Georgia.gov. The Digital Commons platform, developed and maintained by the N.C. Department of Information Technology since 2015, holds a strategic position due to its robust support and feature offerings. What sets North Carolina apart in its approach to the Drupal multi-site is its uniqueness, notably in the aspect of developing and hosting the platform without extensive vendor support. The Digital Commons platform, catering to state agencies, brings significant advantages by efficiently curbing duplicate development costs and providing a universally accessible platform.
Drupal thrives on its vibrant community and the invaluable contributions made to the project. Sharing our experiences with leading experts in the field has been exceptionally rewarding. Mark Colebank shared our innovative solutions for standardized infrastructure, aimed at reducing maintenance efforts and facilitating seamless updates. He underscored the importance of utilizing a single code-base and a common set of modules, while allowing each website to maintain its own database. This approach not only streamlines operations but also empowers agencies with ownership over their website content.
Elena shed light on our collaborative efforts within the state digital community, illustrating how we model the Drupal approach and establish connections with platform users through diverse channels. The discussion generated considerable interest, particularly in our unique approach to the State Portal and the distinctive features of our "HowTo" syndication compared to other state portals.
Finally, Elena shared that the secret sauce of this platform is the Digital Solutions team and the support it provides agencies. The collaborative and supportive team culture reflects the Drupal open source community and helps us retain talent on the team. The support team helps state agencies during web manager transitions to maintain a consistent web presence. The support team's in-house digital strategy and site building expertise also helps train new managers.
It is our hope that our experience will help other government agencies develop successful platforms. There is great value for government agencies who don't need to reinvent the wheel and citizens who benefit from a consistent web experience.
We are so proud of the work done by our Digital Solutions Team for the state and for constituencies!