Migration to Kentico Xperience 13 Core for the State Agency

#Kentico development #Web application development services #Communication and collaboration portals #Process and workflow automation #.NET Core #IIS #Kentico Xperience #MS SQL

Project goals

Recognizing the importance of staying current with technological advancements, the project's primary goal was to transition from the legacy Kentico 12 Portal Engine to the modern Kentico Xperience 13 Core

Result

Kentico 13 introduced advanced features and optimizations that promised notable improvements in website performance, such as faster load times and enhanced responsiveness

About the client

The State Agency is wholly devoted to the preservation and safeguarding of the state's environment. As the state's environmental protection agency, their unwavering commitment is to protect, preserve, and enhance the environment for both present and future generations:
 
“Through pioneering partnerships, we actively work towards safeguarding and maintaining the health of our land, air, and water, while promoting a thriving economy. We prioritize the development of strategic plans that take a comprehensive and inclusive approach to our actions, ensuring the utmost care and consideration in everything we do and how we do it.”

Project goals

Recognizing the importance of staying current with technological advancements, the project's primary goal was to transition from the legacy Kentico 12 Portal Engine to the modern Kentico Xperience 13 Core. This migration was prompted by various factors, including the discontinuation of support for previous versions by the Kentico team. Upgrading to Kentico 13 aimed to ensure continuous support, maintenance, and access to future updates and enhancements.
 
In summary, the decision to migrate from Kentico 12 to Kentico 13 was a strategic one, motivated by the desire to align with emerging technologies, secure ongoing support, and capitalize on the performance and user experience enhancements offered by the latest version.

Key challenge

One of the challenges we faced with this project was migrating the widgets added through WYSIWYG - that required parsing a plain text, locating widgets there and replacing them with newly built widgets in a new format compatible with Kentico 13.
 
Automatic migration of all content including versioning and not published changes, ensuring a seamless transition.

Retaining the ability to manage content on the page through the content folder in the content tree, providing a familiar and efficient workflow for content management.
 
Incorporating additional features to enhance the editor's experience, making content creation and editing more intuitive and efficient.
 
Creating functionality similar to the portal engine rich text editor widgets, enabling editors to format and customize content easily.

Our solutions

We have implemented a robust functionality that facilitates communication between the legacy Kentico 12 database and the new Kentico 13. This functionality enables the seamless migration of all pages, attachments, and alternative URLs from the old system to the new one.
 
To ensure an efficient content management workflow, the majority of pages are structured using components that can be easily modified through the Kentico administration area. These components are tailored to specific page types, allowing for flexible customization and updates as needed.
 
With this approach, content editors have the flexibility to modify and manage page components directly within the CMS, without any code modifications, simplifying the process of updating and maintaining the website's content.
In summary, our development efforts have resulted in a streamlined migration process that ensures the smooth transfer of pages, attachments, and alternative URLs from the old Kentico 12 system to the new Kentico 13. Additionally, our implementation of component-based page construction enhances content management capabilities, providing content editors with greater flexibility and control over the website's pages.

Result

The migration of content from the previous version to Kentico 13 was executed flawlessly, ensuring a smooth transition with no loss of data or disruptions. The development team successfully implemented functionality similar to the portal engine rich text editor widgets, providing editors with the ability to easily format and customize content. This resulted in visually appealing and engaging web pages that captivate users.
 
Throughout the development process, utmost attention was given to accessibility. The entire site was designed and developed in compliance with best practices and accessibility standards, enabling users with disabilities or limitations to access and navigate the content effortlessly. The implementation ensures inclusivity and equal access to information for all users.
 
By migrating to Kentico 13, the project not only secured ongoing support, maintenance, and access to future updates and enhancements but also future-proofed the website. The new version equips the website with the flexibility to adapt to emerging technologies and stay up-to-date with evolving industry standards. This ensures that the website remains relevant and continues to provide a cutting-edge user experience to visitors.
 
Moreover, embracing the new technology provided significant advantages, particularly in terms of performance and user experience. Kentico 13 introduced advanced features and optimizations that promised notable improvements in website performance, such as faster load times and enhanced responsiveness. These enhancements were expected to elevate the overall user experience and drive greater engagement. Here are some measurements:
  • Average response time decreased from 2.23 seconds to 0.141 second (almost 16 times!)
  • 90th percentile changed from 3.52 seconds to 0.228 second
  • 99th percentile decreased from 5.46 seconds to 0.382 second
  • Additionally GMetrix performance test gave grade A (100%) during simultaneously running load test
 

Industries

Government agency

Client location

USA

Technologies

.NET Core

IIS

Kentico Xperience

MS SQL

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