Sector(s)
The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and economic regulator. It makes decisions and determinations on a wide range of matters involving air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the authority of Parliament, as set out in the Canada Transportation Act and other legislation.
It makes decisions and determinations on a wide range of matters involving air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the authority of Parliament, as set out in the Canada Transportation Act and other legislation. It is tasked with economic regulation, dispute resolution and overall accessibility. The Agency needed a website that not only supported its main objectives but also reflected it. The website needed to function well, provide easy and unfettered access and ensure a productive and effective journey that would lead to a final destination, or resolution in this case.
About the project
Goals
- Upgrade the web content management system to Drupal 7.
- Consolidate existing Drupal 7 websites into single multisite.
- Implement latest version of the Web Experience Toolkit.
- Ensure the new website was compliant with WCAG “AA” standards.
- Ensure the new website was responsive, addressing the growing smartphone audience.
- Ensure the new website met the Government of Canada’s official language requirements (English, French).
- Ensure website met the Government of Canada’s standard for metadata.
- Implement a new service portal, allowing citizens to engage with the Agency online.
Solution
Initially, the Canadian Transportation Agency’s public website was (poorly) implemented on Drupal 6. The latest release of the Web Experience Toolkit, (similar concept as the Consistent User Experience) by the Government of Canada was their motivation to modernize their web presence, including an upgrade to Drupal 7.
OPIN plotted the best course for the upgrade to Drupal 7. Our architects helped minimize the time and cost of for upgrade by first identifying the current state of the system, including requirements, and mapping them to the new Drupal 7 system.
With over 70,000 web pages, findability was a key success criterion for the project. To help users navigate content quickly, we implemented an advanced search interface, powered by Apache Solr, including multiple facets and filters.
At that time, the Agency also maintained a series of downloadable PDF and Word forms. Once filled out, the form would be mailed back to the Agency for processing.
Taking a big step into the future, a new service portal was created, allowing citizens to engage with the Agency online. Initially, the Agency empowered citizens to file air travel complaints online. Today, all their services have been replaced by an online service portal.
Why Drupal was chosen
Objectives
It makes decisions and determinations on a wide range of matters involving air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the authority of Parliament, as set out in the Canada Transportation Act and other legislation. It is tasked with economic regulation, dispute resolution and overall accessibility. The Agency needed a website that not only supported its main objectives but also reflected it. The website needed to function well, provide easy and unfettered access and ensure a productive and effective journey that would lead to a final destination, or resolution in this case. Drupal has the functionality they needed.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
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