Context
The operating situation
A state legislative body published to constituents through one aging Joomla estate of more than 3,000 pages, spanning 30+ member offices. Navigation had grown four levels deep, and any interruption to public access during a replacement would be visible to every constituent, journalist, and policymaker who relied on it.
Challenge
The operating problem
Replace an aging Joomla platform without disrupting constituent access or losing a large, deeply nested content estate.
Approach
Decisions that shaped it
- Ran discovery, content audit, information architecture, and a WordPress implementation.
- Included accessibility review toward the contract's WCAG 2.0 AA target and security scanning with mitigation.
- Coordinated migration, testing, training, cutover, and post-launch support across a 16-week schedule.
Solution
What was delivered
A WordPress platform with a rebuilt information architecture, the full content estate migrated, accessibility and security review inside the contract scope, staff training, a zero-downtime cutover, and post-launch support.
Outcome
Documented outcome
CyberNodes, LLC migrated 3,000+ pages for 30+ offices, reduced navigation depth, and completed a zero-downtime cutover on schedule.
WCAG 2.0 Level AA was a contract target verified in delivery through a dedicated manual non-visual-access sprint - not a third-party certification, and not WCAG 2.1. Security scanning reduced known risk; it does not constitute a compliance guarantee. The engagement has since closed out. The client is not named, and contract values are described only as a range.
Controls
What kept it safe to operate
- WCAG 2.0 Level AA was the contract's stated accessibility target, tested with a manual non-visual-access sprint.
- Security scanning and mitigation ran inside the delivery scope rather than after launch.
- Cutover was rehearsed so public access was never interrupted.