Cisac

Do you struggle to manage a fragmented digital presence and complex content workflows? Imagine a world where your online platforms are unified, efficient, and accurately reflect your global mission. That is precisely the challenge CISAC faced and the transformative journey we embarked on together.

CISAC and its mission

CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, stands as the world's leading network dedicated to protecting the rights and promoting the interests of creators globally. Since its founding in 1926, CISAC has grown to represent over 230 collective management organizations in more than 120 countries, encompassing the vast realms of music, audiovisual, visual arts, drama, and literature. Through tireless advocacy, legal expertise, and technological innovation, CISAC ensures creators receive fair compensation for their invaluable work. 

However, their digital infrastructure was no longer effectively serving their broad and crucial mission. That's where Metadrop came in to help them transform their online ecosystem into a modern, unified, high-performance one.

Solving CISAC's Challenges: A Blueprint for Digital Success

The project with CISAC focused on modernising its digital infrastructure. The main request was to replace the ezPublish platform, which no longer met the requirements for effectively managing multiple websites. This involved migrating its satellite sites to a new unified platform, with the aim of simplifying management and reducing overall technical complexity.

Key requirements for improving the user experience included optimising the structure and content of the website to facilitate the communication of essential information, and aligning navigation with CISAC's priorities and workflows. We were asked to design the new platform in line with modern industry standards, while maintaining CISAC's brand identity and reinforcing its position as a leader in copyright.

In terms of operational efficiency, we were asked to implement a new content management system (CMS) that would enable internal teams to publish information more quickly and reliably. In addition, the CMS had to facilitate the creation of future websites according to the organisation's needs. The project also had performance and user satisfaction as a priority requirement, demanding an advanced platform that would significantly improve the visitor experience.

Key Technical Requirements

Below, we will detail the main technical criteria that were established for the platform: It had to guarantee compatibility with the main browsers, ensure accessibility without dependence on plug-ins, and offer complete multilingual support in English, French, and Spanish. In addition, a responsive design was mandatory, and the implementation of different user roles (administrator, content manager, and anonymous user) was required for adequate content control. Finally, we were asked to incorporate a content approval workflow to ensure the quality and accuracy of all published information.

What Made This Project Truly Remarkable

The CISAC project has two key aspects that contributed to its success:

The first is the development of a common base of reusable and modifiable content blocks. This approach made it possible to customise each of the sister sites efficiently, while maintaining a recognisable corporate identity. The solution offered operational advantages by avoiding the need to create each site from scratch, providing tools that ensured consistency without limiting differentiation.

The second aspect was the migration of content from two different CMSs, WordPress and ezPublish, to Drupal. While migrations from WordPress (the CMS used, for example, by its sister platforms CIAM and WDW) were relatively straightforward, those from ezPublish posed a significant technical challenge. The ‘body’ fields, which contained most of the content, were encoded in XML rather than HTML. To solve this problem, a recursive algorithm was developed that transformed the XML into a format compatible with Drupal. This process ensured that the content was preserved during the migration.

The Tangible Outcome: A Transformed Digital Landscape

The successful implementation of the CISAC project has resulted in a significant transformation of its digital infrastructure:

1. A unified multisite platform was established, operating with eight sites in production, all functioning optimally. This consolidation has contributed to a substantial improvement in operational efficiency and centralised management for CISAC.
2. The platform not only ensures unification, but also incorporates robust multilingual capabilities, with most content available in French, English and Spanish, thus ensuring global accessibility.
3. The complex migration of content from the two disparate CMS types that existed was completed, allowing valuable information accumulated over the years to be preserved and made accessible in the new infrastructure.
4. In addition, the new platform demonstrates high performance, accessibility and search engine optimisation (SEO). This ensures that CISAC's critical information is quickly accessible and visible to its audience. One of the most notable features in achieving this is the adoption of state-of-the-art image formats, which optimise data consumption and speed up download times, contributing to a better overall user experience.
5. Noteworthy is the use of a common theme with a set of shared components that has been implemented across all sites, promoting brand consistency. However, each site retains the flexibility to adapt these components, allowing for differentiation and the preservation of unique identities when necessary.
6. Advanced features include faceted content search, which significantly improves users' ability to locate specific information.
7. A secure login system has been integrated with CISAC's existing authentication, establishing a permissions structure that restricts access to certain content to members only, thus protecting confidential information.
8. Finally, a customised module handles the integration of the cookie system with OneTrust, ensuring compliance with current privacy regulations.

This project exemplifies how the application of appropriate technology, together with good collaboration and expert management, can address complex challenges and elevate an organisation's digital capabilities to a higher level.

Modular Architecture for Global Reach: The Technological Keys to CISAC's Success

The modernization of CISAC's digital ecosystem was built on a strategic selection of Drupal modules to address specific challenges and optimize performance. Drupal Components was chosen to implement a modular design system, enabling the creation of reusable UI elements that ensure visual consistency across all sites. For the complex content transfer from legacy platforms, Drupal Migrate Plus was used to extend Drupal's migration capabilities, facilitating data import and structural integrity.

Additionally, the Drupal Paragraphs module provided editorial teams with the flexibility to build dynamic, well-structured pages using customizable components, promoting content reusability. To enhance speed and user experience, Drupal WebP was implemented to automatically optimize images, reducing file sizes and accelerating load times. Finally, the integration of Drupal Xray Audit ensured site integrity by continuously monitoring for security and compliance risks, maintaining high-quality standards.

The top 5 reasons why Drupal was the perfect solution for CISAC

CISAC, with its global reach and complex needs, required a robust and adaptable digital platform. Drupal proved to be the ideal choice, offering precise solutions to its key challenges:

• Unmatched flexibility and customisation: CISAC needed a tailor-made platform, not a rigid system. Drupal allowed them to build a perfectly tailored solution, capable of evolving with CISAC's global promotion needs.
• Scalability for a global network: With foreseeable growth in users and content, CISAC needed a platform that could support high demands. Drupal guaranteed performance and stability, even under heavy loads.
• Seamless multisite management: Unifying their multiple scattered websites was a key challenge. Drupal's multisite capabilities simplified this task, allowing all properties to be managed from a single base.
• Comprehensive multilingual support: Given its presence in more than 120 countries, communication in multiple languages was essential. Drupal facilitated content management in English, French and Spanish, ensuring global access to information.
• Superior performance and user experience: Speed and fluidity were crucial for disseminating information. Drupal ensured fast loading times and optimal navigation, significantly improving user satisfaction.

Ready to Transform Your Digital Presence?

Do you recognise these challenges in your own organisation? Is your current digital infrastructure preventing you from reaching your full potential? CISAC's track record demonstrates the profound impact of strategic digital transformation. We specialise in helping global organisations modernise their platforms, optimise their operations and connect more effectively with their audiences.

If you are looking for a partner who understands complex migrations, values performance, and can create a flexible, scalable, and secure digital solution tailored to your unique needs, then we are the right choice. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you achieve your desired results and guide you towards a brighter digital future.