Q: Why did CivicPlus upgrade to a new Drupal website product?

 

Drupal is ending life for version 7 in the fall of 2023, so we upgraded to version 9 with a new enhanced product for our customers, called Web Open.

 

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Q: What are the benefits of using the new WebOpen product?

 

Approximately one year ago, CivicPlus acquired Municode which brought with it a Drupal open-source website product. Knowing Drupal 7 would be ending life in 2023, CivicPlus took the opportunity to create a new Drupal open-source product on a higher version that implements the knowledge and best practices we’ve learned with our over 5,500 website customers and combined 40+ years of municipal website experience at both Municode and CivicPlus. Our new Web Open product showcases many enhancements and continues to provide a full-service government solution and allows us to combine the two companies' Drupal 7 platforms into a single Drupal 9 solution.

 

Notable enhancements include a full file management system, more robust options for department pages, modern module displays on the website (calendar, meetings, news, parks, projects, etc.), improved backend user interface, increased flexibility of page content, many CivicPlus integrations, an improved HelpCenter, and SMS available (optional add-on). 

 

Drupal 9 and future Drupal versions will be backward compatible and easier to upgrade from one version to the next, causing less disruption to your service and streamlined migrations. 

 

Additionally, the new Web Open product is deeply integrated with the CivicPlus Power Products, bringing substantial benefits. See Power Product question below for additional information. 

 

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Q: What additional benefits do I get from integrating CivicPlus products and tools that can be used with the new Web Open version 9 product? 

 

You get the power of the CivicPlus family and our Power Product tools including the following: 

• Email -subscriptions and notifications to residents
• Text Messaging- subscriptions and notification to residents (optional add-on)
• Single Sign On (SSO) - for a simple and streamlined log in experience
• CivicPlus Pay – online payments for government services (optional add-on)
• Integration Hub-a centralized, integrated, and easy-to-use solution that connects all of your CivicPlus products for government employees to automate tasks and be more efficient so they can do more with less.
• Custom IdP -allows IT administrators to consolidate the effort of managing and supporting user credentials and identify management solutions (optional add-on)
• CivicPlus Portal – allows residents to have a one-stop shop for doing business with their municipality without having to log into separate systems. 
• Organization Management Tool – all of your organizations are centralized on an easy-to-manage dashboard
• Centralized and Extensive HelpCenter- a centralized location to access documentation for all CivicPlus products

 

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Q: When can I move to Web Open?

 

We understand that many customers are excited and anxious to move to the new Web Open product. Customers will begin migrating to the new Web Open in a phased approach sometime in 2023. Your Account Manager from CivicPlus will reach out to you when we are ready to discuss scheduling your migration. At this time, no action is needed on your part, but stay tuned for additional information.

 

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Q: How will my team learn to use Web Open? 

 

Web Open is just a new version of Drupal, so there is much familiarity to what you’re already used to doing today. Additionally, the product is very intuitive and simple to use and should be easy for teams to understand. To best support our customers during this transition, CivicPlus is developing an online training series that will be available to all customers, as well as working on an extensive Help Center with an automated answer bot built into the backend of the product for your staff. 

 

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Q: Will my content and website setup migrate over automatically?

 

Due to the large existing base of 1600+ Drupal customers, there is a variety of Drupal 7 implementations that will need to be handled differently. Our intent is to automate as much of the migration as possible but specific details will need to be tailored individually.

 

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Q: What additional add-ons are available to purchase with Web Open?

 

Add-ons:

• Bids & RFPs 
• Business Directory 
• Parks Directory 
• Projects Directory 
• Properties Directory 
• Specialty Sub-sites 
• Text Notifications
• ADA Accessibility Compliance tool
• Chatbot
• Custom IdP

 

Additional CivicPlus products include: 

• CivicClerk – Board management, agendas & minutes management 
• CivicRec– Parks management solution and recreation facilities management 
• CivicOptimize – Online services to increase the efficiency of your local government  
• SeeClickFix – residential reporting tool for municipal action
• ArchiveSocial – records retention compliance and risk management
• Monsido - Monitoring and automation tools for a flawless website UX across web accessibility, content quality assurance, data privacy, performance, and more
• NextRequest – FOIA request management
• CivicGov - licensing, permitting, and inspections
• Municode –Industry-leading technology to deliver your Code of Ordinances via Web, Mobile, and Print

 

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Q: Will there be costs to migrate to the new version?

 

There will be a variety of options for customers to migrate their website; taking into account your future priorities, desire to update your design, etc. Details on the options will be included with the information on migration timing being sent later this year.

 

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