Case Study · 03
City of Riverside
The digital front door for 320,000 residents — a Drupal enterprise platform serving 40+ departments, thousands of services, and one of the largest municipal websites in Southern California.
40+
Departments Served
160
Editors Enabled
With training + a locked component library
+42%
Search Success Rate
94
Lighthouse Performance
§ Challenge
The problem
A single site had to serve 320,000 residents, 40+ departments, and a workforce of thousands. The previous system made every department fight for attention. Content was outdated within weeks. Accessibility was inconsistent. Search was where information went to die.
§ Approach
What we did
We rebuilt on Drupal 10 with a strict content model: every page belongs to a service, every service has an owner, every owner has a review cadence. A federated search layer surfaces content across departments. A component library gives non-technical editors a locked-down design system so the site cannot break.
§ Process
From discovery to launch.
- 01
Governance
Established content ownership across 40 departments.
- 02
IA rebuild
Service-oriented navigation replacing department silos.
- 03
Design system
Locked component library for non-technical editors.
- 04
Migration
Phased content migration with redirect map audit.
- 05
Continuous improvement
Quarterly accessibility + performance reviews.
§ Stack
Built with
- Drupal 10
- PHP 8.2
- Solr Search
- PostgreSQL
- Twig
- Acquia
- Sass
§ Accessibility
Built for everyone.
WCAG 2.1 AA verified. Content editors trained to write accessible copy. Automated accessibility CI checks on every deploy.