Six accessible, integrated websites launched for regional government

The CRD needed to deliver six redesigned websites—balancing complexity, many integrations, and high expectations. Key hurdles included:

• Rewriting CRD-built web components into custom Drupal modules that use CRD's web services (e.g. fire weather conditions, traffic counts, building permit reports, water quality reports, heartland webcam) and adding these to the new websites and other systems.
• Consolidating previously separate market and affordable housing sites into a unified platform.
• Feeding multiple data sources into types of website content (e.g. meetings, webcasts, boards, committees and commissions and more).
• Synchronizing selected content among the six websites so information stays consistent and efficient to administer.
• Designing and building a custom Board portal for correspondences.
• Creating a Water Outage management and reporting system with easy-to-use mobile UI for those reporting from the field.
• Handling complex alerts, notifications, and public notices including page-specific and community-targeted alerts.
• Managing legacy content and structure from the old websites while transitioning to a new architecture.

All of this needed to be done on a schedule that allowed coordination among multiple internal stakeholders, technical teams, and content creators.

Upanup worked closely with CRD and its associated agencies to deliver custom designs, high technical fidelity, and strong user-centred experience across all sites.

"This was a new approach for us to listen to our users and include them in the design process,” says Zoë Gray, Manager, Website & Public Engagement at the Capital Regional District. “Upanup had valuable experience in this area and worked with us to test our sitemaps and designs with community members early on. This process changed our designs for the better and inspired us to keep seeking input from residents, who are ultimately our neighbours."

What we delivered: 

• Six fully redesigned & developed six custom sites with consistent interface systems and branding alignment.
• Accessibility best practices throughout using inclusive design to meet WCAG compliance, with clear navigation and accessible components.
• On the CRD main site:
  • Page-specific alerts & public notices with categorized display on the homepage; pinning capability for urgent items.
  • Email subscription capabilities, allowing public visitors to receive updates on important updates and events.
  • Quick links, event calendar with special design elements.
  • Territorial acknowledgement and co-branding areas.
  • Carousel features for featured images/banners and “featured areas” design zones.
  • A Feedback system on all pages, allowing visitors to share what is helpful or not, and give further feedback. 
  • Dynamically populated community pages that aggregate services, projects, news, meetings and other area related information.
  • Region-wide parks & trails database with easy access.
• Advanced content planning meeting with CRD publishing teams to strategize a process and detail content models that ensured content types and taxonomy enabled complex cross-site sharing.
• Tight project management tactics with weekly development check-ins, direct technical communication, and agility in response to emerging challenges.
• The editorial governance model supports the District's unique roles, workflows, training cadence, accessibility re-audit schedule, and how department feedback informs the backlog and roadmap.

Key Integrations

CRD.ca (Main CRD site)  

The following outlines many of the custom modules & integrations for the CRD site. 

• CRD Board/Committee/Commissions – The Board/Committee/Commission is integrated with the CRD API's Committee Service through the custom Drupal CRD web services module. It includes feeds to synchronize the list of boards, committees and commissions and its appointee memberships that populate the Committees & Commissions page.
• CRD Building Permits – The Building Permits component utilizes the Building Permits Reports Service from the custom CRD web services module to produce a construction projects report for a selected year, month and region on the Building Permits Reports page.
• CRD Fire Weather – The Fire Weather component uses the Fire Weather Data Service from the Drupal CRD web services module to generate sensor data from fire weather stations across the region. It displays the current fire weather conditions and 4-day reports for each station on the Fire Weather Conditions page. Users are able to subscribe to Fire Weather updates through custom integration with Constant Contact.
• CRD Hartland Webcam – The Hartland Webcam component uses the Hartland Web Camera service included in the Drupal CRD web services module to return an image of the Harland Landfill's front gate on the Hartland Landfill page.
• CRD ReCollect – The CRD embeds the Waste Wizard, Collections, and other tools from ReCollect in a single iframe on the What Goes Where page.
• CRD Water Quality - The Water Quality component uses the web service included in a custom module to produce a water quality report for the selected geographic area, water system and report type on the Water Quality Reports page.
• CRD Traffic Counts – The Traffic Counts custom component uses a service from the CRD web services module to produce traffic count reports for the selected date range and location.
• CRD Water Outage – The component uses a custom form and workflow designed to make reporting an outage quick and device-friendly for remote field workers. Users are able to subscribe to Water Outage updates through custom integration with Constant Contact.
• CRD Water Systems – Water Systems were developed to connect and correspond with respective contact list in Constant Contact. Contact lists are dynamically managed as part of the integration between Drupal and Constant Contact.
• Eventbrite Events – A custom component that feeds events from Eventbrite API.
• Granicus Legistar – A custom integration with Granicus that provides flexible and feature-rich Meeting management for all types of Boards, Committees and Commissions.
• Granicus Media – A custom integration extension for Meetings to have webcast media fetched and associated with relating Meetings.
• IntelligenceBank DAM – The CRD manages website media in IntelligenceBank's Digital Asset Management (DAM). The Drupal media library is integrated with the DAM using the contributed IntelligenceBank DAM Connector module. The DAM is located at the CRD's brand hub where CRD users upload digital assets for use on their websites or other applications. 
• AddSearch – The CRD's site search index is integrated with AddSearch, a site search solution that delivers highly configurable search functionality. AddSearch provides faceted search results for result "type" filtering and federates pages and files from all CRD websites into one search result list. 
• Constant Contact – Integrated with the selected Content Types to extend communication opportunities with opt-in push notifications for Alerts, Board/Committee/Commissions, Communities, Meetings, News, Public Notices, Water Outages, and Water Systems.
• SAML Authentication and SSO – The CRD uses Entra ID as their Identity Provider with Single Sign On (SSO) functionality and MFA requirements. This modular extension to Drupal's account system hardens the security and management of the authentication and authorization of CRD users and their relating role permissions.

CapitalRegionHousing.ca 

Custom modules & integrations:

• Content sharing
  • Sends Projects/Initiatives to CRD.ca
  • Receives Territorial Acknowledgement and Pages from CRD.ca
• IntelligenceBank DAM access via CRD shared platform
• SAML (Entra ID) for authentication

PrepareYourself.ca 

Custom modules & integrations:

• Shares Events to CRD.ca
• Receives Pages from CRD.ca
• IntelligenceBank DAM access via CRD shared platform
• SAML (Entra ID) for authentication

PanoramaRecreation.ca / SEAPARC.ca / SSIPARC.ca (Recreation sites) 

Custom modules & integrations:

• Share Events and Facilities to CRD.ca
• Receive Territorial Acknowledgement and Pages from CRD.ca
• IntelligenceBank DAM access via CRD shared platform
• SAML (Entra ID) for authentication

Shared / Cross-Sites

• AddSearch – federated search indexing all six sites (CRD, CRHC, PrepareYourself, Panorama, SEAPARC, SSIPARC)
• IntelligenceBank DAM – shared DAM system for media across all sites
• Entra ID / SAML – centralized login system, one Entra app per site
• Constant Contact – subscription + notification system across content types
• Content sharing framework – Feeds-based syncing of Pages, Territorial Acknowledgement, Document Library Items, Events, Projects, and Facilities between sites

Future-Ready 

The new platform positions the District to modernize and transform service delivery to citizens, and to adopt new technologies, such as AI integration for content quality checks and personalization. The platform also allows the District to build out the digital services as the roadmap expands — such as easily upgrading to future versions of Drupal through Upanup's managed hosting services, adding to the component library evolution, and A/B testing.

Improved Technical Specs 

The new websites' platform provides technical improvements in Core Web Vitals and average page load times, uptime achieved against service-level agreement (SLA), reduction in time-to-publish for editors, search success/task completion rates, and reductions in duplicated content after consolidation.

Security and Compliance 

The new websites are housed in a secure hosting environment, compliant with all municipal government regulations, including:

• Canadian data residency
• FOIPPA alignment
• Patching cadence
• Vulnerability management
• Disaster recovery objectives (RTO/RPO)
• Incident response/communication flow

Scalable for Traffic Spikes 

Furthermore, the managed hosting services provided by Upanup offer scalability under peak traffic during emergency communications, which further support the platform’s resilience and service availability.

Future Digital Transformation

As well as the above integrations, CRD also has many more plans for future digital transformation within its 5 year Corporate Web Strategy roadmap, including MyCRD Online Services & Payments, forms and payment gateways, ArcGIS, and SAP/Dynamics touchpoints.

“With its mobile-friendly design and improved search capabilities, the CRD is committed to delivering a modern and responsive platform for all users.” Source link.

Overall, the new CRD digital ecosystem delivers:

• Easier access to regional services through unified, well-integrated sites.
• Greater inclusion thanks to accessibility built into design and functionality.
• Better visibility for public notices, alerts and meetings, targeted by community.
• Consistency of information and branding across agencies.
• Empowered content teams with better tools and guides (standard website guide + custom website guide).
• Speed and quality: despite multiple sites and complex integrations, achieved high quality beta delivery and smooth launch thanks to strong collaboration and planning.

"Upanup has been and continues to be our strategic partner; their commitment to service excellence, proactive communication, and willingness to go the extra mile consistently stand out—well above what we see with many other partners. This modern web platform is far more than a redesign. It establishes the strategic foundation we need as we advance toward expanded online payment services, subscription-based communications, and a unified one-stop portal where residents can seamlessly access and engage with CRD services. This work positions us to bring more services online in a way that is intuitive, integrated, and aligned with how our communities expect to interact with us.

I truly appreciate the level of care, professionalism, and accountability that the entire Upanup team continues to bring to our partnership. It’s always impressive to see how closely your team listens, responds, and adapts to ensure CRD’s needs—both today and in the future—are fully supported." 

—Chris Hauff, Senior Manager Technology and Digital Transformation at the Capital Regional District