Sector(s)
The British Cryogenics Council (BCC) is a UK-based registered charity and membership organisation that promotes education, research, and collaboration in the field of cryogenics. Cyrogencis is a fundamental science that quietly run in the background or our everyday lives. From keeping food fresh to making sure the lens on the cricket stump cam remains at a low temperature to provide clear television coverage.
The website is the central hub for the community, providing access to industry information, training opportunities, and events, encouraging collaboration, and featuring a public directory of organisations and professionals working across the sector.
After more than a decade on Drupal 7, the existing platform had reached end-of-life, presenting security risks and limiting the Council’s ability to evolve its digital services. BCC required a full platform upgrade that would ensure long-term sustainability while modernising how members join and interact with the organisation online.
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About the project
Goals
- Upgrade the website from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10
- Deliver a membership system with recurring subscriptions and automated renewals
- Automate membership payments and invoicing to remove manual administration
- Improve usability, navigation, and content management
- Preserve existing content, members, and search visibility
Requirements
- Migration of content and members.
- Implementation of defined membership tiers and recurring subscriptions.
- Integration with a payment gateway supporting automated renewals and invoicing.
- Consolidation and simplification of site navigation for members and the BCC team.
- Improved performance, security, and long-term maintainability.
- Preservation of existing URLs and search visibility during the platform upgrade.
Outcome
The project delivered a modern Drupal 10 platform that provides long-term security and sustainability for the British Cryogenics Council. A membership system was implemented using Drupal Commerce, including defined membership tiers, recurring subscriptions, automated renewals, and invoice generation, with Stripe integrated for secure online payments.
The introduction of automated subscriptions and renewal process removed the need for manual monthly membership administration and payment chasing. Renewals are now handled automatically by the platform, improving reliability for members while reducing administrative overhead for the Council’s team and supporting improved membership retention.
Existing content and member data were migrated from the legacy Drupal 7 site, with members made visible through a public directory. Navigation and content structure were refined to improve clarity and accessibility for both members and non-members.
Why Drupal was chosen
Drupal was selected as the platform because it provides:
- A secure, enterprise-grade open-source CMS suitable for long-term non-profit organisations
- Strong support for structured content, editorial governance, and accessibility
- A mature and flexible eCommerce ecosystem through Drupal Commerce
- Native support for recurring subscriptions and online payments
- A clear upgrade path to Drupal 10, ensuring continued security updates and community support
Drupal’s modular architecture allowed the Council to modernise its platform without compromising existing data, content, or operational continuity.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
Drupal Commerce, together with Commerce Checkout and Commerce Recurring, was selected to automate ongoing membership renewals and invoicing, removing the need for manual renewal processing and payment follow-ups while providing a more reliable experience for members and reducing admin for the BCC team.
Paragraphs and Layout Paragraphs enable flexible, component-based content management, allowing administrators to update pages, events, and resources without developer involvement.
The Migrate suite, including Migrate Upgrade, was used to safely transition member data from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10. Path Redirect Import preserved existing URLs to maintain continuity for users and search engines.
Search API and Solr Autocomplete improve content discovery across the site, including member listings and resources. XML Sitemap supports search engine indexing, while ImageAPI Optimise WebP improves performance by delivering optimised images across devices.
Schedule a call with Open Imagination to discuss what we can do for you.
