Drupal 7 Migration for Utilities

The Integrations That Shape a Utility Drupal 7 Migration

Drupal 7 reached end of life on January 5, 2025. If your utility site still runs on it, your migration plan has to cover more than content. Your ratepayers use the site to check bills, pay them, and track outages. Each of those jobs depends on a system outside Drupal. Those connections set your scope, your schedule, and your risk.

Here’s where to start: the three connections to document first, what to record for each, and how we handle the work.

Why integrations drive the scope

Drupal 7 and Drupal 11 have sharply different architectures, so the move is a migration with extensive changes to APIs and the content model, not an upgrade in place. Drupal 7 modules are unsupported. The Drupal Security Team no longer covers them, and their releases are flagged as unsupported. If a custom connection relies on one, you need to replace or rebuild it.

Aim for Drupal 11. Drupal 10 support ends December 9, 2026, the same week Drupal 12 is released. Building on 10 puts you close to another end-of-life.

Customer information system and billing

Your customer information system (CIS) holds account data, billing history, and service records. If your site has a ratepayer portal, it pulls from the CIS so customers view bills and update account details.

Before you migrate, write down what your site exchanges with the CIS, how it authenticates, and which version of the vendor’s API it uses. A connection built years ago depends on the interface the vendor offered then. Vendors change their interfaces. If nobody has this documented, you'll find out in the audit, not at go-live. Ask your CIS vendor for its current API documentation, and confirm that the version you use is still supported.

Outage management

Some utilities embed a map from their outage management system (OMS) vendor. Others pull an OMS data feed and build the map themselves. Either way, your migration has to carry that connection forward and check it against the vendor’s current specs. If you run a feed as a scheduled job or custom module in Drupal 7, it needs its own Drupal 11 plan.

Ratepayers count on this page during storms. If the map fails at 11 PM during an outage, your team hears about it first. The outage map needs its own plan.

Payments

Some utility sites send ratepayers to a third-party payment processor by redirect or embedded form. Find out which module handles that connection on your Drupal 7 site, and whether your processor supports a current integration. Ask your payment provider what compliance responsibility your setup creates. Bring your IT and finance teams into that answer.

Water and wastewater utilities typically connect to the same kinds of systems: a CIS, payment processing, and service alert feeds. The same questions apply.

What to document before you talk to an agency

Start a working document with these items. It shortens your audit and gives you a stronger case for your budget request.

• Every system the site connects to, and who owns each vendor relationship
• What data moves in each direction, and how often
• How each connection authenticates
• The vendor API or embed version in use, and the vendor's current documentation
• The custom modules and Drupal 7 contributed modules each connection depends on
• Third-party embeds, such as maps and payment forms, and whether they meet your accessibility requirements

Bridging the gap while you plan

If your integrations are complex and your budget cycle is months out, paid extended security support for Drupal 7 is an option. The Drupal Association certifies vendors who sell it. Treat it as a bridge with an end date, not a destination.

How Inclind approaches a utility Drupal 7 migration

Our ICBM method (Investigate, Create, Build, Measure) starts with Investigate: a content and functionality audit, a usability and accessibility review, and a look at your analytics. You get a site audit report, a third-party vendor plan, and a project plan and technical strategy. The vendor plan lines up the third parties behind your integrations so they fit into the project.

Next comes Create and Build: design, technical specs, development, DevOps, quality assurance, and rounds of user acceptance testing. A deployment plan covers launch. In Measure, we deliver the training and documentation your team needs to run the site.

We’ve built and maintained Drupal sites for utilities for over a decade. Delaware Electric Cooperative has been a partner throughout, across four website evolutions and ongoing support for the Beat the Peak app. After launch, integration support is part of our Enterprise package.

Start with a technical audit.

If your Drupal 7 site connects to billing, outage, or payment systems, start with an audit. Reach out to schedule a technical audit of your Drupal 7 environment. You’ll get a documented view of what your site connects to before you commit to anything.