Drupal 8, 9, or 10 to Drupal 11 Upgrade for Utilities

Upgrading a Utility Website from Drupal 8, 9, or 10 to Drupal 11

Drupal 8 support ended in November 2021. Drupal 9 support ended in November 2023. Drupal 10 support ends December 9, 2026. If your utility site runs any of these, plan your Drupal 8 to Drupal 11 upgrade, or the shorter step from Drupal 9 or 10, now.

Upgrading from Drupal 8, 9, or 10 is not the same as leaving Drupal 7. Moving off Drupal 7 means a rebuild because the architecture changed. Drupal 8, 9, and 10 are close relatives, so upgrading between them is a stepwise process focused on code, modules, and hosting.

Why this is an upgrade, not a migration

Drupal 9.0.0 is Drupal 8.9.0 with deprecated code removed. Each upgrade, from 8 to 9, 9 to 10, and 10 to 11, updates your codebase without a rebuild or content migration. The move from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11 runs through Composer. The work focuses on deprecated code and incompatible modules.

The path runs through every major version.

You can't skip major versions. If your site runs Drupal 8, you move to 9, then 10, then 11. If you're on 9, you have two steps left. If you're on 10, you have one. Drupal 8 sites need to be on 8.9 before starting.

Before the last step, your site needs to run Drupal 10.3.0 or later. Drupal 11 dropped updates from earlier versions. Drupal 11 also needs PHP 8.3 or later, so your hosting has to support it. Plan to land on Drupal 11.3 or later, since Drupal 12 removes upgrades from before that point.

What a Drupal 8 to Drupal 11 upgrade involves for a utility site

Four things determine how much work an upgrade takes.

First, custom modules and themes. Code that uses deprecated APIs must be updated at each step; second, contributed modules. Each one needs a release compatible with the next version, and Composer stops an update when a module has not declared compatibility. Third, hosting. Drupal 11 needs PHP 8.3. Fourth, integrations. Connections to your customer information system, outage management system, or payment processor that rely on a custom or contributed module move with that module, so you need to test each connection after every step.

The Upgrade Status module scans your site for compatibility issues and helps plan the work. It's helpful, but not perfect. Check modules by hand too.

If a contributed module has no compatible release, you have a few options. Use a patch from the issue queue, ask the maintainers for help, or find a replacement. Update contributed modules and themes to Drupal 11-compatible versions while your site is still on Drupal 10. Know which modules aren't ready before you set a schedule. They affect how long the upgrade takes. This is also a good time to ask if you still need every module.

What to document before you plan

Start a working document with these details. It speeds up the audit and gives you a stronger case for your budget.

• Your Drupal core version, and whether it is 10.3.0 or later
• Your PHP version and hosting environment
• Every custom module and theme, and who maintains each one
• Every contributed module, and whether it has a Drupal 11 compatible release.
• Every integration, such as billing, outage, and payment connections, and the module each one depends on

Plan around December 9

Drupal 10 support ends December 9, 2026, about ten weeks out. After that date, Drupal.org no longer provides security fixes for Drupal 10. If your site runs 10.2 or earlier, update to 10.3 or later first. If you're on Drupal 8 or 9, the upgrade takes longer. Start your inventory now.

How Inclind approaches an upgrade

Our ICBM method (Investigate, Create, Build, Measure) starts with Investigate. The Investigate phase produces a comprehensive site audit report and a project plan and technical strategy that sets the sequence of steps. Create turns that plan into design and a technical specification. In Build, we use version control and a CI/CD pipeline. We run quality assurance and multiple rounds of user acceptance testing before launch. In Measure, we deliver the training and documentation your team needs to manage the site.

After launch, every Inclind support package includes monthly application updates. Essential automates them. Professional and Enterprise include managed updates, so routine updates stay current.

Inclind has built and maintained Drupal sites for utilities for over a decade. Delaware Electric Cooperative has been a partner for that time, across four website evolutions and ongoing support for the Beat the Peak mobile application.

Start with a technical audit.

If your utility site runs Drupal 8, 9, or 10, start with an audit. Contact Inclind to schedule a technical audit of your Drupal environment. You'll get a documented view of your site before you commit to anything.