The IndieCommerce migration from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 is a significant undertaking, one that affects every IndieCommerce store. The last six months have been devoted to planning both the strategy and logistics for executing the move. Here's what is going on now:
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The IndieCommerce development team is working on the nuts and bolts of the new installation to ensure that critical custom modules, e.g. the shopping cart, transition properly to the new environment;
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Technology Manager Matt Supko is revamping the IndieCommerce book data processing;
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Valerie and Scott are testing and documenting feature changes, as well as providing regular customer service; and
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The IndieCommerce development team is meeting three times weekly with project consultant Lullabot to strategize, troubleshoot, and  analyze progress. The work with Lullabot -- one of the top rated Drupal development companies in the country -- began in February and will continue through May. The collaboration both expedites the process and helps uncover the more nuanced challenges.
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Migration Timing: What to Expect
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It is anticipated that migrations, i.e. copying, upgrading, and moving site files, will begin this summer, starting with sites that are less complex in terms of content and features, and ending with sites that incorporate the widest array of content (features, views, attributes, and other custom website elements).
By migrating sites from the less to the more complex, we are able to build on the experience of working with the most widely used features, thereby creating less disruption and troubleshooting any widespread bugs earlier on.
The timing will work essentially like this:
Step 1 (May): ABA will assign each IndieCommerce site to a Group, numbered 1 to 4, with Group 1 being the least complex (as described above) and Group 4 being the most. Stores will receive an email containing their Group assignment.
Step 2 (tentatively June through September): Beginning with Group 1, ABA will copy, upgrade, and move any existing site files and schedule training webinars by Group. As an example only, Group 1 stores will go through Step 2 in June and Group 4 stores will go through Step 2 in September.
NOTE: Stores will have time to work with both Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 files.
All stores will have a chance to acclimate to the new Drupal 7 environment before going live.
The work will be invisible to the customer; your current site will continue to function exactly as it does now. On your end, there will be a separate environment for accessing the new Drupal 7 site. You may continue to add customizations to your Drupal 6 site, bearing in mind that any such work done after your site has been migrated will need to be repeated for the Drupal 7 site.
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Step 3: Following completion of the training webinars, store personnel will notify ABA when they are ready to go live. Stores will be placed in a queue with the other stores in its same Group. There is no obligation to go live by a certain date. Stores may delay their go-live date until they are ready, including waiting until 2015, after the holiday season.
NOTE: ABA will support both Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 throughout 2015 in order to accommodate go-live requests. A site will go live only when the store is ready. Drupal 6 is far from becoming obsolete. Again, any customizations to a Drupal 6 site following migration will need to be repeated for the Drupal 7 site.
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The Drupal 7 training webinars will cover a range of topics, including changes to basic daily procedures, introductions to new features, and a review of commonly used functions. There will also be instruction on content editing and order processing for users wanting more in-depth instruction. Documentation will be prepared for all topics, and will be made available on BookWeb.org in the coming months.
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Thank you!
The IndieCommerce Team
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Interested in getting a head start? Tidy up your site!
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Please review your current site and remove unused or old content. Eliminating excess content may move you into an earlier migration Group, and will certainly ease the transition for all concerned.
Think about:
-Admin users, removing access for old employees
-Unused pages
-Images that are no longer relevant
-Old or disabled blocks
-Inactive menus
-Views that are not in use
If you have a custom theme and have multiple layouts in your directory, please let us know which themes can be deleted.
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BookExpo America (BEA) is fast approaching, and this year we strongly encourage stores to send those employees who are most involved with their IndieCommerce site.
To expand in-person IndieCommerce education at BEA: in addition to one-on-one appointments, we will be presenting several upgrade Q & A sessions, and will offer a variety of upgrade mini-sessions in the ABA Indie Bookseller Lounge. (schedule TBA).
To see all of ABA's programming at BEA, please click here. Programming specific to IndieCommerce will be announced in the coming weeks.We do hope, that you take advantage of meeting with our staff in person, and come to BEA with your tech team.
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