Plains Anthropological Society
Drupal 8 to 10 Migration
Academic society membership platform modernized with integrated e-commerce and conference management
Professional Academic Society
The Plains Anthropological Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit serving archaeologists and anthropologists studying the Great Plains region. The society is represented by its members and an all-volunteer board of directors, managing memberships, annual conferences, and the Plains Anthropologist journal.
Drupal 8 to Drupal 10 with Commerce
CodeLift modernized the legacy Drupal 8 platform to Drupal 10, replacing the outdated Ubercart e-commerce system with Drupal Commerce while preserving all membership workflows, conference registration systems, and payment integrations.
CodeLift successfully migrated our complex membership and conference registration system to Drupal 10. The transition from our legacy e-commerce platform to Drupal Commerce was seamless, and our members experienced no disruption during the upgrade.
Plains Anthropological Society
Migration Approach
Ubercart to Commerce Migration
We executed a complete migration from the legacy Ubercart system to Drupal Commerce, rebuilding product configurations, payment workflows, and order management. Custom development ensured membership purchases automatically assign member roles.
Legacy Data Cleanup
Specialized migration scripts cleaned up legacy product data and Ubercart remnants from the database, ensuring a clean transition to the new Commerce architecture while preserving historical order references.
Complex Membership System
The platform manages multiple membership tiers including lifetime members, current members, board members, and conference organizers. Each role has specific permissions and content access, all preserved during the migration.
Conference Registration Workflows
Over 30 webforms handle conference registrations, presenter submissions, symposium organization, meeting preferences, and donations. All forms and their submission data were migrated with full functionality intact.
PayPal Integration
The PayPal payment gateway was configured for Drupal Commerce, enabling secure online payments for memberships, conference registrations, and donations. User registration during checkout streamlines the membership purchase process.
Always Latest Version SLA
Under our ongoing maintenance agreement, Plains Anthropological Society stays on the latest Drupal version with regular security updates. The platform was upgraded from Drupal 10.4.2 to 10.4.4 as part of routine maintenance.
Modern Membership Platform with Integrated E-Commerce
Plains Anthropological Society now operates on Drupal 10+ with a modern Commerce-based e-commerce system. The platform manages membership renewals, conference registrations, and donations through a secure, mobile-friendly interface. Automatic role assignment ensures members gain immediate access to member-only content upon payment completion.
Migration by the Numbers
Downtime during migration
Webforms migrated with data intact
Administrative views preserved
Membership roles and permissions maintained
Payment integration fully operational
Always on latest Drupal version
Academic societies have unique requirements - they need robust membership management, conference registration systems, and publication access controls. The migration from Ubercart to Drupal Commerce required custom development to ensure membership purchases automatically grant the appropriate access. We built event subscribers that assign member roles upon order completion, making the membership experience seamless for both the society and their members.
Niels de Feyter
Founder of CodeLift
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