TYPO3 upgrade for Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V.

Alliance of German Aid Organisations

"In over a decade of trusting cooperation, dkd has made a significant contribution to keeping our online presence up to date, secure and reliable – a crucial factor for us as an alliance of over 20 aid organisations that work together to provide emergency and disaster relief. We are thoroughly impressed by their professional and goal-oriented approach, and the results speak for themselves."

Dr. Thilo Reichenbach, Managing director Aktion Deutschland Hilft

Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V. (ADH) is an alliance of renowned German aid organisations that was founded in 2001 with the aim of providing coordinated and effective disaster relief worldwide. The ADH alliance includes well-known groups such as CARE Germany, Malteser Germany, World Vision Germany and others.

The aim of ADH is to provide rapid and tailored disaster relief by pooling the resources and expertise of the alliance organisations. The existing administrative structures and capacities of the alliance organisations help to reduce costs and ensure that as much of the donations collected as possible is converted into direct emergency aid. Donations are distributed according to a formula that takes into account the capacity and performance profile of the participating aid organisations.

Our to-do list

Development, communication, support, agile solution, SEO, consulting, responsive, mobile, multilingual, accessibility, system architecture, AWS, cloud, Varnish, Redis, TYPO3 upgrade, high availability

Challenge

The customer wanted a TYPO3 upgrade from version 8.7 directly to version 11.5, which represented a significant technical leap. The website had grown considerably over time and contained a large amount of content. There were numerous technical legacy issues that had to be taken into account. The SEO score was not to be compromised under any circumstances, and the URLs of the pages were not to change. If changes were unavoidable, they had to be documented in detail. A total of around 7,500 pages had to be migrated. The high availability of the website had to be maintained.

Implementation

The project to migrate to a newer version of TYPO3 ensured that the website will remain technologically up to date in the future. By optimising website performance and improving user-friendliness, the user experience was significantly enhanced. In addition, the upgrade introduced higher security standards to ensure the protection of user data and strengthen visitor confidence.

The update improved search engine visibility and optimised display on mobile devices, thereby increasing the platform's visibility and reach. The use of modern technologies and trends ensured the long-term maintenance of the website, as a stable and expandable platform was created that could be flexibly adapted to future requirements. This strengthened the online presence and supported the sustainable development of Aktion Deutschland Hilft.

Initial situation

TYPO3 version 8.7 with PHP 7.4
Many technical legacy issues
Front-end framework obsolete
jQuery v1, multiple patches
Redundant use of mobile images
Many redundancies in page templates and grid elements

Nerdy stuff

Review & correction of the top 100,000 backlinks
A new design instead of a classic upgrade

The project has led to a significant improvement in the website by removing legacy issues, optimising the technical infrastructure and laying the foundation for a modern, user-friendly and future-proof website. In addition to increasing user-friendliness and security, the conditions for future TYPO3 upgrades have been created, which will lead to lower running costs and a more stable system in the long term.

Ivaylo, Senior Developer @dkd