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Client Information

A nationally renown medical research and educational institution, the SIU School of Medicine is home to 240 teaching physicians, along with 300 other providers, including nurses, licensed clinical social workers, mid-wives, dietitians and audiologists. Together, they are transforming the practice of medicine with new treatments and technologies. Through various rural health initiatives, the SIU School of Medicine partners with service agencies and health care organizations across the 66-county Central and Southern Illinois region. Total clinical visits exceed 500,000 annually. 

Project overview

Both the SIU School of Medicine site (siumed.edu) and the clinical patient care site (siumed.org) were on Drupal 7. Anticipating the upcoming Drupal 7 end of life and seeking a new website that better served users and reflected the school of medicine’s role in the region, SIU Medicine partnered with Promet Source on a website redesign and Drupal migration. 

An essential goal of the project was a seamless linkage between two separate urls, one targeted toward patients, and the other targeted toward current and prospective med students. The branding elements and user experience of the two sites needed to be distinct, and at the same time, work together as a cohesive whole. 

Other key requirements for the new site included:

  • Streamlined navigation that enabled users to easily find what they needed;
  • Simplified and flexible content editing capabilities within a permissions structure that could accommodate varying levels of access for 80 plus content editors;
  • Mobile responsiveness; 
  • Enhanced search functionality; and 
  • An engaging user experience and design.

Following a thorough discovery process that utilized principles and practices of human centered design, Promet Source restructured the navigation system and site map to align with user needs and expectations. Streamlined navigation, along with the clean, modern design aesthetic were key factors that resulted in the site’s receipt of both a 2022 Web Excellence Award and a 2021 Silver Davey Award.
 

Technical Specifications

  • Promet’s Provus platform provided pre-configured Drupal blocks or components, which integrated with Layout Builder – exceeding client expectations with the easy updating capabilities and the ability to create rich, full-featured landing pages without any coding expertise. 
  • The Drupal Domain Access module facilitated the user experience of being able to easily toggle between top nav tabs for the two separate urls for two separate sites that with a sense that they were integrated and functioned as a single web experience. 
  • Drupal Layout Builder provided for a high level of flexibility for switching up layouts and adding content as needed.
  • Promet’s upgrade of the Fullcalendar View module ensured ADA accessibility for the calendar. 
  • The Drupal Layout Background module enabled content and content blocks to be imposed on top of any image, which enhanced design flexibility and added a creative design element. 
  • Solr Search laid the foundation for complex search requirements.

 

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