The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities partnered with WordHerd to migrate its large-scale website from the legacy SiteExecutive ColdFusion platform to a modern WordPress content management system.
The project included the migration of approximately 4,500 pages, a complete re-engineering of the site’s information architecture, and the modernization of complex data libraries, resource collections, and editorial workflows. WordHerd rebuilt the website in WordPress to improve usability, accessibility, mobile responsiveness, maintainability, and long-term scalability.
The result was a faster, more flexible website that gives the APLU team greater control over content while better supporting the organization’s mission of advancing public universities and their communities.
The Challenge
APLU’s existing website was built on SiteExecutive, a legacy ColdFusion-based platform that had become difficult to maintain and update at scale. With thousands of pages, complex resource libraries, member institution data, reports, programs, and public-facing content, the website required a careful migration strategy that went far beyond a basic CMS transfer.
The organization needed a modern platform that would:
- Migrate approximately 4,500 pages from SiteExecutive ColdFusion to WordPress
- Improve the site’s information architecture and content organization
- Give staff full editorial control over pages and resources
- Support flexible page layouts without requiring developer assistance
- Rebuild complex data libraries as structured, searchable content
- Improve navigation, accessibility, and mobile responsiveness
- Preserve APLU’s established brand identity
- Maintain link integrity through structured redirects
- Reduce long-term administrative overhead
Because the site contained thousands of pages and many deeply connected resources, the migration required careful planning around content structure, URL mapping, templates, custom post types, search, filtering, redirects, and quality assurance.
The Solution
WordHerd migrated APLU’s website from SiteExecutive ColdFusion to WordPress using a structured migration and rebuild process designed for large-scale content, complex data, and long-term maintainability.
The new WordPress implementation gives APLU a more flexible content management foundation while preserving the value of the original site and improving the experience for both content editors and visitors.
SiteExecutive ColdFusion to WordPress Migration
WordHerd migrated approximately 4,500 pages from the legacy SiteExecutive platform into WordPress.
This process included extracting content from the ColdFusion-based system, mapping it into the appropriate WordPress structures, preserving important page relationships, and ensuring the new website reflected a cleaner and more maintainable content model.
Information Architecture Re-Engineering
A major part of the project involved rethinking the site’s information architecture.
Rather than simply recreating the legacy structure, WordHerd helped reorganize the website to improve usability, navigation, and long-term scalability. The new structure made it easier for visitors to find information and easier for the APLU team to manage content over time.
Flexible Block-Based Editing
The new WordPress site gives the APLU team full editorial control through a flexible block-based editing experience.
Staff can now manage complex page layouts, update content, and present information dynamically without relying on developer support for routine changes. This gives internal teams more independence and helps reduce the time required to publish updates.
Custom Job Submission System
WordHerd developed a custom job submission system for the new WordPress website.
The system provides an intuitive way to post and manage employment opportunities across member institutions, giving APLU a purpose-built workflow for an important area of site content.
Complex Data Library Modernization
One of the most important parts of the migration was the replication and modernization of APLU’s complex data libraries.
These libraries included member institutions, programs, reports, resources, and other structured content that had previously required more manual management. WordHerd rebuilt these libraries using WordPress custom post types, creating a more structured and maintainable foundation for ongoing updates.
Advanced Filtering and Search
To improve content discovery, WordHerd implemented advanced filtering and search functionality for key libraries and resource areas.
Visitors can more easily locate relevant materials by topic, category, institution, or content type. This improved the usefulness of APLU’s large content library while making the site more efficient for researchers, members, stakeholders, and the broader public.
Brand-Aligned Responsive Design
The new site was designed to maintain APLU’s established brand identity while improving accessibility, navigation, and responsive behavior.
The WordPress implementation supports a cleaner and more mobile-friendly user experience across screen sizes, helping visitors access research, advocacy content, programs, reports, and resources from desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
SEO and Redirect Preservation
WordHerd implemented structured redirects from legacy SiteExecutive URLs to their new WordPress equivalents.
This helped ensure a seamless transition for users and preserved link integrity across thousands of external references. Redirect planning was a critical part of protecting the site’s search visibility, maintaining access to important pages, and reducing disruption after launch.
Why WordPress
WordPress provided APLU with a modern, scalable, and editor-friendly platform for managing a large and complex website.
By moving from SiteExecutive ColdFusion to WordPress, APLU gained:
- Easier content editing for staff
- Flexible block-based page layouts
- A cleaner and more scalable information architecture
- Structured custom post types for complex data libraries
- Advanced filtering and search for resources and institutional content
- Better support for mobile responsiveness and accessibility
- A custom job submission workflow
- Improved long-term maintainability
- A larger ecosystem of WordPress tools, plugins, and development support
Rather than continuing to rely on a legacy ColdFusion platform, APLU gained a WordPress website designed to support content growth, public engagement, research visibility, advocacy, and member resources.
The Result
The completed migration transformed APLU’s website from a 4,500-page SiteExecutive ColdFusion implementation into a modern WordPress platform built for speed, flexibility, usability, and long-term scalability.
The new website gives APLU staff full editorial control, reduces the need for developer involvement in routine content updates, and provides a more structured way to manage complex libraries, programs, reports, resources, member institution data, and job postings.
With improved navigation, responsive design, advanced search and filtering, and carefully planned redirects, APLU’s digital presence is now easier to manage and better equipped to serve public universities, member institutions, researchers, policymakers, and the communities they support.
Project Highlights
- Migrated approximately 4,500 pages from SiteExecutive ColdFusion to WordPress
- Re-engineered the website’s information architecture
- Implemented flexible block-based editing for complex page layouts
- Built a custom job submission system
- Recreated and modernized complex data libraries
- Converted member institutions, programs, reports, and resources into custom post types
- Added advanced filtering and search functionality
- Preserved APLU’s established brand identity
- Improved accessibility, navigation, and mobile responsiveness
- Implemented structured redirects from legacy URLs to new WordPress URLs
- Delivered a faster, more maintainable, and more scalable WordPress platform
