From the Starting Line to the Finish: A Digital Sprint Toward Scalable Transformation
From the Starting Line to the Finish: A Digital Sprint Toward Scalable Transformation
Annam Ravin (Annam-sreenivasan)
The Story Begins
In the fast-paced world of endurance sports, success isn’t just measured at the finish line—it’s about delivering seamless, memorable experiences from the moment an athlete signs up to when they cross the tape.
A global fitness brand, renowned for its premier marathons, world triathalons, cycling races, expert training programs, performance gear, and elite memberships, had built a passionate following of athletes worldwide. But as the organization scaled its events and digital offerings across continents, its legacy Ruby on Rails platform began to show signs of strain: fragmented systems, disjointed user experiences, and complex registration workflows were starting to slow the pace.
The Challenge: A Race Against Time
The clock was ticking. In just four months - 2 sites, the organization needed to migrate from its aging Ruby on Rails platform to a robust, future-ready solution built on Drupal. The vision? To unify event management, streamline commerce and content, and bring every interaction—from registration to results—into a cohesive digital experience.
But this wasn’t just a replatforming effort. It was a full-scale transformation: design for aligning , development, data migration, and the creation of reusable component frameworks for long-term efficiency. At the same time, they required a strategy for continuous optimization, backed by a responsive support system to keep performance and security on track.
This session pulls back the curtain on how a bold replatforming journey—from Ruby on Rails to Drupal 10—transformed digital chaos into cohesion. We’ll explore how careful strategy, scalable architecture, and smart component design turned complexity into agility.
Prerequisite
• Basic Knowledge of Drupal (or at least know it’s not a tropical fruit 🍍)
If you can tell Drupal apart from a smoothie ingredient, you’re good.
• Familiarity with Website Migrations
Especially the chaos, caffeine, and last-minute “where did that bug come from?!” moments.
• Understanding of Digital Project Roles
If you’ve ever asked “Who owns this ticket?” or “Is this a QA thing or a Dev thing?” — welcome, you’re among friends.
• Interest in Digital Strategy, Scaling, and Efficiency
Bonus points if “Reusable Component Libraries” sound exciting and not like a home improvement store section.
• Ability to Appreciate a Good Transformation Story
Because this one has it all: tight deadlines, legacy systems gasping for air, heroic sprints, and a (Drupal) fairy-tale ending.
Outline
Key Components of the Project
Accelerated Website Migration (4 Months):
Seamless transition from Ruby on Rails to Drupal 10, executed within a tight four-month window.
Unified Component Strategy with Brand-Specific Customization:
A shared component library used across multiple projects, customized to reflect unique branding guidelines.
Parallel Bug Resolution:
A synchronized bug-fixing strategy that ensured consistent quality across 4 digital properties (different websites) with minimal rework.
Session Overview
This session walks you through the entire transformation journey, including:
The project’s origin and goals
Key challenges and constraints
Solutions implemented across design, development, and QA
Feature highlights and reusable frameworks( Personalisation tools like VWO)
Tangible outcomes and lessons learned
We’ll also show how this fitness brand’s transformation sets a new benchmark for digital strategy, scalability, and execution.
Target Audience
Digital Managers
Business Owners
Product Owners
Consultants & Agency Leaders
Project Managers & Tech Leads
Content Creators
Quality Assurance Engineers
Drupal Enthusiasts
Learning Objectives
By attending this session, participants will:
Learn how to manage high-speed Drupal migrations from legacy systems
Understand how to design scalable, component-based architectures for complex platforms
Explore the benefits of a shared repository approach for bug fixes (providing a common fix for all three sites using the shared repository—ensuring that a bug fix implemented on one site is also applied consistently across the other three sites).
Gain practical insights to accelerate their own Drupal transformation initiatives
Experience level
Beginner