This post lifts the curtain on how we migrated a national knowledge portal from a sunsetted Drupal 7 stack to a modern WordPress + LearnDash + BuddyBoss ecosystem without losing a single resource or registered learner. The Drupal 7 site held hundreds of PDF toolkits and training pages, but lacked a true Learning Management System (LMS), mobile UX and bilingual parity. What happens when you outgrow your platform, but not your mission?
That’s the challenge the team behind the Homelessness Learning Hub (HLH) brought to Vertical. Their Drupal 7 site was buckling under complexity: no real LMS, limited mobile UX, and a steep learning curve for editors.
We stepped in to lead a migration and rebuild, from Drupal to WordPress with LearnDash and BuddyBoss, that would empower both learners and administrators.
Timeline: 3–5 months
Stack: WordPress + LearnDash + BuddyBoss + H5P + Polylang + Elementor
Scope: 600+ content nodes, 200 users, 4GB media
Results:
HLH, a York University initiative, serves Canada’s homelessness‑fighting workforce. Their legacy Drupal site was:
With Drupal 7 nearing sunset, it was time for a fresh start—on a platform they could manage in-house.
Training Delivery (LearnDash):
15+ bilingual courses
10–20 lessons each
H5P blocks, quizzes, certificates
Progress dashboards
BuddyBoss Community Layer:
Custom learner dashboards and toolbars
User groups, discussions, favorites, badges
Advanced user profiles
Admin Flexibility:
Elementor templates
Polylang for language control
Mailchimp & Uncanny Automator integrations
We inventoried 600+ nodes, 4GB of files, 200 users and created custom scripts to map taxonomy, post types, passwords, and media.
We preserved SEO equity: 301 redirects, sitemap resubmits, metadata cleanup and automated QA with manual bilingual verification. We didn’t just preserve content, we future‑proofed it.
Security: Wordfence, CI/CD pipelines, daily backups
Performance: 70% faster load time + Image optimization and CDN + object cache
Accessibility: WCAG-friendly contrast and text sizes, Semantic heading structure plus Alt text enforcement
Lighthouse Score
Traffic Growth
In Costs Reduction
The new site is modern, intuitive, and powerful. Our team can actually manage it without needing a developer.
Vertical handles quarterly audits and technical updates.
HLH’s team manages training content, user roles, and community engagement in-house.
Future roadmap:
The Homelessness Learning Hub is a bilingual learning platform advancing Canada’s homelessness-serving sector with toolkits, courses, and community spaces for front-line workers, leaders, and researchers.
Vertical is a top-tier WordPress digital agency based in Toronto. We use the latest tools and methodologies to finish projects on time and on budget, often exceeding expectations.
We don’t just launch websites, we launch momentum.
[email protected]
verticalhq.ca
