Create a usable inventory.
Record the current URL, title, content type, responsible team, review date and proposed action. Group duplicates and identify pages that answer the same resident question in different ways. Include attachments and external services, not just HTML pages.
Start with a representative sample if the estate is large. Use that sample to estimate the time needed for review, rewriting, document remediation and sign-off. Treat uncertain estimates as assumptions to revisit.
- Keep: current, useful and owned.
- Rewrite: necessary but confusing, incomplete or inaccessible.
- Archive: retain according to an agreed records approach.
- Remove: no continuing public need, subject to required review.
Decide before transforming.
Assign service owners to approve meaning, dates and next steps. Editors can improve structure and plain language, but a service team must confirm whether a requirement or instruction is correct. Define how disagreements and unanswered questions are escalated.
Create simple content patterns for common needs: service overview, eligibility, steps, related documents and contact route. Use those patterns to expose missing information before it enters the new system.
Map URLs as a public-service task.
Residents, search engines and partner organizations may rely on existing links. Record each important old URL and its best new destination. Avoid sending every removed page to the home page; a relevant service page or an explained archive is usually more useful.
Check redirect loops, query-string behaviour and attachment links. If no equivalent exists, decide what a helpful not-found experience should explain. Review records and legal obligations before retiring public information.
Verify content in its new setting.
Test migrated examples in context. Long headings, tables, unusual characters, embedded media, PDFs and translated pages often reveal problems that a simple text count will miss. Ask service owners to verify instructions and dates after transformation.
Keep a migration issue register with severity, owner and resolution. Agree which issues prevent launch and which can be accepted with a documented plan.
- Check page hierarchy, headings, link purpose and alternative text.
- Verify document names, formats, sizes and accessible alternatives.
- Review key tasks on mobile and with keyboard navigation.
- Confirm the next review date and accountable owner.
Handover the practice, not only the pages.
Leave the team with templates, an ownership register, review reminders and an archive policy. Explain how to correct an urgent error, report inaccessible content and retire a service without breaking its links.
A migration is complete when the content is useful, checked and maintainable—not simply when the transfer script has finished.
This guide is general planning information. It is not legal advice or an assurance that Astra Civic currently implements the capabilities described. Review the development status and verify requirements in your own evaluation.