---
title: "UNESCO - Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications"
description: "UNESCO publishes around 150 publications a year, but its publication workflow platform ran on a decade-old on-premise Drupal 7 setup. We reviewed documents…"
url: https://reliefapplications.org/projects/unesco-platform-scoping-business-and-technical-specifications/
lang: en
updated: 2026-11-11
---

# UNESCO - Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications

UNESCO publishes around 150 publications a year, but its publication workflow platform ran on a decade-old on-premise Drupal 7 setup. We reviewed documents, interviewed users and ran workshops to define user stories and key functions, benchmarked available tools, and recommended a modular platform with customisable interfaces so UNESCO can choose the right partner for a new one.

- **Client**: UNESCO
- **When**: 4.5 months
- **Team**: 3 people
- **Services**: [Info management & MEAL](https://reliefapplications.org/services/info-management/), [App development](https://reliefapplications.org/services/app-dev-and-maintenance/)
- **Technologies**: Salesforce
- **Industry**: Culture of peace; Sustainable development; Sciences
- **SDGs**: 4. Quality education, 5. Gender equality, 11. Sustainable cities and communities, 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions
- **Client website**: [unesco.org](https://www.unesco.org/en)

UNESCO releases approximately 150 publications annually to foster global knowledge sharing and advancement. However, its outdated publication workflow management platform, relying on a decade-old On Premise Drupal 7 environment, faced technical issues and scalability limitations. Recognizing the need for modernization, UNESCO sought consulting expertise to define business and technical requirements for revamping the platform to meet current technology and security standards.

Relief Applications meticulously analyzed UNESCO's publication management needs through documentation review, user interviews, and interactive workshops. This approach enabled the collaborative definition of user stories and essential platform functionalities, ensuring alignment with UNESCO's requirements and industry standards.

Additionally, Relief Applications conducted a comprehensive benchmarking exercise of available tools, providing tailored recommendations for platform development and ongoing maintenance within UNESCO's technical ecosystem. By following this methodology, UNESCO will be empowered to engage with ideal partners for crafting a bespoke, future-proof solution that meets its immediate needs and industry standards.

## The challenge

- Balancing usability with complexity of internal processes and integration needs

## What we did

- Proposing a modular system that offers customizable user interfaces and workflows, allowing users to access advanced features as needed while maintaining simplicity for everyday tasks, fitting UNESCO's architecture to ensure future integrations

![Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications, UNESCO: screen 1](https://reliefapplications.org/images/projects/slides/p093/01.webp)

![Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications, UNESCO: screen 2](https://reliefapplications.org/images/projects/slides/p093/02.webp)

![Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications, UNESCO: screen 3](https://reliefapplications.org/images/projects/slides/p093/03.webp)

![Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications, UNESCO: screen 4](https://reliefapplications.org/images/projects/slides/p093/04.webp)

![Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications, UNESCO: screen 5](https://reliefapplications.org/images/projects/slides/p093/05.webp)

![Platform Scoping: Business and Technical Specifications, UNESCO: screen 6](https://reliefapplications.org/images/projects/slides/p093/06.webp)

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