Rebuilding a Dealer Portal into a Fast, Secure Headless Platform

Client: Galebreaker
Sector: Agricultural Manufacturing
Technology: Next.js, Payload CMS, DigitalOcean

The Challenge

Galebreaker has been manufacturing ventilation and animal-welfare systems since 1984, supporting an extensive dealer and partner network across multiple markets.

A critical part of that network is the Dealer Zone.

Dealers rely on it to access:

• fitting instructions
• product updates
• training material
• brochures
• partner-specific tools and resources

Over time, the portal had grown within WordPress using Ultimate Member and a collection of access-control rules spread across roles, plugins and content.

It worked, but it had become difficult to manage.

The main challenges were:

• complex access rules that were difficult to audit
• a dated mobile experience
• heavy reliance on WordPress plugins
• awkward content management
• increased risk when updating or changing permissions

The most important requirement was clear:

modernise the portal without breaking access control.

Every dealer and every partner needed to see exactly what they were entitled to and nothing else.

Our Approach

We treated the migration itself as the highest-risk part of the project.

The design mattered, but the bigger concern was moving users and partner permissions correctly.

Rather than manually recreating access rules, we extracted the source data directly from the existing WordPress system.

We mapped:

• each user
• their role
• their partner organisation
• the content they were allowed to access

The new portal was then built around that verified access model.

The front end was rebuilt using Next.js, while content management moved into Payload CMS, giving Galebreaker a cleaner and more maintainable headless platform.

Services Delivered

This project required a combination of platform migration, secure access architecture and headless CMS development.

Portal Design & Development
Rebuilding the dealer experience as a fast, responsive Next.js application designed for mobile and desktop use

Headless CMS Development
Migrating content into Payload CMS to create a cleaner, easier-to-manage editorial environment without reliance on front-end WordPress plugins

User & Role Migration
Migrating 132 users while preserving their exact roles and partner relationships

Access-Control Architecture
Rebuilding and validating partner-specific permissions to ensure private areas remained fully isolated

Content & Data Migration
Migrating 292 content items, files and multilingual resources into the new platform

Treating Access Control as the Core Requirement

The biggest risk was not visual.

It was permissions.

A migration like this can appear successful while quietly giving the wrong users access to the wrong content.

To avoid that, we treated the old platform as the source of truth and rebuilt permissions from real data rather than assumptions.

Each migrated user retained:

• the correct account
• the correct role
• the correct partner organisation
• the correct private-area access

The live platform was then audited automatically against the original data.

The result:

100% access parity with zero failures against the source system.

A Fast, Mobile-First Dealer Portal

The public dealer experience was rebuilt using Next.js.

The new portal provides a cleaner sidebar-based interface designed around how dealers actually use it in the field.

Each user lands on a personalised dashboard showing only the resources relevant to their account and partner area.

The new front end delivers:

• faster loading
• improved mobile usability
• clearer navigation
• reduced front-end complexity
• a more modern user experience

This is a strong example of how solutions architecture can simplify complex user journeys without weakening access control.

A Headless CMS the Team Can Actually Manage

Payload CMS replaced the previous plugin-heavy content-management setup.

The system was configured specifically around Galebreaker’s internal team and content structure.

It includes:

• branded administration
• staff-only CMS access
• a clear getting-started guide
• partner-access visibility
• structured content management

Dealers cannot access the CMS.

Internal teams can manage the content they need without having to navigate the complexity of the old WordPress plugin environment.

This gives Galebreaker a cleaner long-term content-management foundation.

Private Partner Areas

The portal supports 19 partner organisations, with 17 requiring dedicated private areas.

Each partner can have access to its own:

• welcome content
• branding
• calculators
• documents
• resources

These areas are isolated from one another.

Users from one partner organisation cannot see content belonging to another partner.

This was tested and verified as part of the migration and launch process.

Seven-Language Content Migration

The Dealer Zone contains a substantial content library across multiple languages.

We migrated:

• fitting instructions
• product updates
• academy training
• brochures
• related media and files

while preserving localisation across seven languages.

In total, 292 content items were carried into the new platform.

The migration was scripted rather than performed manually, making it repeatable and safer.

A Migration Designed to Be Rehearsed

Rather than relying on a one-off migration, we created repeatable scripts that could be run, checked and re-run.

This allowed us to:

• rehearse the migration
• compare results
• resolve issues before launch
• verify the final system against the source
• reduce risk during cutover

The migration remained reversible and controlled throughout.

This reflects our wider approach to website and platform migration without losing data, access or operational continuity.

Installable App Experience

The new dealer portal also works as an installable Progressive Web App.

Dealers can add it directly to their device home screen, giving the platform a more app-like experience without requiring a separate native application.

The platform also supports notifications so users can be alerted when:

• new product updates are published
• partner-specific content changes
• relevant new resources become available

This helps the Dealer Zone function as an active communication channel rather than simply a document library

The Results

The rebuilt portal delivered:

132 users migrated
Every user retained their correct role and partner relationship.

19 partner organisations supported
Including 17 dedicated private partner areas.

292 content items migrated
Including multilingual resources and associated files.

100% access parity
Automated auditing confirmed that every migrated user matched the permissions held in the original system.

Zero access failures against the source
No incorrect user or partner permissions were identified in the final audit.

Access You Can Verify, Not Just Trust

The old portal relied on a complex combination of WordPress roles and plugin logic.

The new platform makes access explicit and auditable.

Each user’s role, organisation and access rights are part of the underlying data model.

This means:

• permissions can be tested
• partner boundaries can be verified
• migration results can be compared automatically
• access becomes a matter of record rather than assumption

For a private dealer network, that level of confidence is fundamental.

Technology Stack

The platform was developed using:

• Next.js
• Payload CMS
• DigitalOcean
• custom migration tooling
• automated access auditing
• Progressive Web App functionality

The technology was selected to create a balance between speed, maintainability, content flexibility and secure access.

Impact

The Dealer Zone is now:

• faster for dealers
• easier to use on mobile
• simpler for the Galebreaker team to manage
• less dependent on plugins
• easier to audit
• more scalable for future partners and content

Most importantly, the migration preserved exactly who could see what.

The technology changed.

The access model did not.

What This Demonstrates

The Galebreaker Dealer Portal project highlights The DM Lab’s ability to combine:

• Secure Portal Development
• Headless CMS Architecture
• User & Data Migration
• Access-Control Design
• Multilingual Content Migration
• Progressive Web Apps
• Solutions Architecture
• Digital Transformation

to modernise a complex business-critical platform without compromising security or operational continuity.

Final Thought

The Galebreaker Dealer Portal rebuild demonstrates that successful platform modernisation is not simply about replacing old technology.

It is about understanding what the existing system does, identifying what cannot be allowed to break, and designing a better architecture around those realities.

By rebuilding the portal using Next.js and Payload CMS, we created a faster and easier-to-manage platform while preserving access across 132 users and 19 partner organisations with complete parity against the original system.

The old Dealer Zone made access something the business had to trust.

The new platform makes it something they can verify.

This is exactly how we approach replacing fragile digital systems with platforms teams can trust.