Discuss your projectRetire the inherited application that runs the business, one workflow at a time, with the old one running alongside until each move is proven. Operations continue throughout, and nothing is switched off until the numbers agree.
Leaders of businesses running on an application that is old, custom, or vendor-abandoned, and the technology leads who keep it alive. The need usually arises when the developer who knew it has left, the vendor has stopped answering, or a growth plan needs features it cannot support.
The workflow
The steps we see most often in this kind of operation.
Features
Documents every screen, report, integration, and hidden rule in the old application, so everything the business depends on is carried into the plan.
Moves records from the legacy database in repeatable, tested runs, cleaning and transforming them so each rehearsal gets closer to a clean cutover.
Compares outputs from old and new systems record by record, highlighting every difference so the team knows exactly when a workflow is ready to switch.
Keeps the old and new systems exchanging data while workflows move over, so accounting, reporting, and partners continue working throughout the transition.
Replaces shared logins and hard-coded access with named users, roles, and an audit trail, which makes the new system easier to govern.
Recreates the reports people rely on from the new data model, checked line by line against the legacy versions before the old ones retire.
Your first release
How the work runs
We start with the people doing the work and the systems around it, then write down the first release: what it includes, what it leaves for later, the integration decisions, and the acceptance criteria. Nothing is built until that scope is agreed.
We build in releases you can review as the work takes shape, using realistic data. Every release carries tests, a security review, and documentation. Integrations are tested against real records, with exceptions visible.
Your team receives the documentation, the runbooks, and the training to run the system, and we stay on for continued engineering when you want it.
Scope and price
Every project is priced from a written scope. These are the factors that move it most.
The number of workflows, screens, and reports the old application covers sets how many phases the plan needs and how much assessment comes first.
Missing source code or documentation shifts effort into discovery from the database, the screens, and the people who rely on the system.
Long histories of exceptions, duplicate records, and retired codes require cleaning rules and repeated migration rehearsals before records can move safely.
Every accounting link, report, and partner feed that reads from the legacy application must be rebuilt or bridged, and each adds design and testing.
Distribution company
Many distributors still take orders, manage inventory, and print invoices in an application written by a contractor who is close to retiring. The assessment maps what the system does and which workarounds surround it, and order entry is often the clearest candidate to move first. The first release sets up the data model, access, and release process, then moves order entry to the new system while the legacy application keeps running, with a reconciliation of orders between them. Inventory and invoicing move as separate phases, and the old system is switched off only when the reconciliation comes back clean.
Questions
What buyers ask before a project like this starts.
A big-bang replacement carries every risk at the same moment and delivers nothing until the end. Phases deliver a working workflow early and let the business keep running throughout.
The assessment works from the database, the screens, and the people who use it. Many legacy replacements start without source, and the behavior that matters is visible from those three.
It stays until every workflow that depends on it has moved and reconciled. That is decided phase by phase, not set as a date at the start.
That is the intent. The foundation is documented, tested, and built on mainstream tools, and continued engineering from us is optional.
Records that active work depends on move into the new system through tested migration runs. Older history can move too, or be kept in a read-only archive that stays searchable, so the legacy application can retire and the past stays within reach.
The assessment scores each workflow on value, risk, and how cleanly it separates from the rest. The first move is usually complete, frequently used, and painful in its current form, so the business sees a real improvement while the foundation is proven.
Training follows each phase. The people who use the workflow being moved see it early, test it with real records during the parallel run, and switch together on an agreed date. Written guides and recorded walkthroughs stay available for new hires.