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Legacy Software
Re-engineering Services

Legacy software re-engineering stands as a less risky approach to software rebuilding, but this option still requires thorough preparation and planning. Engineers take a legacy application as a basis to build an up-to-date solution with an identical or even better feature-set. It will seem just the same by functionality, but look and feel like a brand-new modern solution. The process of re-engineering legacy software requires the translation of the source code into another programming language, the reorganization of a database or its transfer, the optimization of software architecture, the addition of new features, and the integration of third-party APIs.

NEW FEATURES

DATABASE

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

THIRD-PARTY APIS

SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE

WHAT YOU GET?

Migration to the Modern Technology
Saving and Enhancing Your Solution Value
Eliminating Issues Connected with Weak Architecture
Resolving Defects, Failures and Performance Limits

Reengineering

You Need Software Re-engineering Services If:

000

THE SOLUTION YOU HAVE IS NOT QUALITATIVE ENOUGH

001

There are drastic changes in technology or the company’s business processes

010

There is a lack of technology vendor support

011

There is a technology that better matches the business

What’s Inside the Software
Re-engineering Process

Step 01

Inventory analysis

This is an identification of
re-engineering candidates among active software apps using business criticality, longevity, current maintainability, and other local criteria.

Step 02

Document restructuring

To save the essence of your current application, we fill the gaps of old documentation and rewrite the documentation for crucial parts.

Step 03

Reverse engineering

This stage includes program analysis to recover its design and represents it at an abstraction level higher than a source code.

Step 04

Code restructuring

After we have understood the main principles and models used in the app structure that became outdated, all violations in the source code can be noted, repaired, reviewed, and tested.

Step 05

Data restructuring

Performing data restructuring means dissecting the current architecture in order to define the data process model and review data structures.

Step 06

Forward engineering

At this stage we recover design information from existing source code and reconstitute the existing system to improve the quality and performance.

01 Inventory analysis
02 Document restructuring
03 Reverse engineering
04 Code restructuring
05 Data restructuring
06 Forward engineering

I DON’T KNOW WHETHER MY SYSTEM SHOULD BE
RE-ENGINEERED OR NOT?

Even though re-engineering is a relatively low-risk approach to software modernization, it requires solid development efforts and expertise. Before making any decisions and updating the legacy system, estimate the potential business and technical perspectives of your brand-new software.

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General Model for Software Re-engineering

Let’s try to understand what is hidden under the re-engineering in software engineering concept using simple words. We have a legacy system in use with its four constituents: the concept, requirements, design, and implementation.

Using the reverse engineering method, the development team analyzes the new solution, including documentation and source code to extract the requirements it was built by and reveal the concept of the app.

After that, we can re-think the existing system concept in accordance with current business circumstances and form new requirements for a target system design and implementation.

The most difficult stage is completed and now we can
re-engineer legacy software systems using the forward engineering method. When the target system is ready, your provider checks whether the new system matches the old one by functionality quality.

Reverse Engineering (Abstract)

conceptual

Requirements

design

Implementation

Existing System

Alteration

Re-think

Re-specify

Re-design

Re-code

Compare Functionality
quality

Forward Engineering (Refinement)

Conceptual

Requirements

Design

Implementation

Target system

ModLogix
Insight

All articles

Should You Rehost, Rebuild, or Rewrite a Legacy Application With Latest Software?

We revealed each of these modernization approaches and compared them to make the decision-making process easier for you.

Legacy Software Re-engineering: Risks and Mitigations

Re-engineering is a go-to approach to modernize outdated code. How does if differ from other modernization approaches? Read this post!

How to Use
Re-engineering Services in a Particular Case?

FROM CASE TO CASE RE-ENGINEERING DIFFERS DEPENDING ON:

The state of your current system
The documentation availability
The consistency of its previous implementation

That’s why the methodology for this approach can be chosen using the scheme shown on the figure below. As you can see, we can avoid the complex reverse engineering stage if your current system implementation was consistent.

START

IS A DESIGN MODEL AVAILABLE

YES

IS A DESIGN MODEL AVAILABLE

YES

Restructure

REVERSE
ENGINEER

perform modification(s) as a forward engineering activity

FINISH

A piece of advice

This is one more argument to carefully choose a legacy modernization company who can not only make the system work, but implement it in a technically correct manner. It’s like building a house — if you have any problems in the foundation, it can cause many issues when you try to rebuild it.