Legacy Systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The term ‘legacy system’ really relates to any system that has been developed in the past and is no longer a mainstream language.  Often the client had invested a significant amount of time, money and effort into the development and maintenance of these systems.  More importantly, their business operations and activities are reliant on the ongoing correct operation of this system.

 

Problems arise when the existing support is no longer willing or able to continue to support the system.  Perhaps the existing support is just not as good as it used to be.  The options facing a business in this situation can be fraught.  In a changing environment systems need to keep pace with the changes.  The options for the business are:

 

  • To continue with the existing support
  • Undertake no support at all
  • Select a replacement system
  • Find a new organization to support the system 

Before an organisation can make a decision about these options, there are a few questions that they should ask:

Does the organisation own the system?
Is the organisation able to access the source code?
Is the source code for the system same as deployment?
Is there any documentation about the function of the system?
Is the current deployment and/or source code stable?
What is the cost of not performing any support?

Is the current support organisation willing to handover knowledge?

Mintec has often been called upon to take over the support of a system.  We are well experienced in a range of languages and databases and can quickly pick up the technical issues of the system.

Legacy systems often represent a significant investment by an organisation that needs to be protected.