Not all legacy software fits a category. If your business is running a custom application, a 32-bit Windows tool, or any software where the source code is missing and the people who built it are gone — this is where to start.
The general case
Legacy software problems follow a pattern, regardless of the platform or language:
- Software was built to solve a specific problem
- The people who built it moved on
- The business kept running the software because it worked
- The context was lost — no documentation, no code, no one who remembers
- Something changed — a Windows upgrade, a server migration, hardware failure, a new requirement — and suddenly the software’s survival is uncertain
At that point, the business faces a question it can’t easily answer: what would it actually take to understand, recover, or replace this system?
I answer that question.
What I work with
I’ve built capability to analyse Windows desktop applications, custom-built tools, and bespoke business software regardless of what they were originally built with. I work from what exists:
- The running application — behaviour, screens, data flows
- Binary files and executables — even without source code
- Database files in any common format
- Any partial source code or documentation that remains
- Operational knowledge from the people who use the system daily
What I deliver
Depending on what you need, I can deliver:
- System documentation — what the application does, how it works, what business processes it supports
- Data extraction — your data out of proprietary formats and into something portable
- Architecture analysis — the system's structure, components, and dependencies
- Business rule documentation — the logic, calculations, and rules embedded in the application
- Modernisation options — realistic paths forward with honest effort and risk assessment
- Migration planning — a structured plan for replacing the system if that's the right call
Starting with an assessment
Every engagement starts with a fixed-scope assessment. This isn’t a vague “discovery phase” — it’s a structured analysis with defined deliverables that gives you concrete information about your system and your options.
The assessment is scoped so that you know what you’re getting before you commit. If nothing else, it gives you documentation that currently doesn’t exist and a clearer view of your options.
The worst outcome for your business isn't that the software is hard to recover. It's that you don't know what you're dealing with until something breaks. An assessment converts uncertainty into information.
Describe your software situation
Tell me what you're running, what the problem is, and what outcome you need. If it's a real problem for your business, I want to hear about it.