Selected Topics in Software Engineering

SWE 408

Lecture 2

Reference: Ian Sommerville, Software Engineering, Tenth Edition, Pearson Education Limited, England, 2016.
 Legacy Systems
Legacy systems: are older systems that are still in use in business.
▪ might rely on languages and technologies that are no longer used,
▪ have been maintained much over a long period,
▪ their structure may have been degraded by the changes that have been made.
Challenges faced on Legacy systems:
• impossible to change to effective business processes: because the legacy software
cannot be modified to support new processes.
• Skill shortages for maintaining business legacy systems.
• Existence of security vulnerabilities: because legacy systems were developed
before the Internet, so no preventive programs exist
• Problems in interfacing with systems written in modern programming languages.
• Original software supplier may be out of business or may no longer maintain the
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older software,
• The system hardware may be obsolete or expensive to maintain.
 Legacy Systems
Reasons why it is expensive and risky to replace legacy systems:
• A complete specification of the legacy system might not exist, or might not be updated,
• Important business rules may be embedded in the software only and may not be
documented
• A new system may not be delivered on time and for the price expected

Most organizations have a limited budget for maintaining and upgrading legacy systems.
They have to decide how to get the best return on their investment from existing systems.
Recommendation: making a realistic assessment of legacy systems and then deciding on
the most appropriate strategy for evolution.

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 Legacy Systems Management
Four strategic options to assess legacy systems:
1. Scrap the system completely (Never use the system again and get another system):
chosen when:
- the existing system is not making an effective contribution to business processes
- business processes have changed since the system was first installed and are no
longer rely on the legacy system.
2. Leave the system unchanged and continue with regular maintenance: chosen when:
- the system is still required but is fairly stable
- the system users make relatively few change requests.
3. Reengineer the system to improve its maintainability: chosen when:
- the system quality has been degraded by change
- new change to the system is still being proposed.
• It is recommended to develop new interface components in existing systems to other 4

newer systems
 Legacy Systems Management

4. Replace all or part of the system with a new system (ex.: Upgrade the system):
chosen when:
- some factors, such as new arising hardware make that the old system cannot
continue in operation,
- adopting off-the-shelf systems makes a new system to be developed at a
reasonable cost
• It is recommended that major legacy system’s components are replaced by off-the-shelf
system’s components

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 Assessing Legacy Systems

Assessing a legacy system should be:

▪ From a business perspective: decide whether or not the business really needs the
system.
▪ From a technical perspective: assess the quality of the application software and the
system’s support of software and hardware.

Business value of a system: is a measure of how much time and effort the system saves
compared to manual processes or the use of other systems.
Ex.: A legacy system may still be used, but there is no real point in keeping it—
the same functionality is available from external systems.

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 Assessing Legacy Systems: Business value - Quality

To assess a software from a business

perspective: consider;
Four clusters of systems exist:
1. Low quality, Low business value:
• Keeping these systems in
operation will be expensive,
• Rate of the return to business
will be fairly small.

These systems should be scrapped.

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Figure 4: An example of a legacy system assessment
 Assessing Legacy Systems: Business value - Quality

2. Low quality, High business value:

• These systems are making an important business contribution, so they cannot
be scrapped.
• Their low quality means that they are expensive to maintain.
These systems should be reengineered to improve their quality.
They may be replaced, if suitable off-the-shelf systems are available.

3. High quality, High business value:

• These systems have to be kept in operation.
• Their high quality means that you don’t have to invest in transformation
or system replacement.
Normal system maintenance should be continued. 8
 Assessing Legacy Systems: Business value - Quality
4. High quality, Low business value:
• Systems don’t contribute much to the business
• May not be very expensive to maintain.
• Normal system maintenance may be continued if expensive changes are not
required and the system hardware remains in use.

If expensive changes become necessary, the software should be scrapped.

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 Assessing Legacy Systems: Operation environment - Application
To assess a software system from a technical perspective: consider both the application
system and the operation environment.
• Consider these factors when assessing operation environment:

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Figure 5a: Factors used in operation environment assessment

Assessing Legacy Systems: Operation environment - Application

Figure 5b: Factors used in operation environment assessment

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 Assessing Legacy Systems: Operation environment - Application
• Consider these factors when assessing the application :

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Figure 6a: Factors used in application assessment

Assessing Legacy Systems: Operation environment - Application

Figure 6b: Factors used in application assessment 13