Modernization and rescue
Legacy code and databases restructured, test suites rebuilt, and releases made routine again.
The problem
There is code nobody wants to open. Tests fail or do not exist, releases are slow, and every change feels like a gamble. Either the business slowly stops asking for changes, or it keeps asking and the changes pile up on the main branch until everyone can agree to a release, which then ships them all at once, where they step on each other.
How Aternex approaches it
- Get access, read the code and run it, so the work starts from the system as it is and not from a description of it.
- Measure code health, test results and release times before touching anything.
- Restructure in small steps with the tests green the whole way, through your normal review process.
- Put every change through tests, a pull request with an AI-paired review and CI/CD, so releases go out small and often instead of piling up into one risky deployment.
- Measure again with the same tools and write down the before and after, so the improvement is a number.
What you get
- Large files and tangled modules split into focused ones, following SOLID principles
- Databases refactored in place: schemas, indexes and migrations reworked without stopping the business
- A test suite brought from failing or missing to trusted and fast
- Build and release pipelines that run on every change and fail loudly
- Dependencies brought up to current supported versions, so security fixes arrive as routine pull requests
- Legacy processes moved to managed cloud services where it lowers cost
The evidence
Measured results from production work, each with its method and limits, and working examples of the same kind of system on made-up data.
Measured in production work
- One restructure took a dispatch engine from 22 to 60 modules and its type errors from 36 to 0.See how it was measured
- Repo code health moved from 7.91 to 9.53, the hotspot score from 5.35 to 9.29, and the worst file from 1.0 to 6.05.See how it was measured
- A browser suite that had never passed (0 of 103) was repaired to 111 passing tests, and a unit and integration layer that did not exist was added: 458 tests. 569 tests in all, 530 of them added.See how it was measured
- Cut deployment time by 60% and deployment errors to zero.See how it was measured
Questions
Does modernization mean a rewrite?
Rarely. Most rescue work restructures the code in place, in small steps behind tests, so the business keeps running the whole time. A rewrite is proposed only when the measurements show it is the cheaper path.
Does that include the database?
Yes. Data is where most business software lives or dies, so modernization covers the schema too: tables split or consolidated, indexes tuned to the queries people actually run, and every change shipped as a versioned migration with a way back.
How is the improvement measured?
With the same tools on the same code before and after: code health scores, test counts, type errors and pipeline timings. On one engagement the repository's code health moved from 7.91 to 9.53 and its worst file from 1.0 to 6.05.
Can the work lower our cloud bill?
Often. By my own account from that role, with no proof page, moving four legacy processes to cloud-native services on AWS cut the runtime for the same work by more than 90% and the cloud cost by 85%.
Can Aternex work alongside our developers?
Yes. Austin can join your repositories, tools and review routine on contract or as a full-time hire, or Aternex can take a defined problem and own it from investigation to production.
Have code nobody wants to touch?
Tell Aternex what is going on, on a call or through the contact form. I reply within two business days.