If you decide to replace a legacy system, the question is how? In this part of the web site we will focus on the difficulties involved in building a new system from scratch.
Building new seems the logical option
Building new often seems the best option. ‘New coat’, ‘New car’; the word ‘new’ is associated with ‘better’. But new is not always better, for instance, ‘New garden’, ‘New problem’ or ‘New ICT system’.
A legacy system represents a huge investment. It develops over decades and contains the combined requirements and creativity of numerous developers and hundreds, sometimes thousands of users over a long period. How much work is required to replace it with an entirely new system from scratch and how long does it take?
As we know, development tools are far better now, and the user interface requirements of new systems are far greater. With these modern tools you can build something which is better, faster.
What problems do you encounter when building new systems from scratch?
- Developers overlook risks
- You cannot find all functionality
- You cannot freeze the legacy systems
- New may mean compromising quality.
- Users do not want totally new unfamiliar software.
