Upgrading Legacy Approval Tools – How Can No Code Workflow Automation Help?
Key takeaways
- Digital transformation has made it imperative for application leaders to find effective ways to modernize legacy systems.
- According to the VP analyst at Gartner, legacy systems are known to hold back business initiatives and business processes that rely on them.
- Business fit, business value, and agility are among the 3 main drivers for application modernization.
- Other drivers include the cost, complexity, and risk associated with IT operations.
- While choosing modernizing solutions, you must weigh all options to help identify the extent to which each will have the desired extent.
- Legacy systems are essentially applications that were developed in a previous era and have been used for years.
- Legacy application development can be simplified and made more efficient with no code platforms.
- You need to choose the modernization approach with the highest effect and value.
- Upgrading legacy approval tools can be done with a no code workflow automation solution like Cflow.
What is a Legacy System?
What is a legacy system? Legacy systems generally refer to applications that were developed in a previous era and have been used for several years. These systems are rigid and difficult to update or upgrade because they are written in a programming language that is no longer being supported or is no longer in use. Legacy system modernization is a must for businesses looking to gain the competitive edge.
Upgrading legacy approval tools can be done with the help of no code automation tools like Cflow. Learn more about legacy systems, challenges with legacy systems, ways of modernizing legacy systems, and how no code automation can be used for legacy app modernization.
Table of Contents
Challenges in Modernizing a Legacy System
When you have a legacy system or application that has been built over several years, it can be difficult to modernize legacy applications for better efficiency. Legacy system modernization can be challenging without the right modernization tools. We will discuss some of the challenges in modernizing a legacy system.
- Legacy applications have interdependencies that are not evident on the surface.
- Legacy codebases are often cobbled together from different languages and frameworks, which make it hard to determine where to start.
- The codebase may be scattered in multiple repositories, which makes it difficult to build and maintain a cohesive system.
- Development teams also may be scattered across different locations and cultures, which complicates the modernization effort.
- Legacy systems may be running on outdated infrastructure, making it difficult to scale up or down.
- Most legacy applications are built on low code platforms, making it difficult to modernize.
Modernizing legacy applications needs to be done after extensive analysis of the system and its dependencies.
Need to Upgrade Legacy Systems
Why should you modernize legacy systems? There are a number of reasons why you should modernize legacy systems. The main reason why organizations require legacy system transformation is struggle to meet compliance and regulatory requirements pertaining to data governance. Here are reasons for legacy modernization –
Save on maintenance costs
Maintaining legacy systems requires time, energy, and resources that could be better spent on developing new applications. Legacy systems are usually built on outdated coding languages that require extensive maintenance efforts. A no code platform can reduce the amount of time and money needed to spend on maintenance tasks such as updates, security patches, bug fixes, and so on.
Simplification and consolidation of system functionality
Legacy applications can be complex and hard to understand. Since most legacy systems are coded using languages that are old, and outdated, finding developers that have these skill sets can be challenging. Modernizing legacy systems using no-code platforms can easily consolidate and standardize system functionality across multiple applications.
Standardization across multiple systems
Legacy systems lack the standardization required for seamless operations. Modernization of legacy systems standardizes the development process and accelerates the rollout of new futures into products.
5 Candidates for Legacy Modernization
The one-size-fits-all approach does not hold for legacy system transformation. Specific considerations would apply to each type of software. We have described 5 common modernization examples with suggested strategies to support updates.
Applications on commodity servers
Teams may choose to containerize their applications so that they can be packaged and deployed consistently, regardless of the environment where they are deployed (locally, on-premises, or in the cloud). Consistency across applications can be helpful throughout the entire software development lifecycle, from development to testing to deployment to support. The shift to virtualized applications on the cloud can be done by encapsulating applications in software containers such as Docker. Containers wrap applications and their dependent components together in a single package. In virtualization and container scenarios, the application functionality is not disturbed, and you gain greater flexibility in terms of the environment and allocated resources.
Antiquated systems
Antiquated systems are ones that the organization builds from scratch in the days of mainframes and Cobol. Such systems are the most challenging to modernize, and in some cases, modernization may not even be a profitable proposition. Before modernizing antiquated systems, you need to validate if the system works well and is not a liability to the organization. Rather than modernizing antiquated systems, it makes sense to gather data and functions to expose APIs and look for modern packaged alternatives.
Business processes
Business processes are an integral part of applications that involve workflow automation and document management. Processes can become a liability for the business if –
- They are never optimized
- The scope of the business changes
- Technology provides improvement avenues
So, how do you modernize a business process? Workflow automation is the most effective and efficient way to modernize a business process. The first step in workflow automation is to analyze the business process, which helps examine existing processes to find new efficiencies. Cflow is a no-code workflow automation solution that helps users visualize process flows using drag-and-drop tools. Other forms of automation include low-code app development, event brokers, predictive decision modeling, process discovery, and document capture software.
Enterprise service bus
An enterprise service bus facilitates the exchange of services between applications. The ESB allows applications to subscribe to messages based on simple rules and logic, paving a standard way to distribute services. The concept of an enterprise service bus has been there since ages, but cloud computing has redefined the way software is built for service exchange. Modern cloud applications consist of loosely coupled software functions that are assembled on the fly. An ESB enables developers to extend and enhance functionality by including new services.
API Integration
This kind of integration exposes application services and data in ways that can be used by other software. For instance, the credit card approval process within an existing app can be encapsulated and exposed as an API. There are several tools that can be retrofitted into legacy applications via APIs, which enables you to modernize gradually over time. API integration is an easy way to extend the life of legacy software while you write or install more modern applications.
What are Low Code Platforms?
low-code platform is software designed to make legacy application development more efficient by automatically generating code for common tasks. Such platforms eliminate the need for manual coding and simplify the update and upgrade of legacy applications. Low-code platforms also help you standardize the application architecture, making it easier to develop and maintain apps. A machine learning algorithm is used by low code platforms to understand how the application works and generates proper codes required for tasks. Low code platforms do not require programmers, all you need to do is specify the tasks you want to be handled.
What are no code platforms?
A no-code development platform requires very few or no programming skills to quickly build an application, website, or module that links to an existing system. These platforms enable line of business employees who have the necessary institutional knowledge and understand business requirements for an app but lack programming skills or knowledge for developing a form or website or adding functionality to an existing app.
Visual tools are the mainstay of no-code platforms. To build apps or forms, or websites, users need to drag-and-drop visual elements. The coding in no-code platforms is behind the scenes. The heavy lifting is done by no-code tool providers that use data encapsulation and abstraction to hide the complexity of coding, by providing drag-and-drop user interfaces.
Modernizing Legacy Approval Systems
“For many organizations, legacy systems are seen as holding back the business initiatives and processes that rely on them.” – Stefan Van Der Zidjen, VP Analyst Gartner
Upgrading legacy approval tools with no code workflow automation solutions simplifies legacy modernization greatly. The chaos and confusion that is usually associated with modernizing legacy networks can be easily eliminated with no code automation. Technology and the evolution of business processes have driven organizations to modernize their legacy software apps. Legacy app modernization is challenging as they are written in code that is not platform agnostic and may not fit into modern development practices. The good news is that modernizing legacy systems can be effectively done with the help of a no-code workflow automation solution like Cflow.
The legacy system modernization approaches described below help evaluate legacy systems and find ways to solve issues with these systems. You can choose the best approach for your business depending on the problem that needs to be solved.
1- Evaluating legacy systems using 6 drivers
There are six main drivers for legacy system transformation. These drivers are primarily the issues, concerns, or impediments that have been created by the legacy application as a result of its technology architecture or functionality. From a business perspective, business fit, business value, and agility are the 3 drivers. If the legacy system does not meet the new requirements that come with digitization, it needs to be modernized to fit properly and should be upgraded to provide greater business value.
From the IT perspective, there are 3 other drivers to legacy modernization, namely, cost, complexity, and risk. If the total cost of ownership is too high, or technology is too complex, or security, compliance, scalability, and support are being compromised, then it is time to modernize. The best legacy system modernization approaches combine multiple drivers from both a business and IT perspective.
2- Evaluating modernization
Once the modernization opportunity has been identified, the next step is to look at modernization options. Gartner has ranked 7 options for modernizing legacy systems, which we have listed below. These options are ranked based on ease of implementation. The easier the implementation, the lesser the risk associated with modernization.
- Encapsulate – This approach leverages and extends the application features by encapsulating its data and functions. Encapsulation makes data and functions available on services via an API.
- Rehost – This approach redeploys the application component into other infrastructure (cloud, virtual, or physical) without modifying its code, features, or functions. When you rehost or redeploy the legacy application, you “lift and shift” the application from an on-premise deployment to public, hybrid, private, or multi-cloud environments.
- Replatform – This approach migrates the legacy app to a new runtime platform, making minimal changes to the code only, leaving code structure, features, and functions as they are. When you re-platform the application, you modernize an aspect or aspects of the application’s platform, like the underlying database. Replatforming requires some modifications to the code base.
- Refactor – This approach restructures and optimizes existing code to remove technical debt and improve nonfunctional attributes. When you refactor the legacy system, you update the code base to make improvements to the code.
- Re-architect – This modernization approach materially alters the code to shift it to a new application architecture and exploit new and better capabilities. Re-architecturing the application would require updating the code base in order to take advantage of modern architectures like containers or microservices.
- Rebuild – This approach redesigns or rewrites the application component from scratch while preserving its scope and specifications.
- Replace – This approach eliminates the former application component altogether and replaces it while considering new requirements and business needs. When you replace the application, you start from scratch with an entirely new code base. One option is to replace the app feature with the feature. Another approach is to reimagine the app completely and decide on what features to drop and what new features to add.
3- Choosing the modernization approach
The modernization approach that will have the highest effect and provide the highest value to the organization by mapping the legacy system modernization approaches discussed above in terms of their effect on technology, architecture, functionality, cost, and risk. Modernizing legacy systems involves choosing between re-architecturing, rebuilding, or replacing approaches. Re-architecturing involves medium costs and risks, whereas rebuilding or replacing provides the best results with higher costs and risks. Choosing the modernization approach involves weighing all options and identifying the extent to which each will have the desired effect with minimum effort and maximum positive impact.
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Stages in Legacy Modernization
Modernizing legacy systems can be done effectively when the right low-code tools are used and the right approach is implemented. How do you perform legacy application modernization? Legacy system modernization is a 2 phased process – initial assessment and execution phases.
The initial phase is where the teams work together to assess the entire application portfolio and understand the application’s details. The applications in the legacy system are rated based on factors like technical implementation, interconnectedness with other applications and systems, anticipated return on investment, and drivers for change. If the app receives a high rating, the team performs a deeper evaluation to estimate app modernization efforts. The team then determines priority and creates an application modernization roadmap.
Once the assessment is done thoroughly, the team proceeds to the execution phase. In this phase, the team implements the application modernization roadmap. The execution phase involves the following steps –
- Design and architect app modernization
- Implement the application modernization, which could involve rehosting, re-platforming, refactoring, or replacing the application.
- Validate and test the application outputs
- Deploy the modernized application
The steps in the execution phase can be completed by following the waterfall model or interactive approach.
Key Technologies for Application Modernization
Although every legacy modernization project is unique, there are a few key technologies that frequently appear in the modernization journey.
Containers
Teams may choose to containerize their applications so that they can be packaged and deployed consistently, regardless of the environment where they are deployed. The consistency can be helpful all through the software development lifecycle.
Serverless functions
Teams may choose to package app functionality into discrete functions that are managed entirely in the cloud. Cloud providers, backend-as-a-service providers, and other development platforms handle the running and scaling aspects of serverless functions. This way developers can focus on writing the business logic and calling functions.
Microservices
Teams may choose to break a huge, monolithic application into several smaller microservices. A microservices architecture provides several benefits like faster time to market, scalability, flexibility, resiliency, and cost reductions.
Databases
Teams may choose to move from rigid, relational databases to more flexible, modern databases.
The cloud
Teams may choose to move from managing their own infrastructure and tech stack to using infrastructure and services in a private, hybrid, or public cloud. Teams can also choose to use a multi-cloud strategy to avoid vendor lock-in.
CI/CD Automation
Teams may choose to move from manual deployments to frequent, automated deployments by implementing CI/CD pipeline automation.
Advantage of Using No Code Tools
Why use no-code tools for legacy system modernization? Here are 3 advantages of using no-code tools for modernizing legacy systems –
- Very small development footprint – No code tools require no coding to be done by the user. The first benefit of using no code tools is that they have a very small development footprint. These tools require less time and resources to develop and deploy. As a result they can be deployed rapidly into production environments.
- Highly flexible – No code tools are extremely flexible. They allow developers to write code in a more concise and modular way. This high degree of flexibility makes it easier to maintain and expand the functionality of an application.
- Automate common tasks – Low code tools can be used to automate several common tasks within an application such as migration and testing. These tools reduce the manual load required to modernize an application.
Why is Cflow the Best Choice?
Cflow is the most reliable no code automation solution that is trusted by small and enterprise businesses across the globe. This is an AI-based workflow automation platform that can effectively ensure seamless legacy modernization. The entire legacy system can be automated with the visual workflow builder in Cflow. Cflow is the best choice for modernizing legacy systems because –
Customizable workflow templates – Users can use customizable templates to create workflows easily and quickly.
Flexibility – Flexible approvals in Cflow simplifies and accelerates approval workflows.
Rules engine – The sophisticated rules engine in Cflow helps in navigating the tasks to the right team members at the right time.
Integration – The platform supports API integration which makes legacy modernization smooth.
Conclusion
Legacy systems lack the flexibility and scalability that is required to match evolving business requirements. Upgrading legacy approval tools by modernizing them has become imperative to survive cutthroat competition in the markets. Legacy system modernization using no-code workflow solutions can simplify legacy modernization. Cflow can simplify and accelerate legacy modernization. Interested to know how? Sign up for the free trial today.
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