That ancient Access database, the FileMaker app, the in-house Java tool nobody wants to touch — we modernize it without losing what works, and without putting your operations at risk during the switch.
Most established firms have one. Maybe two. The legacy app — built fifteen years ago by a developer who has long since left, running on a server everyone's afraid to reboot, with a workflow the team has memorized because the UI is unintelligible. It works, technically. But every year it's a little harder to find someone who can maintain it, every Windows update is a small adventure, and the day it finally breaks is going to be a very bad day.
The instinct is usually one of two extremes: rip it out and replace it with a generic SaaS that doesn't actually fit the workflow, or leave it alone and hope. We offer the third path. Reverse-engineer what the legacy app actually does (often more than the original spec ever said). Rebuild it as a modern web application that runs on infrastructure your IT person actually wants to maintain. Migrate the data with a paper trail. Run the old and new in parallel until everyone trusts the new one. Then decommission cleanly.
The same approach applies if you don't want to fully replace — you just want to bolt a modern interface, an API, or a mobile experience onto an app that's otherwise fine. We do augmentation engagements too: keep the engine, replace the cockpit.
The usual suspects. Yours probably looks like one of these.
The classic. Forms, queries, reports, the .accdb that grew into a business-critical system. We migrate to a real database (PostgreSQL or SQL Server), rebuild the forms as a web app, and preserve every report your team relies on.
Platforms with shrinking developer pools and uncertain futures. We extract the schema and the business logic, document them, and rebuild on modern tooling — usually faster than you'd expect, because the original built up a lot of accidental complexity.
"Joe built this in 2011 and Joe doesn't work here anymore." We can take it over, document it, fix the urgent bugs, and either keep maintaining it for you or migrate to something supportable. No judgment — every business has at least one Joe app.
The vendor went out of business, jacked up prices 300%, or stopped supporting the version you're on. We help you extract your data and rebuild the parts that actually matter — usually for less than three years of the renewal fee.
A 40-tab spreadsheet with VBA macros that runs your operations. Honestly impressive engineering — but fragile, single-user, and one wrong paste from disaster. We turn it into a real multi-user web app while preserving every formula and report.
Sometimes the engine works fine but the UI is the problem. We build a web or mobile front-end that talks to your existing database or system, giving the team a modern experience without a full rip-and-replace.
We get hands-on with the existing app, document what it actually does (often more than anyone realizes), and identify which parts your team uses every day versus the dusty corners. This is usually 1-2 weeks.
A written plan: what gets rebuilt, what gets dropped (with your sign-off), the data migration strategy, the parallel-run period, training, and decommission. Flat fee for the rebuild, separately quoted.
We build the replacement. Then both systems run side by side for several weeks — the team tries the new one for real work, finds the gaps, we fix them. Nothing gets switched until your people trust the new version.
Final data migration, switch users over, archive the old system (don't delete — never delete on day one), and stay close for the first few weeks. The old app remains available read-only for as long as you want.
Pre-cloud case management that hasn't kept up. We rebuild around your actual practice areas instead of forcing you into a generic vendor's idea of how law works.
When the vendor stops innovating, raises prices, or gets acquired and goes downhill. We help you escape — or build the missing pieces around the parts that still work.
Internal apps for inspections, FOIA workflow, equipment tracking, training records — built years ago and now barely supported. We modernize without losing institutional knowledge.
Inherited the company and inherited a custom app no one understands. We document it, decide what to keep, and rebuild what's worth rebuilding.
Tell us roughly what it is, what it runs on, and what would happen if it died tomorrow. We'll give you an honest read on whether to replace, augment, or just shore it up.
solutions@optimizedworking.com