Rescuing a Platform Under Fire
Legacy Modernisation & Stabilisation
A long running SaaS company approached SoftLogic with their core platform on the brink — years of accumulated technical debt, no documentation, and a dev team that had departed. We stabilised, modernised, enhanced and maintained it.
React
C#
.NET
Azure
30 days
to production stability
3×
reduction in API latency
72%
test coverage achieved
60%
fewer bug reports after 90 days
The challenge
The platform had been built across multiple dev cycles with no consistent standards. Multiple tech stacks. No strategy for renewal. Critical production bugs were shipping, API latency had grown to unacceptable levels, and there was zero test coverage. Business continuity was at risk.
Our approach
- Full codebase archaeology — mapping the system, identifying critical paths, and documenting what existed.
- Emergency stabilisation sprint to stop the bleeding: patching critical bugs and restoring production reliability within two weeks.
- Progressive refactoring. Careful prioritisation of new features. Comprehensive security review resulted in new authentication and privacy modules — replacing high-risk modules incrementally with zero downtime.
- Introduction of a CI/CD pipeline, test, staging environments with automated testing gates to prevent regression.
- Frontend uplift from an outdated WebForms implementation to a modern React architecture.
- Comprehensive handover documentation and knowledge transfer to the client.
What we found
The platform had grown across three development cycles and two contractors. There was no source of truth for the build, no test coverage, and the only person who understood the deployment had left the year before.
The first fortnight went into reading the system rather than changing it: mapping the modules, the data, the scheduled jobs, and everything that quietly depended on them.
- A written map of the system, its integrations and its risks
- A build that runs on a clean machine, from source control
- The critical production defects listed, costed and prioritised
Modernised in slices
Once the system was stable, the interface was replaced screen by screen behind the existing navigation — WebForms out, React in — with each slice released on its own and reversible on its own.
Authentication and the privacy modules were rebuilt first, because they carried the most risk. Nothing needed a cutover weekend, and the business kept trading through every release.
- Two-factor authentication and a rewritten permissions model
- CI/CD with staging, automated test gates and one-command rollback
- 72% test coverage on the paths that carry the business
The engagement
- Duration
- 12 weeks to handover
- Team
- 2 senior engineers · 1 architect
- Stack
- C# / .NET, React, SQL Server, Azure
- Since
- Maintained by us today
Rescue first, replace only where it pays
A rewrite was quoted by two other firms. Both would have taken the better part of a year and thrown away a decade of business rules that only existed in the code.
Stabilising first bought the time to make that decision with evidence instead of urgency — and in the end only a third of the system needed replacing at all.
Orphaned software, and what to do about it
From our engineering series.
From the build
Customer review
“When my developers changed direction I was left with the Lapbase system being maintained by a contractor that struggled with the knowledge needed to maintain the system in a timely manner. I sought out SoftLogic Solutions and after a trial period engaged them to maintain the system. In the space of 6 months they modernised the UI, added 2FA security, and implemented proper staging and testing that I did not have before. The team is very professional and manages the software with processes you would expect from a market leader. I really think your software would be in great hands with SoftLogic.”
Before you rewrite, make the right call.
Most organisations rewrite software they should rescue — wasting years and millions discovering complexity already embedded in the system they abandoned. This free methodology gives you a structured framework to make the rescue-or-replace decision with confidence.
- The 5-dimension framework for evaluating rescue viability vs. full redevelopment
- The 3-phase rescue process — Resuscitation, Rejuvenation, and Renovation — explained in full
- The 7-step triage methodology for taking ownership of an unknown or orphaned codebase
- How to reduce redevelopment risk with incremental modernisation
- The financial case: why rescue-first consistently delivers better ROI than a big-bang rewrite
Working through this decision right now? Book a free Strategy Session — a clear, honest assessment of what you have, what it will take to fix, and what the alternatives cost.
Ready to start?
Got a problem to solve?
Whether you're starting from scratch, scaling up, or dealing with a system under stress — let's talk about what we can build together. We can start by ensuring your systems continue to operate while a strategy is developed to make the most of your investment.