Legacy App Rescue Services
Your legacy app isn't dying. It needs rescue.
ERP upgrades, PHP modernization, end-of-life dependency removal, security hardening, and performance rescue. Your app runs in production today. It needs to keep running while we fix it: without a big-bang rewrite or a maintenance window.
ERP UpgradePHP ModernizationEnd-of-Life Dependency RemovalSecurity HardeningPerformance RescueZero-Downtime
Live diagnostic output: your stack may look familiar
Rescue starts with a written plan
We read the codebase before we write a proposal. The rescue plan comes from what we find, not from a template.
Legacy App Health
Your app's vital signs. Before and after rescue.
"It takes 3 engineers a full week to deploy a 3-line change. And even then, we hold our breath."
Composite from Redefine rescue intake calls
Page Load
8.4s
average response
↓ Well below 3s threshold
Security Score
14
out of 100
↓ 847 known CVEs active
Test Coverage
2%
code covered
↓ Every deploy is a risk
Dependencies
68%
end-of-life
↓ No patch path available
Page Load
0.8s
average response
↑ 10x faster than before
Security Score
94
out of 100
↑ Zero active CVEs
Test Coverage
78%
code covered
↑ Deploys with confidence
Dependencies
0%
end-of-life
↑ Full patch path maintained
What Redefine rescues: common patterns
- PHP 5.x running on Windows Server 2008 R2
- Dynamics NAV 2009 / NAV 2013 with no upgrade path
- jQuery 1.x / AngularJS / Knockout.js frontends
- MySQL 5.5 / SQL Server 2005 without active support
The Rescue Difference
How most rescue agencies work. How Redefine works.
Six comparisons. Every one based on real patterns from rescue engagements we inherited from other agencies.
Rescue dimension
Typical rescue agency
Redefine
Assessment approach
No plan
Start fixing things on week 1. Discover the full scope as we
go. Change orders follow.
Written plan
Codebase audit and written rescue plan delivered before a line
of code changes. You approve scope before Sprint 1.
Downtime approach
Maintenance window
Your users see downtime. Often unplanned. Often extended.
Business stops during rescue.
Zero downtime
Every rescue uses parallel-run or incremental replacement
strategies. Production stays live throughout. No maintenance
window needed.
Rescue strategy
Big bang
Rewrite everything. One big launch day. High risk. If it
fails, the old system is already gone.
Incremental
Upgrade one layer at a time. Validate each change in
production. Roll back is always available. Risk stays
manageable.
Documentation
Source code only
You receive the updated codebase. Understanding what changed
and why lives in their heads.
Full handover docs
Architecture decision records, dependency upgrade log,
rollback runbooks, and a post-rescue maintenance guide. Your
next developer onboards in hours.
Timeline transparency
Updates when done
Progress reports are vague. Deliverables are defined by the
agency. You find out how it's going when they decide to tell
you.
Weekly sprint deliverables
Every sprint has a specific deliverable you review and
approve. You know what ships this week before the sprint
begins.
Code ownership
Agency dependency
You need them to make future changes. The rescue architecture
creates new reliance on the same agency.
100% yours from day 1
All code, all infrastructure, all configuration lives in your
repository from sprint 1. No proprietary frameworks. No
lock-in.
The Rescue Protocol
Four phases. Every rescue. In this exact order.
"The rescue plan arrived before any code changes. We approved every phase before they started. That alone was different from every agency we'd worked with."
01
Phase 01 · Assess
Rescue Diagnostic and Written Rescue Plan
- Full codebase and dependency audit with severity ratings
- Security scan and CVE inventory with patch roadmap
- Rescue sequence with rollback strategy per phase
- Cost and timeline estimate per rescue phase
02
Phase 02 · Architect
Target Architecture and Migration Design
- Target stack selection with documented rationale
- Data migration and transformation plan
- Zero-downtime execution sequence approved by your team
- Continuous integration/continuous deployment pipeline design for post-rescue operations
03
Phase 03 · Execute
Incremental Rescue with Validated Production Deployments
- Dependency upgrades validated against production traffic
- Security patches applied and CVE log updated per sprint
- Test suite written alongside each module rescue
- Rollback verified and tested before each production cutover
04
Phase 04 · Hand Off
Full Ownership Transfer with Runbooks and Training
- Architecture decision log and upgrade history
- Maintenance runbooks for each rescued component
- Developer onboarding guide for the new stack
- 100% code ownership in your repository from day 1
Legacy Rescue Proof
50% less manual work. Production still running during the rescue.
Manual workload reduction
0%
reduction in manual data entry and processing after ERP rescue
Downtime during rescue
0
minutes of production downtime during the entire legacy rescue
Products managed post-rescue
50K+
products efficiently managed after ERP rescue and upgrade
Rescue complete
Client
Transpek
Chemical Manufacturing
Dynamics NAVERP RescueSQL Server
A chemical manufacturer whose legacy ERP environment was non-integrated and dependent on manual data entry, causing delivery delays and limited visibility into inventory and production.
The Problem
The legacy ERP was non-integrated and dependent on manual data entry across every department. This caused delivery delays, high labor requirements, and limited visibility into inventory and production. The organization could not plan or scale efficiently with the existing system.
Non-integrated ERP. Manual data entry at every stage. No inventory visibility. No production planning capability. Delivery delays affecting customers.
The Result
0%
reduction in manual workload after ERP upgrade to Dynamics NAV with SQL Server integration, daily production tracking, and automated inventory management
Increased production capacity and delivery reliability
Compliance and traceability requirements met post-rescue
The Rescue Charter
Five commitments. Every rescue. In writing.
These are not promises. They are documented deliverables that appear in the rescue plan before any work begins. If we cannot meet them, we say so before charging anything.
Get A Free Rescue Assessment
The codebase audit, dependency inventory, security scan,
rescue sequence, and phase-by-phase timeline are written
documents you receive before we invoice Sprint 1. You
approve every phase. You can stop after the plan if you
choose.
Every rescue uses a parallel-run, blue-green, or incremental
extraction strategy. If a component cannot be upgraded
without downtime, we flag it before the sprint begins and
propose an alternative. We do not discover this on deploy
day.
The rollback procedure is written, tested on staging, and
documented before any production change is attempted. If a
cutover has to be reversed, the rollback completes in
minutes, not hours. The old system stays live until we
confirm the new one is stable.
The legacy app had no tests. Every module we rescue gets a
test suite written during the same sprint. By the end of the
rescue, your new codebase has the coverage your legacy one
never did. Future changes are safe to deploy.
All code, all config, all infrastructure is committed to
your repository from the first sprint. No proprietary
tooling. No agency-controlled secrets. If you choose to
continue with a different team after phase 1, everything is
in your hands to hand over.
Questions
What teams ask before committing to a legacy rescue.
Risk, timeline, and what happens if something breaks: these are the questions that matter before starting.
Pricing approach
Diagnostic assessment first. Cost depends on what we find.
The free rescue assessment identifies severity levels. The rescue plan provides phase-by-phase cost estimates. You approve before any rescue work begins.
Yes. Most rescues we take on are already degraded in
production. Intermittent outages, slow pages, broken
features, or security warnings customers are seeing. We do
not require the app to be stable before we start. The
assessment identifies what is breaking and why, and the
rescue plan prioritizes the highest-severity items in Sprint
1. You get relief on the most critical issues within the
first two weeks.
This is the most common scenario we rescue. The assessment
does not require existing documentation. We read the
codebase, run the app, and trace the data flows ourselves.
The rescue plan we produce becomes the documentation that
did not exist before. By the end of the rescue, your new
team has documentation the original team never wrote.
Critical security patches and dependency upgrades: 4 to 8
weeks. PHP version upgrade with framework modernization: 8
to 16 weeks. Full ERP rescue with data migration and process
automation: 12 to 24 weeks. ERP upgrade between versions
(NAV 2009 to NAV 2018): 10 to 20 weeks. All timelines are
phase-by-phase estimates in the rescue plan before any work
begins.
Every sprint has a documented rollback procedure tested
before execution. If something breaks in production, the
rollback reverses the change in minutes. We do not proceed
to the next phase until the current phase is stable and the
rollback has been tested. A rescue that leaves your app
worse than it started is a rescue failure. We engineer
against that from day one.
The rescue plan answers this based on what we find in the
assessment. Most rescues are partial: upgrade the framework
version, patch security vulnerabilities, replace end-of-life
dependencies, and add the missing tests. A full rewrite is
proposed only when the existing codebase is too tightly
coupled or architecturally broken to rescue incrementally.
We document the rationale for a rewrite recommendation and
you make the final decision.
Right Match?
Select what describes your legacy app right now.
Not every old app needs rescue. Some need maintenance. Some need a rewrite. We distinguish these in the assessment before proposing anything.
Match score0 of 6 selected
Not sure if your app needs rescue or routine maintenance? Describe what you're seeing and we'll give you a direct opinion.
Running PHP 5.x, PHP 7.x, or an end-of-life framework (Laravel 5.x, CodeIgniter 2)
Security patches are no longer available. Active CVEs are accumulating daily.
On Dynamics NAV 2009 / 2013 or a version without Business Central migration path
Upgrade complexity increases with every version skipped. The longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes.
Deploys take more than a day or require a maintenance window
Manual, risky deployments are the clearest signal that the app needs rescue infrastructure.
The original developer is gone and nobody fully understands the codebase
A rescue that produces documentation is often as valuable as the technical fixes themselves.
Probably not rescue: may be routine maintenance if:
App is on a supported version with active patches and deploys cleanly in under 30 minutes
Ongoing maintenance rather than rescue is the right approach.
The primary issue is new feature development, not stability or security
Standard development engagement is faster and more cost-effective than framing this as rescue.
Start the Rescue
Tell us what's breaking. Get a written rescue plan.
No commitment. No pitch. A codebase assessment and written rescue proposal in 3 business days.
01
Submit your brief
Tell us what language, framework, and version you're running. Describe what's breaking or about to break.
02
Rescue assessment within 48 hours
We request read access to the repository and run the initial diagnostic scan. No code changes.
03
Written rescue plan in 3 days
Severity inventory, rescue sequence, rollback strategy, and phase-by-phase cost estimate. You approve before Sprint 1.
04
Critical fixes in Sprint 1
Highest-severity items addressed first. You see live fixes within the first two weeks of starting.
Form
48 hours
Assessment
3 days
Rescue plan
58+
Apps rescued
0
Downtime events