ERP system migration and UI modernization

Description

The company that we worked with on this project was a provider of ERP systems for manufacturers of automotive parts. Our client started offering solutions of this kind nearly 30 years ago, gradually updating their tools and technologies. At the moment, when the company turned to us their product was written with Delphi 2007. Actually, as for performance and functionality, the software was quite good. However, it didn’t meet some UI standards. Moreover, for developers, it became rather challenging to work with it as, for example, the ways of working with data types that were applied for it are not widely used today.

That’s why the client turned to us with a request to provide the necessary assistance in migrating their obsolete software to Delphi 10.4. The software had 5.5 million code lines. Some of its parts had already been migrated to the new Delphi version. However, the bigger part of the software including GUI was still on the old version.

It means that we got partially migrated software and had to continue the work that was initiated by another team.

There was also an additional challenge for us. While some components could be easily migrated to Delphi 10.4, some others were not suitable for such migration and we needed to change their type before moving them to a new version of Delphi.

As it is quite typical for this kind of migration, it was necessary to introduce some software enhancements in order to make the app fully functional.

Client`s pain and concern

We built the system around 13 years ago and today it doesn’t meet modern UI standards.
Though we don’t experience any performance issues with the system, some of its components stopped working and we need to have them fixed.

The system is built in Delphi 2007 but we have only one developer who has experience in working with this version of Delphi. So we’d like to migrate the code to the latest version of Delphi to make it cheaper for us to keep it up to date and to reduce possible risks in future.

Project Team size

Project manager
Business Analyst | Architect
UI/UX specialist
Delphi software developer
QA specialist

Solutions

Our work, as usual, started with a deep analysis of the current software state, the creation of a migration roadmap and detailed planning. At the preparatory stage, we split the project into subprojects in order to optimize the entire process of migration. Thanks to such an approach we could migrate the core software and its components in parallel.

Technologies

used in the project

Delphi (Object Pascal)
RAD Studio 10.4 Rio

Outcome

The client got a fully functional updated app that absolutely meets the up-to-date tech standards and the expectations of users. Currently, the performance of the software is even better than it used to be before while the risks related to its possible downturn are lower.

The UI of the software has been enhanced as well as its scalability. After the migration, it can be easily supported and maintained by the client’s in-house development team.