We are nearly done retiring a group of 30-year old legacy inter-agency applications; fortunately we planned and budgeted for the phasing out these applications during our new systems’ planning process so it is going extremely well. Many people groan at the thought of retiring old applications – perhaps I’m just wired weird, but despite the long hours and heavy workload I am finding it to be challenging and rewarding. I thought I’d take some time to share my thoughts and observations on the subject:
Legacy applications can be an extremely costly proposition…
“IT budget pressures are forcing many organizations to abandon plans to replace their antiquated but critical applications.”
- Source: Living with legacy apps, by Kenny MacIver
And how many of us have seen organizations move to new systems, but never completely wean themselves off their redundant legacy systems?
“According to Phil Murphy, a principal analyst with Forrester, a big part of the problem is that neither the business nor the IT department knows how to keep the information in a legacy application available to users without keeping the application running. This not only prevents retiring the application, but the legacy infrastructure on which the application runs never goes away, either.”
-Source: Why Enterprise Applications Never Retire, by Michael Vizard
In order to achieve projected ROI with new improved automated systems, it is often imperative that we retire our old redundant applications, common sense, right? So why are redundant legacy applications so prevalent in the industry? I believe some of this can be attributed to a lack of proper planning and general human psychology. New applications are exciting, they create a buzz, like new high-powered ski boats; old legacy applications are viewed as dull and boring; they are the row boats with anchors dragging behind them. As a result, when planning budgets, timelines and calculating ROI, it is easy to subconsciously cheat ourselves – it is easy to ignore the real costs associated with fully retiring legacy applications because there is nothing new, exciting or snazzy. It’s also easy to inadvertently under-estimate resources and time required unless we pad those estimates to account for unknown gremlins that lie in wait; after all it’s a legacy application, typically built before we were hired at the organization. Bundle that with tight budgets in a tough economy… ouch!
Proper planning is paramount:
ITIL application life cycle management:
Legacy applications don’t have to be boring, tearing into your legacy applications and weaning people off them is a great way to expose and learn about otherwise unidentified processes and about past practices that may unknowingly still be going on in your organization. It is a peek under the hood, an opportunity to expose those inefficient, quirky processes, and to architect and implement more exciting automated processes. Keep your application retirement projects under-budget by retiring them as early in the process as possible, i.e. while you still have the chance to engage resources with in-depth knowledge of the inner workings; these resources may be able to explain idiosyncrasies in the legacy applications and help speed up conversion & retirement. There is no guarantee that these same valuable resources will be available in the years to come, many of them will likely move on to other jobs, retire, etc. In summary, I think it goes without saying that the lack of key resources with an in-depth knowledge of the legacy applications can dangerously increase project costs, length, and risk.
So anyway, to cut to the chase – with proper planning, budgeting and attitude legacy application retirement can be fun, progressive, and rewarding… Without? … We’ll, don’t close your eyes now, it might become your worst nightmare 
