Replace internal desktop applications

Buying signal

Signals that the problem needs intervention.

• A critical workflow depends on unsupported runtimes, local installation, or specialist knowledge.
• Documentation omits rules that users execute through learned sequences and manual corrections.
• Remote access, deployment, accessibility, and integration are constrained by the desktop architecture.

Target business state

The business state the solution must produce.

• Recovered and agreed application behavior, including exceptions and role boundaries.
• A maintainable browser-based application connected to governed records and services.
• A cutover path that preserves business continuity and retires obsolete clients deliberately.

Solution boundaries

Decisions that bound the solution before estimation.

• Which legacy behaviors are business requirements, and which are accidental constraints or obsolete workarounds?
• Can the existing database remain temporarily authoritative, or must the data boundary change first?
• Which roles, locations, peripherals, and offline conditions define the cutover sequence?

Solution package

What can be reviewed and accepted.

• Behavior catalogue covering workflows, rules, reports, exceptions, and user roles.
• Dependency map for databases, files, devices, libraries, and external systems.
• Target web application and data/API boundary design.
• Equivalence, accessibility, security, and migration test evidence.
• Deployment, coexistence, support, and desktop retirement plan.

Implementation path

A staged intervention instead of an uncontrolled leap.

1. Observe real work, inspect code and data, and convert hidden behavior into testable acceptance cases.
2. Separate presentation, business rules, and data responsibilities, then choose what to preserve or redesign.
3. Build a representative end-to-end role journey and compare it with the desktop application.
4. Migrate users and records by controlled cohort or function, monitor exceptions, and retire local components after acceptance.

Measurable results

Measures tied back to the original problem.

• Completion time, correction effort, and successful first-pass processing for priority user tasks.
• Business-record differences and interrupted work during coexistence and cutover.
• Time to provision users, release changes, and resolve support issues across target locations and devices.

Solution trade-offs

Trade-offs that may make another path more appropriate.

• Treating the old screens as a complete specification.
• Missing local files, device integrations, or user-managed data outside the central database.
• Retiring the desktop client before rare but critical exception paths are validated.

Decision questions

Buying questions to resolve before scoping.