Are there any ways software reengineering enables your business growth and development? Check out key things to consider during software modernization and explore its benefits for your business. Learn what it is, why your software needs it, and how it is done.
Let’s face it – any software gets out of date with plenty of time. In case the overall performance of your company depends on it, you will address a myriad of problems and inconsistencies. All these troubles can be prevented by incorporating specific measures covering the software reengineering process. But what is software reengineering? It is a specific software upgrading procedure, or it may refer to a migration to a more advanced technology platform. More surprisingly, its entire functionality can be preserved or withstand modification. As a result, the software reengineering process implies one or several procedures, such as:
– source code translation into another programming language
– entire database reorganization or its transfer
– architecture optimization
– new functionality incorporation and integration with third-party APIs
Software Reengineering: The Process
So, when you know the final procedure goals, let’s learn deeper about its main parts. During product modernization, one can differentiate several processes, such as:
Reverse Engineering: The first phase when a high-profile solution requires enhancement. It refers to a complex system analysis intended to puzzle out the product to the lowest layers. Initially, this process helps to clarify the system operation and understand the system processes better. Moreover, at this stage, software developers thoroughly analyze the security vulnerability to resist cyber-attacks and malware.
Restructuring: This phase comes after the developers determine appropriate specifications and areas for improvement. It brings new solutions regarding product rearrangement and reconstruction without influencing the existing features. The restructuring aims to minimize the source code parts that may result in performance issues. Besides, removing outdated source code or specific system parts is also an essential process.
Forward Engineering: At this stage, maximum efforts are focused on integrating and adopting the foremost specifications based on the reverse engineering outcomes. In addition, it is crucial to prepare complex documentation before getting back to this stage in order to outline the desired state of the product and all the amendments to be made.
When Does Your Software Require Reengineering?
Among obvious signs that signify your product requires software reengineering, Forbes identifies the difficulties with the system maintenance or updating as a major signal to take action. Others include:
Performance Issues: If your product ends up being slow and you consistently experience unexpected outages, these may be the first signs that the software screams for reengineering.
Feature Implementation: When incorporating new functionality into the existing app, it might be high time for a reengineering option.
Team Expansion: Given the business development, more developers work on the same project simultaneously, which may result in more bugs worsening with time. Software reengineering will facilitate the feature’s implementation safely, as well as perfect documentation for future use.
Customer Satisfaction: Numerous complaints about your software may indicate that it’s time to re-engineer it. Through the detailed survey of your product, users might catch out valuable information about how to refine your product for future users.
3 Key Business Benefits of Software Reengineering Services
–Â Â Â Â Â Improved Performance
As said above, software reengineering implies code optimization, which eventually results in improved system functionalities and increased flexibility. As a rule, it’s not about fixing a software flaw but instead about upgrading the software by streamlining the existing processes and operations. This approach facilitates the systems to provide quick responses that make the customers and developers appreciate the environment.
–Â Â Â Â Â Risk Mitigation
In some cases, businesses seek to rebuild the software. Sometimes it is a wise decision, although one should consider the emerging risks. You will face a wide variety of risks and bugs at the software redevelopment stage, and they should be iterative to secure the optimal level of customer experience. While leveraging the existing software may be a better idea. It eliminates the risk of failure due to already undertaken testing phases. In any case, the software can be re-engineered only by optimizing the code and incorporating new features. Finally, all the risks related to the optimization are comparatively less than building software from the ground up.
–Â Â Â Â Â Maintenance Cost
You can significantly minimize the bug’s impact on maintenance expenditures in the nearest future by minimizing bugs in the development phase. It is clear without saying that the more flaws discovered, the fewer errors will be revealed during testing and debugging. So, fewer defects imply less maintenance effort.
Conclusion
We all strive for reusability, excellent maintainability, and included portability when developing software. With these attributes, one can ensure the best customer experience and smooth workflow for software developers. At the same time, software complicacy is a key concern for developers and businesses since well-structured software eliminates the risk when another feature is to be added. During the software reengineering, it is vital to keep the core elements of the legacy software unharmed, streamline the performance, and expand functionalities while adhering to the industry’s best practices of coding standards. So, software reengineering is inevitable when mitigating the risk involved in software complexity. This procedure boosts the software performance and minimizes the cost.
About the author:
Janet Polson is a graduate of George Washington University in International business. She is an unspoken expert in the study of science and philosophy. Janet is also a blogger, author of tech articles and she works as business analyst at Computools.