Ghost Requirements: How to Identify the 40% of Features Nobody Actually Uses

Your legacy enterprise application is lying to you. If you look at the documentation—assuming it even exists—you’ll see a sprawling map of complex business logic, edge cases, and "mission-critical" features. But if you look at what your users actually do, the picture changes dramatically. According to Replay’s analysis of enterprise workflows, up to 40% of features in legacy systems are "ghost requirements": functions that were built for a 2008 regulatory hurdle that no longer exists, or a "nice-to-have" request from a VP who left the company five years ago.

The cost of carrying this dead weight is staggering. Global technical debt has ballooned to $3.6 trillion, and a significant portion of that is spent maintaining code that serves no one. When you begin a modernization project, the biggest risk isn't the technology stack; it’s the attempt to rebuild 100% of a system when only 60% of it provides value.

TL;DR:

• •Ghost Requirements are features that exist in legacy code but are never used in real-world workflows.
• •Attempting to rewrite 100% of a legacy system is the primary reason 70% of modernization projects fail.
• •Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to identify features that actually matter by recording real user workflows and converting them into documented React components.
• •By focusing only on active workflows, enterprises can reduce modernization timelines from 18 months to just a few weeks, saving 70% in costs.

The High Price of "Just in Case" Engineering#

In the world of Financial Services and Healthcare, software is often built with a "just in case" mentality. We build features for every possible edge case, creating a labyrinth of complexity. Over time, these features become ghosts. They haunt your codebase, requiring security patches, dependency updates, and regression testing, yet they contribute zero dollars to the bottom line.

When teams try to ghost requirements identify features manually, they usually fail. They ask stakeholders, "What do you need?" and the stakeholders, fearing they might lose something important, answer "Everything." This leads to the 18-month average enterprise rewrite timeline—a timeline that most businesses can no longer afford.

Video-to-code is the process of capturing these real-world interactions through screen recordings and using AI-driven analysis to generate clean, functional code and documentation based on what actually happens on the screen.

Why You Must Ghost Requirements to Identify Features That Matter#

If you don't aggressively prune your feature set during a migration, you are simply moving your technical debt from an old house to a new one. To effectively ghost requirements identify features, you need to shift from a "code-first" discovery phase to a "workflow-first" discovery phase.

Industry experts recommend that before writing a single line of a new React component, you must validate that the feature is part of a "Golden Path"—a workflow that a user completes at least once a week. If a feature isn't touched in 90 days, it isn't a requirement; it's a ghost.

The Documentation Gap#

Statistics show that 67% of legacy systems lack accurate documentation. This means developers are often "archaeologists," digging through layers of ancient Java or COBOL to understand how a specific calculation works. This manual discovery takes roughly 40 hours per screen. With Replay, this is reduced to 4 hours because the platform documents the intent of the UI as it is used, not as it was theorized a decade ago.

How Replay Helps You Ghost Requirements and Identify Features#

Replay changes the modernization paradigm through Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of reading through 50,000 lines of spaghetti code to find the logic for a claims processing form, you simply record a claims adjuster doing their job.

Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the recording, identifies the UI patterns, maps the data flows, and generates a documented React component. This process naturally filters out ghost requirements because if a feature isn't used during the recording of the core flows, it doesn't make it into the new Component Library.

Step 1: Record the Reality#

Users record their actual workflows. This captures the "as-is" state of the system, including the weird workarounds users have developed to deal with legacy bugs.

Step 2: Extract the Component Architecture#

Replay identifies repeatable patterns—tables, inputs, modals—and organizes them into a Design System. This ensures that your new React application isn't just a copy of the old UI, but a modernized version of the essential functionality.

typescript
// Example: A modernized React component generated via Replay's Visual Reverse Engineering
// This component replaces a legacy JSP table that had 15 unused columns.

import React from 'react';
import { useTable } from './hooks/useTable';

interface ClaimsData {
  id: string;
  claimantName: string;
  status: 'pending' | 'approved' | 'denied';
  amount: number;
  lastUpdated: string;
}

export const ClaimsDashboard: React.FC = () => {
  // Replay identified that only 5 of the 20 legacy columns were ever interacted with
  const { data, loading } = useTable<ClaimsData>('/api/v1/claims/active');

  if (loading) return <SkeletonLoader />;

  return (
    <div className="p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow-md">
      <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold mb-4">Active Claims</h2>
      <table className="min-w-full divide-y divide-gray-200">
        <thead>
          <tr>
            <th>Claimant</th>
            <th>Status</th>
            <th>Amount</th>
            <th>Last Updated</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          {data.map((claim) => (
            <tr key={claim.id}>
              <td>{claim.claimantName}</td>
              <td><StatusBadge status={claim.status} /></td>
              <td>{new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US', { style: 'currency', currency: 'USD' }).format(claim.amount)}</td>
              <td>{new Date(claim.lastUpdated).toLocaleDateString()}</td>
            </tr>
          ))}
        </tbody>
      </table>
    </div>
  );
};

Ghost Requirements: Identify Features via Data Flow Mapping#

Identifying ghost requirements isn't just about the UI; it's about the data. Often, legacy systems call backend services that return massive JSON objects, 80% of which are discarded by the frontend.

When you use Replay to map your Legacy Modernization Strategy, the platform tracks exactly which data points are bound to UI elements. If a data field isn't bound to a component in any recorded flow, it’s a ghost requirement. You can safely exclude it from your new API contracts, drastically reducing payload sizes and improving performance.

Mapping the Data Interface#

Below is an example of how Replay helps you define a clean TypeScript interface by observing actual data usage during a recorded flow.

typescript
/**
 * REPLAY GENERATED INTERFACE
 * Source: Legacy "MemberService.java"
 * Observation: Only 4 fields used in 'Member Profile Update' flow.
 * Ghost Fields Removed: middleInitial, legacySystemId, taxExemptCode, internalFlag_B
 */

export interface UserProfile {
  uid: string;           // Observed in: Profile Header
  email: string;         // Observed in: Contact Info Section
  displayName: string;   // Observed in: Navigation Bar
  phoneNumber: string;   // Observed in: Contact Info Section
  preferences: {
    notifications: boolean; // Observed in: Settings Toggle
    theme: 'light' | 'dark'; // Observed in: Settings Toggle
  };
}

// Replay identifies that 'taxExemptCode' was never accessed by the user, 
// allowing the backend team to deprecate the field in the new microservice.

The 70% Time Savings: A Case Study in Financial Services#

A major insurance provider recently attempted to modernize their claims portal. Their initial estimate was 24 months and $4.2 million. They had a 400-page requirements document detailing every feature built since 1998.

By using Replay to ghost requirements identify features, they discovered that 150 pages of those requirements were for a "Client Portal" that had been superseded by a mobile app years ago, yet the code remained in the desktop monolith.

By recording the actual workflows of their 50 most active adjusters, Replay generated:

1. •A clean, atomic Design System in React.
2. •Documented "Flows" that mapped exactly how data moved through the system.
3. •A prioritized backlog that ignored the 40% of ghost features.

The result? They launched the new portal in 5 months—a 70% reduction in time-to-market.

Strategies to Stop Ghost Requirements from Returning#

Once you’ve identified and removed the bloat, you must prevent it from creeping back into your new React architecture.

1. •Workforce Observation over Interviews: Don't ask users what they want; watch what they do. Replay’s "Flows" feature provides a visual map of user behavior that serves as a single source of truth.
2. •Atomic Component Design: Build small, reusable components. If a requirement is truly necessary, it can be added to the library later. It is much easier to add a component than to remove a deeply integrated ghost feature.
3. •Strict Data Typing: Use TypeScript to enforce data contracts. If the API returns data that isn't in your interface, your build should fail. This forces developers to acknowledge every piece of data they are bringing into the application.
4. •Continuous Discovery: Modernization isn't a one-time event. Use Replay periodically to record new workflows and ensure your component library stays aligned with actual business needs.

The Role of AI in Ghost Requirement Identification#

The "AI Automation Suite" within Replay doesn't just record pixels; it understands intent. When it sees a user clicking through a complex 10-step wizard, it can identify if steps 4 and 5 are consistently skipped or pre-filled with default data.

According to Replay’s analysis, these "dead-end steps" account for nearly 15% of enterprise software complexity. By identifying these features as ghost requirements, you can simplify the user experience (UX) while simultaneously reducing the amount of code your team has to maintain.

Frequently Asked Questions#

How do I know if a feature is a ghost requirement?#

A feature is likely a ghost requirement if it meets any of the following criteria: it hasn't been accessed by a user in the last 90 days, it was built for a regulatory requirement that is no longer in effect, or it exists solely to support a legacy data format that is being deprecated. Replay helps you identify these by comparing recorded user workflows against your existing codebase.

Won't I break the system if I remove ghost requirements?#

This is the most common fear in legacy modernization. However, by using a "Workflow-First" approach, you aren't deleting code from the legacy system; you are simply choosing not to rebuild it in the new system. The legacy system remains as a fallback. Replay’s "Flows" feature ensures that every critical path is captured and documented, minimizing the risk of missing essential logic.

How does Replay handle complex business logic that isn't visible on the screen?#

While Replay focuses on Visual Reverse Engineering, it also captures the network requests and data transformations occurring in the background. By analyzing the payloads sent between the UI and the server, Replay can infer the business logic required to support the visible features. For deep backend logic (like complex actuarial calculations), Replay provides the "Blueprint" for how that logic must interface with the new frontend.

Is Replay secure for highly regulated industries like Healthcare?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated environments. It is SOC2 compliant, HIPAA-ready, and can be deployed on-premise or in a private cloud. This allows teams in insurance, government, and healthcare to modernize their systems without their sensitive data ever leaving their secure environment.

Can Replay convert my legacy UI into any framework?#

While Replay specializes in generating high-quality React code and Design Systems, the underlying architectural maps and "Blueprints" can be used to inform development in any modern framework. However, the 70% time savings are most effectively realized when moving to a React-based ecosystem using Replay's automated code generation.

Conclusion: Stop Rebuilding the Past#

The goal of modernization isn't to replicate your old system in a new language. The goal is to build a system that meets the current and future needs of your business. Every ghost requirement you identify is a feature you don't have to design, code, test, or maintain.

By using Replay to ghost requirements identify features, you move from a state of "technical debt" to "technical wealth." You save 40 hours of manual work per screen, reduce your timeline by 18 months, and finally deliver a modern experience that your users actually want to use.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay