How to Extract Complex Insurance Rating Engines Using Visual Recordings

70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timeline because of a single, catastrophic mistake: attempting to document the "black box" through manual archaeology. In the insurance sector, this problem is magnified by rating engines—complex, multi-layered logic hubs often written in COBOL, VB6, or early Java—that have been patched for decades without updated documentation.

When you lose the original developers and the 67% of legacy systems that lack documentation, you aren't just facing technical debt; you are facing an existential risk to the business. The global technical debt bill has reached $3.6 trillion, and insurance carriers are paying the highest interest.

TL;DR: How to extract complex rating logic no longer requires months of manual code review; visual reverse engineering with Replay allows you to record user workflows and automatically generate documented React components and API contracts in days.

The High Cost of Manual Archaeology#

The traditional approach to modernization involves hiring a small army of business analysts and senior developers to sit in a room for 18 to 24 months, attempting to map out every "if-then" statement in a legacy policy administration system (PAS).

This manual extraction process is fundamentally flawed. It relies on human memory, incomplete documentation, and "best guesses" about how the system handles edge cases. In a regulated environment like insurance, a 1% error in rating logic can lead to millions in lost premiums or regulatory fines.

Why Insurance Rating Engines are the Final Frontier#

Insurance rating engines are notoriously difficult to modernize because they are rarely "pure" code. They are a mixture of hardcoded actuarial tables, database triggers, and UI-level validation logic. To extract this logic, you cannot simply look at the backend; you must observe how the system behaves when a user interacts with it.

The "Shadow Logic" Problem#

Shadow logic exists when the UI performs calculations—like pro-rating a premium or applying a multi-policy discount—that are never explicitly documented in the backend API. If you rewrite the backend but miss the UI-level logic, the new system will produce incorrect quotes.

⚠️ Warning: Never assume the backend API is the "source of truth" for legacy insurance systems. Often, critical business rules are buried in client-side scripts or legacy middleware that only triggers during specific UI events.

How to Extract Logic Using Visual Reverse Engineering#

Replay transforms the modernization process from a guessing game into a data-driven workflow. By recording a real user performing a quote-to-bind workflow, Replay captures the DOM state, the network calls, and the visual transitions to reconstruct the underlying logic.

Step 1: Record the "Golden Path" and Edge Cases#

Start by recording a senior underwriter or agent performing a standard policy quote. This is your "Golden Path." However, the true value lies in the edge cases. Use Replay to record:

• •Multi-driver endorsements
• •High-risk territory overrides
• •Applied discounts (Loyalty, Bundling, Safe Driver)
• •Mid-term adjustments (MTA)

Step 2: Map the Architecture with Replay Flows#

Once recorded, Replay’s Flows feature visualizes the architectural path. It identifies which legacy endpoints are hit and what data structures are passed between screens. This eliminates the need for "archaeology" because the system has already mapped the dependencies for you.

Step 3: Extract the Component and Logic#

Using the Blueprints editor, you can select specific sections of the recorded legacy UI and generate modern React components. Replay doesn't just copy the HTML; it extracts the state management and business logic.

typescript
// Example: Extracted Rating Component from Replay Blueprint
// This component preserves the complex discount logic observed in the legacy system

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { TextField, Checkbox, Alert } from '@/components/ui';

interface RatingProps {
  basePremium: number;
  yearsOfCoverage: number;
  hasClaimsHistory: boolean;
}

export const InsuranceRatingModule: React.FC<RatingProps> = ({
  basePremium,
  yearsOfCoverage,
  hasClaimsHistory
}) => {
  const [discountApplied, setDiscountApplied] = useState(0);
  
  // Logic extracted from legacy UI behavior:
  // Loyalty discount triggers at 5+ years, but only if no claims in last 3 years
  useEffect(() => {
    let discount = 0;
    if (yearsOfCoverage >= 5 && !hasClaimsHistory) {
      discount = basePremium * 0.15; // 15% Loyalty Discount
    }
    setDiscountApplied(discount);
  }, [basePremium, yearsOfCoverage, hasClaimsHistory]);

  return (
    <div className="p-4 border rounded-lg shadow-sm">
      <h3 className="text-lg font-bold">Premium Calculation</h3>
      <div className="mt-2">
        <p>Base Premium: ${basePremium}</p>
        {discountApplied > 0 && (
          <Alert variant="success">
            Loyalty Discount Applied: -${discountApplied}
          </Alert>
        )}
        <p className="text-xl font-semibold mt-2">
          Final Quote: ${basePremium - discountApplied}
        </p>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

Step 4: Generate API Contracts#

The most difficult part of insurance modernization is ensuring the new frontend communicates correctly with the legacy backend (or its replacement). Replay automatically generates API contracts (OpenAPI/Swagger) based on the recorded network traffic.

yaml
# Generated API Contract for Rating Engine
paths:
  /api/v1/quotes/calculate:
    post:
      summary: Calculate Policy Premium
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                policy_holder_id: { type: string }
                risk_score: { type: number }
                coverage_limits: { type: array, items: { type: string } }
                state_code: { type: string }
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Successful calculation
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/PremiumResponse'

Bridging the Documentation Gap#

67% of legacy systems lack documentation, but with Replay, the video recording becomes the documentation. This is critical for regulated industries like Healthcare and Financial Services where audit trails are mandatory.

💡 Pro Tip: Use Replay’s Library feature to build a centralized Design System while you extract. This ensures that every extracted component follows your new brand guidelines and accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1) from day one.

Technical Debt Audit#

Before you write a single line of new code, Replay’s AI Automation Suite performs a technical debt audit on the legacy screen. It identifies:

• •Redundant API calls (often the cause of slow legacy performance)
• •Deprecated logic patterns
• •Security vulnerabilities in the legacy data flow

💰 ROI Insight: By reducing the extraction time from 40 hours per screen to 4 hours, an enterprise with a 200-screen application saves approximately $720,000 in engineering labor alone, while cutting the time-to-market by 90%.

Built for Regulated Environments#

Modernizing insurance systems isn't just about speed; it's about compliance. Replay is built for the most stringent security requirements:

• •SOC2 Type II & HIPAA Ready: Ensures sensitive policyholder data is handled according to federal standards.
• •On-Premise Availability: For government or high-security financial institutions, Replay can run entirely within your VPC.
• •PII Redaction: Automatically masks sensitive information during the recording and extraction process.

Frequently Asked Questions#

How long does legacy extraction take?#

For a complex insurance screen (e.g., a multi-driver auto quote), manual extraction typically takes 40-60 hours of developer and BA time. With Replay, the recording takes minutes, and the extraction/documentation process takes approximately 4 hours. Most enterprise pilots see a full "vertical slice" of an application modernized in under two weeks.

What about business logic preservation?#

Replay captures the observable state of the application. If the legacy system applies a specific tax or fee based on a ZIP code entry, Replay records that state change and the associated data payload. This allows architects to replicate the exact business logic in the new React environment without needing the original source code.

Does Replay require access to the legacy source code?#

No. Replay is a visual reverse engineering platform. It works by observing the application's behavior in the browser or via desktop recording. This is ideal for "black box" systems where the source code is lost, obfuscated, or too fragile to modify.

Can Replay handle mainframe-backed applications?#

Yes. As long as there is a web-based or terminal-emulator UI that a user interacts with, Replay can record the workflows and extract the data structures and component logic.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay - see your legacy screen extracted live during the call.