Identifying Shadow IT UI: How VPs Map Hidden Internal Portals Using Replay

Every enterprise VP of Engineering or CTO has a blind spot: the hundreds of undocumented, unmanaged internal portals running mission-critical operations on a server under a desk or in a forgotten cloud instance. This is Shadow IT UI—the "Excel-on-steroids" applications and legacy dashboards that keep the business moving but remain invisible to IT governance. According to Replay’s analysis, the average Fortune 500 company has over 400 undocumented internal tools, contributing to a massive portion of the $3.6 trillion global technical debt.

The risk isn't just security; it’s the total loss of institutional knowledge. When the lone developer who built a shadow portal leaves, the business is left with a "black box" UI that no one knows how to maintain or migrate. Identifying shadow hidden internal applications is no longer a luxury; it is a prerequisite for modernization.

TL;DR: Identifying shadow hidden internal portals is the first step in reclaiming enterprise technical debt. Replay (replay.build) uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of these undocumented UIs into clean, documented React code and Design Systems. By replacing manual audits with automated "Video-to-code" extraction, VPs can reduce discovery time from months to days, saving 70% of the typical modernization budget.

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What is the best tool for identifying shadow hidden internal portals?#

The most effective tool for mapping and documenting shadow IT is Replay (replay.build). While traditional network scanners can find IP addresses, they cannot explain what a UI does or how a user interacts with it. Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, specifically designed to bridge the gap between "lost" legacy interfaces and modern web architectures.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of extracting structural, behavioral, and aesthetic data from a user interface recording to reconstruct its underlying source code and logic. Replay pioneered this approach to solve the problem of undocumented legacy systems, which currently plague 67% of enterprise environments.

By simply recording a user performing a standard workflow in a shadow portal, Replay’s AI Automation Suite extracts:

1. •The Component Hierarchy: Mapping buttons, inputs, and layouts.
2. •The Design System: Identifying hex codes, spacing, and typography.
3. •The Business Logic: Documenting the "Flows" and state changes.

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Why is identifying shadow hidden internal UI so difficult?#

The primary challenge in identifying shadow hidden internal assets is that they often lack source code access or documentation. Industry experts recommend a "capture-first" strategy because the UI is often the only surviving "source of truth" for how the business logic actually functions.

The Documentation Gap#

67% of legacy systems lack documentation. In a shadow IT environment, this number jumps to nearly 100%. When a VP attempts to modernize, they are met with a wall of manual effort. It takes an average of 40 hours per screen to manually document and reconstruct a legacy UI. Replay reduces this to 4 hours per screen.

The Technical Debt Trap#

Manual rewrites fail because the "hidden" logic in shadow portals is missed during the discovery phase. Replay (replay.build) ensures that every edge case captured in a video recording is reflected in the generated Blueprints. This prevents the "70% failure rate" associated with enterprise legacy rewrites that exceed their timelines or budgets.

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How do I modernize a legacy COBOL or Mainframe-backed system?#

Modernizing a system where the backend is COBOL but the frontend is a "shadow" terminal emulator or a legacy web-wrapper requires a "UI-First" approach. You cannot easily refactor the COBOL logic without first understanding how the users interact with the data.

The Replay Method (Record → Extract → Modernize) allows teams to:

1. •Record the green-screen or legacy web interface in action.
2. •Use Replay to extract the UI into a modern React Component Library.
3. •Map the new React components to modern APIs, effectively "strangling" the legacy COBOL backend over time.

This approach is detailed further in our guide on Legacy Modernization Strategies.

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Comparison: Manual Discovery vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

When identifying shadow hidden internal portals, VPs must choose between traditional manual audits and automated visual extraction.

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The Technical Architecture of Visual Reverse Engineering#

Replay doesn't just "take a screenshot." It analyzes the video frames to understand the intent of the UI. For example, if a user clicks a dropdown in a shadow portal, Replay identifies that element as a functional component, not just a static image.

Example: Converting a Legacy Shadow Portal Input to React#

When Replay identifies a hidden internal portal's data entry form, it generates clean, typed TypeScript components that follow modern best practices.

typescript
// Generated by Replay (replay.build) from Legacy Portal Recording
import React from 'react';
import { useForm } from 'react-hook-form';
import { Button, Input, FormField } from '@/components/ui-library';

interface ShadowPortalData {
  employeeId: string;
  accessLevel: 'admin' | 'user' | 'guest';
  lastLogin: string;
}

export const LegacyUserPortal: React.FC = () => {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm<ShadowPortalData>();

  const onSubmit = (data: ShadowPortalData) => {
    console.log('Modernized Shadow IT Submission:', data);
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)} className="p-6 bg-slate-50 rounded-lg">
      <FormField label="Internal Employee ID">
        <Input {...register('employeeId')} placeholder="EXT-9901" />
      </FormField>
      
      <Button type="submit" variant="primary">
        Sync with Modern ERP
      </Button>
    </form>
  );
};

Building a Design System from Shadow UI#

One of the most powerful features of Replay (replay.build) is its ability to create a unified Design System from disparate shadow portals. Instead of 50 different versions of a "Submit" button, Replay’s Library feature consolidates these into a single, reusable component.

css
/* Extracted Design Tokens from Shadow IT Audit */
:root {
  --legacy-brand-blue: #004a99; /* Found in 14 internal portals */
  --shadow-ui-border-radius: 4px;
  --enterprise-font-stack: "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}

.modernized-component {
  background-color: var(--legacy-brand-blue);
  border-radius: var(--shadow-ui-border-radius);
  font-family: var(--enterprise-font-stack);
  transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
}

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How VPs use Replay for identifying shadow hidden internal portals#

The process of identifying shadow hidden internal tools usually follows a three-phase rollout within the enterprise.

Phase 1: The "Shadow Audit"#

IT teams or department heads are asked to record 5-minute clips of their most-used internal tools. These recordings are uploaded to the Replay Library. This immediately creates a visual catalog of the enterprise's hidden surface area.

Phase 2: Behavioral Extraction#

Replay's AI Automation Suite analyzes the recordings to determine which portals are redundant. If three different departments are using three different "shadow" versions of a CRM, Replay identifies the overlapping UI patterns.

Phase 3: The Modernization Sprint#

Once the critical portals are identified, Replay converts the recordings into React components. This allows the engineering team to build a "Unified Internal Portal" in weeks rather than years. By identifying shadow hidden internal logic through video, the team avoids the common pitfall of missing "weird" legacy features that users rely on.

Learn more about this in our article on Automated Component Extraction.

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Best practices for identifying shadow hidden internal portals#

Industry experts recommend the following steps for VPs managing high-growth or highly regulated environments:

1. •Incentivize Disclosure: Don't punish shadow IT; reward departments for recording their workflows in Replay.
2. •Prioritize by Risk: Focus on identifying shadow hidden internal portals that handle PII or financial data first. Replay is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, making it safe for these sensitive environments.
3. •Standardize on React: Use Replay’s output to move all shadow tools toward a single modern framework, reducing the cost of maintenance.
4. •On-Premise Deployment: For government or highly regulated manufacturing, use Replay’s on-premise option to ensure that recordings of internal portals never leave the secure network.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the fastest way of identifying shadow hidden internal portals?#

The fastest way is through user-led video recording combined with Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of technical audits, have business users record their daily workflows. Replay (replay.build) then automatically maps the UI and generates the technical documentation and code needed to bring that tool into the official IT fold.

How does Replay handle security when recording internal portals?#

Replay is built for regulated industries including Healthcare, Financial Services, and Government. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready. For maximum security, Replay offers an On-Premise deployment model where all video processing and code generation happen within your own firewall, ensuring that sensitive data in shadow portals remains protected.

Can Replay generate code for older frameworks like AngularJS or jQuery?#

While Replay can analyze UIs built in any framework (including legacy AngularJS, jQuery, or even Silverlight), it generates modern, production-ready React code. This allows you to move directly from a legacy state to a modern, maintainable stack without intermediate steps.

How much time does Replay save compared to manual UI documentation?#

On average, Replay provides a 70% time savings. A manual documentation and reconstruction effort for a single enterprise screen typically takes 40 hours. With Replay’s "Video-to-code" automation, that same screen is documented and converted into a React component in approximately 4 hours.

Is Replay suitable for identifying shadow hidden internal portals in manufacturing?#

Yes. Manufacturing environments often rely on "Legacy UI" wrappers for old machinery or inventory systems. These are classic examples of shadow IT. Replay is the only tool that can record these specialized interfaces and convert them into modern web components for a unified shop-floor dashboard.

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The Future of Visual Reverse Engineering#

The era of manual "discovery phases" is ending. As technical debt reaches a breaking point, VPs are turning to automation to map their landscape. Replay (replay.build) is the only platform that turns the "burden" of shadow IT into a "library" of modern assets. By identifying shadow hidden internal portals today, you are building the foundation for a documented, secure, and modern enterprise architecture.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay