Natural to React: Modernizing DMV Driver Licensing Systems with 90% Faster Discovery Times

The $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis has a specific, high-stakes epicenter: the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). For decades, driver licensing systems have sat atop Software AG’s Natural and Adabas stacks—monolithic "black boxes" that power millions of citizen records but remain impenetrable to modern engineering teams. When these agencies attempt a natural react modernizing project, they typically hit a wall: 67% of these systems lack any form of usable documentation, and the original architects retired years ago.

The traditional approach is "archaeology"—manual code reviews that take 18 to 24 months just to understand what the system actually does. Replay changes the math. By using Visual Reverse Engineering, agencies are achieving 90% faster discovery times, moving from green screens to React components in days rather than years.

TL;DR: Modernizing DMV systems from Natural to React no longer requires years of manual code archaeology; Replay’s Visual Reverse Engineering extracts business logic and UI patterns directly from user workflows, reducing discovery time by 90% and overall project timelines by 70%.

The DMV Modernization Crisis: Why Natural to React Modernizing Fails#

Most DMV modernization efforts fail before the first line of new code is written. The "Big Bang" rewrite is the industry standard for failure, with 70% of enterprise rewrites exceeding their timelines or being abandoned entirely. In the context of driver licensing, the stakes involve sensitive PII, complex state-mandated logic, and high-volume transaction processing.

The core problem isn't the destination (React); it's the starting point (Natural). Software AG’s Natural language is a 4GL (Fourth Generation Language) that often intermingles UI logic, business rules, and database calls in a single "program." Attempting to manually map these to a modern microservices architecture is a recipe for budget overruns.

The Cost of Manual Discovery#

When an Enterprise Architect looks at a legacy driver licensing screen, they see a "Map" in Natural. To move this to React, a developer must:

1. •Locate the source code for that specific screen.
2. •Decipher 30-year-old business logic (often written in cryptic abbreviations).
3. •Manually document the API requirements.
4. •Hand-code a React equivalent that matches the legacy behavior.

This manual process takes an average of 40 hours per screen. With Replay, that same process is compressed into 4 hours.

Modernization Strategy Comparison#

Beyond Software AG Natural: The 90% Discovery Shortcut#

The breakthrough in natural react modernizing isn't better AI code generation—it's better understanding. Replay treats the legacy system as a living organism rather than a static codebase. By recording a real user performing a workflow—such as a "Class D License Renewal"—Replay captures the "Source of Truth" in motion.

This "Video as Source of Truth" approach bypasses the need for legacy code expertise. You don't need a Natural expert to tell you how the system handles a vision test failure; you simply record the vision test failure workflow, and Replay extracts the underlying logic.

From Green Screen to React Components#

Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the recorded session to identify UI patterns, data entry points, and validation rules. It then generates documented React components that are ready for a modern Design System.

typescript
// Example: Generated React Component from a Natural "Map" Extraction
// Source: DMV License Renewal Workflow (Screen ID: LIC-REN-01)

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { TextField, Button, Alert } from '@/components/ui';
import { validateLicenseNumber } from '@/lib/validators';

export const DriverLicenseRenewal: React.FC = () => {
  const [licenseData, setLicenseData] = useState({
    licenseId: '',
    zipCode: '',
    eyeTestPassed: false
  });

  // Business logic preserved from legacy Natural subprogram: Z-VAL-LIC
  const handleSubmission = async () => {
    if (!validateLicenseNumber(licenseData.licenseId)) {
      return <Alert type="error">Invalid License Format</Alert>;
    }
    // API Contract generated by Replay based on legacy network traffic
    await submitRenewal(licenseData);
  };

  return (
    <div className="p-6 space-y-4">
      <TextField 
        label="Driver License Number" 
        onChange={(e) => setLicenseData({...licenseData, licenseId: e.target.value})} 
      />
      {/* Logic for conditional rendering extracted from legacy workflow */}
      {licenseData.licenseId.length > 5 && (
        <Button onClick={handleSubmission}>Verify Identity</Button>
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

💡 Pro Tip: Don't start by refactoring the database. Use Replay to extract the UI and business logic first. This allows you to build a "Modern Shell" that communicates with the legacy Adabas backend via generated API contracts, enabling a low-risk transition.

Implementing a Natural React Modernizing Strategy#

Success in driver licensing modernization requires a structured approach that prioritizes visibility over guesswork. Here is the architectural roadmap for using Replay in a DMV environment.

Step 1: Visual Recording and Workflow Mapping#

Instead of reading Natural source files, subject matter experts (SMEs) record themselves performing every permutation of a licensing task. Replay captures the DOM (if web-based) or screen states (if terminal-based), along with the underlying network calls.

Step 2: Automated Extraction and Audit#

Replay’s engine analyzes the recordings to create a Technical Debt Audit. It identifies "Dead Logic"—features in the legacy Natural code that users never actually touch—saving developers from migrating useless code.

Step 3: Generating the API Contract#

One of the hardest parts of natural react modernizing is defining how the new React frontend will talk to the legacy backend. Replay automatically generates OpenAPI/Swagger specifications based on the data captured during the recording sessions.

yaml
# Generated API Contract for Legacy Natural Subprogram
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: DMV Driver Licensing API
  version: 1.0.0
paths:
  /api/v1/license/validate:
    post:
      summary: Validates license status against Adabas records
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                licenseId: {type: string}
                stateCode: {type: string}
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Validation successful

Step 4: Component Assembly in the Blueprint Editor#

Using Replay’s Blueprint Editor, architects can take the extracted logic and map it to a modern Design System (Tailwind, Material UI, etc.). This ensures that while the backend is still being modernized, the user experience is immediately upgraded to a responsive, accessible React interface.

💰 ROI Insight: A typical state DMV has approximately 400 unique screens. Manual modernization would take 16,000 engineering hours. With Replay, this is reduced to 1,600 hours—a direct saving of over $1.8M in labor costs alone.

Addressing the "Black Box" Problem in Regulated Environments#

DMV systems are subject to strict regulatory oversight. A major concern with any natural react modernizing effort is maintaining compliance with SOC2, HIPAA (for medical-related driving restrictions), and federal security standards.

Manual rewrites often introduce "logic drift," where the new system behaves slightly differently than the old one, leading to legal or operational risks. Replay mitigates this by generating End-to-End (E2E) tests directly from the legacy recording.

⚠️ Warning: Never assume the legacy documentation is correct. In 90% of cases, the code has been patched "in production" over decades, rendering the original specifications obsolete. Trust the behavior, not the docs.

Security and On-Premise Requirements#

For government and financial entities, data cannot leave the perimeter. Replay offers an On-Premise deployment model, ensuring that sensitive driver data used during the recording and extraction process remains within the agency's secure environment.

The Future of Legacy Architecture: Understanding Over Rewriting#

The future of enterprise architecture isn't found in a "scorched earth" rewrite. It is found in understanding what you already have. For a successful natural react modernizing project, the goal is to move the intelligence of the system out of the archaic Natural code and into a documented, modular React ecosystem.

By leveraging Replay, agencies can:

• •Eliminate Archaeology: Stop paying senior developers to read 30-year-old code.
• •Preserve Business Logic: Ensure that complex state laws embedded in the legacy system are carried over exactly.
• •Accelerate Delivery: Move from an 18-month roadmap to a production-ready pilot in weeks.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

How long does a Natural to React modernization take with Replay?#

While a traditional manual rewrite of a DMV licensing system takes 18-24 months, Replay users typically complete the discovery and component generation phase in 2-8 weeks. The total time to production is usually reduced by 70%.

Does Replay require access to my Natural source code?#

No. Replay’s Visual Reverse Engineering works by analyzing user workflows and system behavior. While source code can be used to augment the process, the primary "Source of Truth" is the recording of the system in use. This is ideal for systems where source code is lost or undocumented.

What about business logic preservation?#

This is Replay's core strength. Because we record actual workflows, we capture the exact inputs, outputs, and state changes of the legacy system. Our AI Automation Suite then reconstructs this logic into modern TypeScript/React, ensuring that the "hidden" rules of your legacy system are preserved.

Can Replay handle terminal-based (Green Screen) systems?#

Yes. Replay is designed to work with legacy web applications, mainframe emulators, and terminal-based systems. As long as a user can interact with the system, Replay can record and extract the underlying architecture.

Is Replay SOC2 and HIPAA compliant?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated industries including Government, Healthcare, and Financial Services. We offer SOC2 compliance and On-Premise deployment options for agencies with strict data residency requirements.

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