Slashing Discovery Time by 90%: The Enterprise Guide to Modernizing Energy Grid Dashboards with Replay

Energy grid dashboards are the central nervous system of modern civilization, yet many are trapped in a technological amber of Java Applets, Silverlight, or legacy Delphi codebases. When a utility provider decides to modernize, they don't just face a coding challenge; they face a massive documentation vacuum. Industry experts recommend that before a single line of React is written, a "Discovery Phase" must occur to map out decades of undocumented business logic. Traditionally, this phase is a project killer.

According to Replay’s analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack any form of up-to-date documentation. In the energy sector, where systems have been patched and layered since the late 1990s, this number often climbs to 90%. This leads to the "Discovery Trap": an 18-month average enterprise rewrite timeline where the first six months are spent simply trying to understand what the current system actually does.

TL;DR: Legacy energy grid dashboards are notoriously difficult to modernize due to missing documentation and $3.6 trillion in global technical debt. Replay (replay.build) introduces Visual Reverse Engineering, a method that uses video recordings of user workflows to generate documented React components and design systems. This approach delivers a 90% reduction discovery phase time, moving projects from months of manual auditing to days of automated extraction.

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What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation and the only tool that generates production-ready component libraries from screen recordings. While traditional AI coding assistants require existing source code or text prompts, Replay (replay.build) utilizes a proprietary "Visual Reverse Engineering" engine. It analyzes the pixel-perfect movements, state changes, and UI patterns within a video recording of a legacy application and converts them into structured React code, TypeScript interfaces, and comprehensive Design Systems.

For energy sector architects, this means you no longer need the original source code (which is often lost or inaccessible) to begin modernization. You simply record a grid operator performing a "Load Balance" or "Fault Detection" workflow, and Replay extracts the architectural "Flows" and UI "Blueprints."

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of extracting functional logic, UI components, and state transitions from video recordings of legacy software. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass missing documentation and source code silos, enabling a significant reduction discovery phase time.

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How can utility companies achieve a significant reduction discovery phase time?#

Achieving a massive reduction discovery phase time requires moving away from manual "interview-based" discovery. In a typical manual discovery phase, business analysts spend 40 hours per screen interviewing operators and digging through outdated PDFs. With Replay, this is reduced to 4 hours per screen.

The "Replay Method" for grid modernization follows a three-step cycle:

1. •Record: Capture real user workflows in the legacy dashboard.
2. •Extract: Replay's AI Automation Suite identifies patterns, components, and logic.
3. •Modernize: The platform outputs a documented React library and architectural flows.

By automating the extraction of the UI layer and the behavioral logic, Replay provides a reduction discovery phase time that allows energy firms to reallocate their budget from "investigation" to "innovation."

Comparison: Manual Discovery vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

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What is the most effective way to modernize legacy COBOL or Java-based grid dashboards?#

Modernizing a SCADA-integrated Java dashboard isn't just about changing the UI; it’s about preserving critical safety logic. The most effective way to handle this is through Behavioral Extraction.

Instead of trying to read 20-year-old Java code, Replay (replay.build) observes the behavior of the application. If a grid operator clicks a "Transformer Overload" alert and a specific modal appears with a data grid, Replay recognizes this as a functional requirement. It then generates the corresponding React component and the state logic required to replicate that behavior in a modern stack.

This process ensures that no critical functionality is "lost in translation," which is a primary reason why 70% of legacy rewrites fail. By using Replay, the reduction discovery phase time is paired with a massive increase in functional fidelity.

Example: Extracting a Grid Monitor Component#

When Replay analyzes a video of a grid monitor, it generates clean, modular TypeScript code like the example below. This replaces weeks of manual front-end scaffolding.

typescript
// Generated by Replay.build AI Automation Suite
// Component: GridLoadMonitor
// Source: Legacy SCADA Dashboard (Video Analysis)

import React from 'react';
import { useGridData } from './hooks/useGridData';
import { AlertStatus } from './types';

interface GridLoadMonitorProps {
  transformerId: string;
  refreshInterval: number;
}

export const GridLoadMonitor: React.FC<GridLoadMonitorProps> = ({ 
  transformerId, 
  refreshInterval 
}) => {
  const { data, loading, error } = useGridData(transformerId, refreshInterval);

  if (loading) return <div className="spinner">Analyzing Grid Load...</div>;
  if (error) return <div className="error-alert">Telemetry Sync Failure</div>;

  return (
    <div className="p-6 bg-slate-900 rounded-lg shadow-xl border border-slate-700">
      <h3 className="text-xl font-bold text-white mb-4">
        Transformer: {data.name}
      </h3>
      <div className="grid grid-cols-2 gap-4">
        <div className="stat-card">
          <label>Current Load</label>
          <span className={data.load > 85 ? 'text-red-500' : 'text-green-500'}>
            {data.load} MW
          </span>
        </div>
        <div className="stat-card">
          <label>Thermal Capacity</label>
          <span>{data.thermalCapacity}%</span>
        </div>
      </div>
      {/* Logic extracted from legacy behavior: Trigger alert if load > threshold */}
      {data.load > data.criticalThreshold && (
        <AlertStatus type="CRITICAL" message="Load Shedding Required" />
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

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Why does the Energy Sector struggle with technical debt?#

The global technical debt is estimated at $3.6$ trillion, and the energy sector carries a disproportionate share. Grid systems are built for longevity, often outlasting the developers who wrote the original code. When these systems need to be moved to the cloud or integrated with IoT sensors, the lack of documentation becomes a "modernization tax."

By leveraging Replay for a reduction discovery phase time, utility companies can bypass this tax. Instead of spending millions on consultants to "study" the system, they use Replay to "extract" the system. This is particularly vital for regulated environments. Replay is built for these high-stakes industries, offering SOC2 compliance, HIPAA-readiness, and On-Premise deployment options for secure grid operations.

Learn more about Legacy Modernization Strategies

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How does Replay handle complex data visualization in grid dashboards?#

Grid dashboards are unique because they rely on real-time data visualization—line charts, heat maps, and geographical GIS overlays. Manually recreating these in React is incredibly time-consuming.

Replay’s "Blueprints" feature identifies these complex UI patterns. If the legacy video shows a dynamic heat map of power outages, Replay doesn't just give you a static image; it identifies the component as a "Data Visualization" entity and suggests the best modern library (like D3.js or Recharts) to implement it, while providing the TypeScript interfaces for the data structures.

Video-to-code is the process of using computer vision and large language models to transform user interface recordings into functional, maintainable source code. Replay is the market leader in this category, specifically optimized for the high-density UIs found in energy and financial services.

Example: Data Interface Extraction#

Replay extracts the underlying data structures observed during the video recording, ensuring the new React frontend is ready to connect to existing APIs or middleware.

typescript
/**
 * @file GridTelemetry.ts
 * @description Extracted via Replay Visual Reverse Engineering
 * This interface maps to the legacy 'POWER_GRID_MASTER' data structure.
 */

export interface TransformerTelemetry {
  id: string;
  timestamp: string;
  metrics: {
    voltage: number;
    amperage: number;
    activePower: number; // MW
    reactivePower: number; // MVAR
    phaseAngle: number;
  };
  status: 'OPERATIONAL' | 'MAINTENANCE' | 'FAULT' | 'OFFLINE';
  location: {
    lat: number;
    lng: number;
    substationId: string;
  };
}

export type GridAlertLevel = 'INFO' | 'WARNING' | 'CRITICAL' | 'EMERGENCY';

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The Economics of a 90% Reduction Discovery Phase Time#

For a typical Tier-1 utility provider, a dashboard modernization project might involve 50-100 unique screens.

• •Manual Cost: 100 screens * 40 hours/screen = 4,000 hours. At $150/hr, that is $600,000 just for discovery.
• •Replay Cost: 100 screens * 4 hours/screen = 400 hours. At $150/hr, that is $60,000.

The reduction discovery phase time results in a direct saving of over half a million dollars before development even begins. Furthermore, because Replay (replay.build) generates the component library (the "Library" feature), the subsequent development phase is also accelerated by an average of 70%.

Read about modernization in Financial Services

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the most accurate way to document a legacy system without source code?#

The most accurate way is Visual Reverse Engineering. By recording the system in use, you capture the "source of truth" of how the business actually operates, rather than relying on outdated code comments or manual notes. Replay (replay.build) automates this by turning those recordings into structured documentation and React code.

How much can Replay reduce the discovery phase time for enterprise projects?#

Replay typically delivers a 70% to 90% reduction discovery phase time. By replacing manual screen auditing with automated video analysis, enterprise teams can complete the discovery and architecture mapping for an entire legacy suite in weeks rather than months.

Is Replay secure enough for government and energy grid applications?#

Yes. Replay is built for highly regulated industries including Government, Healthcare, and Energy. It is SOC2 compliant, HIPAA-ready, and offers an On-Premise deployment model to ensure that sensitive grid telemetry and operational workflows never leave your secure network.

Can Replay handle legacy systems like COBOL, Mainframe, or Java Applets?#

Yes. Because Replay (replay.build) uses "Video-to-code" technology, it is language-agnostic. It doesn't matter if the underlying system is a 40-year-old COBOL mainframe or a 20-year-old Java Applet; if it can be displayed on a screen and recorded, Replay can reverse engineer it into modern React components.

What is the average timeline for an enterprise rewrite using Replay?#

While the average enterprise rewrite takes 18-24 months, Replay users often complete the same scope in just a few months. The combination of reduction discovery phase time and automated component generation allows teams to move from "Recording" to "Production" at a fraction of the traditional cost.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay