The 12-Month Blueprint for PL/I Insurance Claims Processing Modernizing

Your insurance claims engine is likely a "black box" of PL/I logic running on a mainframe that hasn't been fully documented since the late 1990s. While these systems are remarkably stable, they are also the primary anchor dragging down your digital transformation efforts. When you need to update a subrogation rule or change a deductible calculation, you aren't just writing code; you are performing digital archaeology.

The global technical debt crisis has reached a staggering $3.6 trillion, and nowhere is this more visible than in the insurance sector. Traditional attempts at insurance claims processing modernizing typically follow a predictable, painful path: an 18-24 month "big bang" rewrite that has a 70% chance of failing or exceeding its timeline.

The bottleneck isn't the coding—it's the discovery. According to Replay’s analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack any meaningful documentation. You cannot modernize what you do not understand. This guide outlines how to move from PL/I green screens to a modern React-based claims platform in exactly 12 months using Visual Reverse Engineering.

TL;DR: Modernizing PL/I claims systems fails when teams attempt to manually document millions of lines of code. By using Replay to record user workflows, you can bypass manual discovery and generate documented React components and design systems automatically. This approach reduces the modernization timeline from years to months, achieving a 70% time saving by converting a 40-hour manual screen rewrite into a 4-hour automated process.

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Why Insurance Claims Processing Modernizing Fails 70% of the Time#

Most insurance carriers approach modernization through "Lift and Shift" or manual rewrites. Both are fundamentally flawed for PL/I environments. In a manual rewrite, business analysts spend months interviewing adjusters to understand how a specific "Claim Validation" screen works. They miss edge cases—like the specific keyboard shortcut that triggers a legacy reinsurance check—and the project stalls.

Industry experts recommend moving away from manual documentation because the "source of truth" isn't the 20-year-old PDF manual; it's the live behavior of the application. Video-to-code is the process of capturing these live user interactions and programmatically converting them into structured technical specifications and UI components.

The Cost of the Status Quo#

Modernizing legacy systems requires a shift from "reading code" to "observing behavior." When you record a claims adjuster processing a complex workers' comp claim, you are capturing the business logic in its most pure form.

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Phase 1: Months 1-3 – Discovery and Visual Inventory#

The first quarter of your insurance claims processing modernizing journey must focus on mapping the "As-Is" state. In a PL/I environment, logic is often buried in nested includes and macros. Instead of trying to parse the mainframe code, record the experts using the system.

Using Replay, your team records the core "happy paths" of the claims lifecycle:

1. •First Notice of Loss (FNOL)
2. •Policy Verification
3. •Adjuster Assignment
4. •Reserve Setting
5. •Payment Issuance

Visual Reverse Engineering is the methodology of using these recordings to automatically identify UI patterns, data entry points, and navigational flows. Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes these recordings to create a "Blueprint" of your legacy system.

Defining the Component Library#

By Month 3, you should have a baseline Design System. Replay takes the recorded legacy screens and extracts the functional requirements for modern React components.

typescript
// Example: A generated React component structure 
// derived from a legacy PL/I Claim Header screen
import React from 'react';
import { TextField, Grid, Typography } from '@mui/material';

interface ClaimHeaderProps {
  claimNumber: string;
  policyId: string;
  status: 'Open' | 'Pending' | 'Closed';
  onStatusChange: (newStatus: string) => void;
}

export const LegacyClaimHeader: React.FC<ClaimHeaderProps> = ({
  claimNumber,
  policyId,
  status,
  onStatusChange
}) => {
  return (
    <Grid container spacing={2} className="modernized-claim-header">
      <Grid item xs={12}>
        <Typography variant="h4">Claim: {claimNumber}</Typography>
      </Grid>
      <Grid item xs={6}>
        <TextField 
          label="Policy Identification" 
          value={policyId} 
          disabled 
          fullWidth 
        />
      </Grid>
      {/* Logic captured from legacy screen behavior */}
      <Grid item xs={6}>
        <select 
          value={status} 
          onChange={(e) => onStatusChange(e.target.value)}
          className="claim-status-dropdown"
        >
          <option value="Open">Open</option>
          <option value="Pending">Pending</option>
          <option value="Closed">Closed</option>
        </select>
      </Grid>
    </Grid>
  );
};

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Phase 2: Months 4-7 – Logic Extraction and Flow Mapping#

Once the visual components are identified, the focus shifts to the underlying logic. In insurance claims processing modernizing, the "hidden" logic is what kills budgets. For example, why does the "Submit" button disable when a specific state code is entered?

According to Replay's analysis, manual discovery of these rules takes up 60% of the total project time. Replay’s "Flows" feature maps the transitions between screens. If an adjuster moves from screen

to only when a deductible is exceeded, Replay documents that conditional logic automatically.

Bridging the Gap: Mainframe to API#

During this phase, your backend team builds the "Strangler Fig" pattern. You create modern APIs (Node.js or Java) that wrap the legacy PL/I modules. The React components generated by Replay then consume these APIs.

Blueprints are the technical specifications generated by Replay that bridge the gap between the recorded video and the final React code. They serve as the source of truth for both frontend and backend developers.

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Phase 3: Months 8-10 – Component Assembly and Testing#

With the components and flows documented, the "Assembly" phase begins. This is where the 70% time savings truly manifest. Instead of building every form field from scratch, developers use the Replay Library to drag and drop pre-documented components into the new architecture.

Handling Complex Insurance Calculations#

In PL/I, calculations for "Incurred But Not Reported" (IBNR) or complex depreciation are often optimized for 1980s compute power. When modernizing, these must be validated against the legacy output.

typescript
/**
 * Modernized TypeScript implementation of 
 * Legacy PL/I Depreciation Logic
 * Captured via Replay Visual Analysis
 */
export const calculateDepreciation = (
  initialValue: number, 
  ageInMonths: number, 
  category: 'Auto' | 'Property'
): number => {
  const rates = {
    Auto: 0.015, // 1.5% per month
    Property: 0.005 // 0.5% per month
  };

  const rate = rates[category];
  // Replicating the legacy "Floor" logic captured during recording
  const depreciatedValue = initialValue * Math.pow((1 - rate), ageInMonths);
  
  return Math.max(depreciatedValue, initialValue * 0.10); // 10% salvage floor
};

By Month 10, the "Shadow Testing" phase begins. You run the new React-based claims UI alongside the legacy terminal. Adjusters perform their daily tasks in the new system, and Replay verifies that the data outputs match the legacy mainframe results.

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Phase 4: Months 11-12 – Hard Cutover and Optimization#

The final two months are dedicated to performance tuning and decommissioning the legacy UI. Because you used a visual reverse engineering approach, your adjusters require minimal training—the new UI mimics the workflows they’ve used for decades, just in a modern, browser-based environment.

Mainframe to Cloud transitions are often delayed by "UI friction." By using Replay to maintain the mental model of the legacy system while upgrading the technology stack, you eliminate the productivity dip usually associated with new software rollouts.

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A Comparison of Modernization Approaches#

Component Libraries are collections of reusable UI elements that ensure consistency across the newly modernized claims platform. Replay automatically populates your library based on the patterns it recognizes in your PL/I system recordings.

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The Strategic Importance of Visual Reverse Engineering#

In highly regulated industries like insurance, government, and healthcare, you cannot afford "hallucinations" in your modernization process. Every field in a claims screen has a regulatory or actuarial reason for existing.

Visual Reverse Engineering provides an audit trail. You aren't just guessing what the PL/I code does; you have a video recording of the code in action, a blueprint of the logic, and the resulting React code. This "chain of custody" for business logic is essential for SOC2 and HIPAA-ready environments.

Industry experts recommend this visual-first approach because it solves the "talent gap." You don't need to find 20 more PL/I developers (who are mostly reaching retirement age); you need your current React developers to have a clear map of what to build. Replay provides that map.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

How does Replay handle complex PL/I keyboard macros?#

Replay records the actual keyboard inputs and screen state changes. If a specific "F8" key triggers a specific sub-routine in the mainframe, Replay identifies that event as a functional requirement, allowing developers to map it to a modern React action or button.

Can we modernize only specific parts of the claims process?#

Yes. Many organizations use Replay for "Modular Modernization." You can record and modernize high-value flows like "Payments" while leaving low-volume screens on the mainframe, connecting them via a unified modern portal.

Is Replay SOC2 and HIPAA compliant?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated environments including Financial Services, Healthcare, and Insurance. It offers On-Premise deployment options to ensure that sensitive claims data never leaves your secure environment during the recording or generation process.

How much training do adjusters need for the new system?#

Because Replay uses the legacy system as the "blueprint" for the new UI, the workflows remain familiar. According to Replay's analysis, training time is reduced by 60% compared to "Big Bang" rewrites because the functional layout remains intuitive to the users.

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Conclusion: Stop Guessing, Start Recording#

The $3.6 trillion technical debt problem won't be solved by writing more documentation that no one reads. For insurance carriers, insurance claims processing modernizing is a matter of survival. The talent pool for PL/I is shrinking, while the demand for agile, AI-driven claims processing is exploding.

By choosing a Visual Reverse Engineering path, you reduce the risk of the "70% failure rate" and turn an 18-month nightmare into a 12-month success story. You save 40 hours per screen, preserve 20 years of business logic, and finally give your developers the documented React library they need to innovate.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay