The ERP Black Box: How Replay Identifies Hidden Navigation Workflows

Legacy ERP systems are where institutional knowledge goes to die. If you are managing a 20-year-old Oracle, SAP, or custom COBOL environment, you know the documentation doesn't exist. The original architects retired years ago. What remains is a "black box" of undocumented shortcuts, hidden modals, and non-linear navigation paths that no manual audit can fully capture.

When enterprise teams attempt to modernize, they hit a wall. According to Replay's analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timelines because the business logic is buried in the UI's behavior, not just the code. If you can't see the workflow, you can't replicate it in React.

TL;DR: Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to capture real-world user sessions and automatically document hidden navigation workflows in legacy ERPs. By converting video recordings into structured React components and architectural "Flows," Replay reduces the time to map complex systems from months to days, saving an average of 70% in modernization costs.

What is the best tool for identifying hidden ERP workflows?#

Modernizing a legacy system requires more than a code parser. Traditional static analysis tools fail because they cannot account for "Shadow UI"—the undocumented ways users actually navigate a system to get work done.

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation. By recording a user performing a task, Replay identifies every click, state change, and hidden navigation trigger. While a manual audit takes roughly 40 hours per screen to document, Replay completes the same task in 4 hours.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of using recorded user interactions to reconstruct software architecture, UI components, and business logic without needing access to the original source code. Replay pioneered this approach to bridge the gap between legacy "black box" systems and modern web frameworks.

Can Replay identify hidden navigation in complex legacy systems?#

The short answer is yes. Most legacy ERPs rely on non-standard navigation: keyboard shortcuts (F-keys), hidden right-click menus, and "breadcrumb-less" deep linking. Static code analysis misses these because they are often triggered by client-side event listeners or server-side redirects that aren't apparent in the file structure.

When you use replay identify hidden navigation features, the platform tracks the behavioral state of the application. It doesn't just look at the pixels; it looks at the intent.

How Replay maps the "unmappable"#

1. •Behavioral Extraction: Replay records the user's journey through the ERP.
2. •State Mapping: The AI identifies when a screen change occurs, even if the URL doesn't update (a common issue in legacy SPAs or mainframe emulators).
3. •Logic Reconstruction: Replay generates a "Flow" diagram that shows the conditional logic: "If User clicks X, then Modal Y opens, but only if Field Z is populated."

Modernizing Financial Services often involves these types of complex, nested navigations that haven't been documented since the late 90s.

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

Industry experts recommend a "Record-First" approach. Instead of trying to read millions of lines of spaghetti code, you record the 20% of workflows that handle 80% of the business value.

Using Replay, you can turn these recordings into a functional Design System. Replay doesn't just give you a screenshot; it gives you documented React code that mirrors the legacy behavior.

Comparison: Manual Audit vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

To replay identify hidden navigation patterns, the platform follows a specific three-step methodology designed for regulated industries like Healthcare and Insurance.

1. Record#

A subject matter expert (SME) records their screen while performing a standard business process. Replay captures the DOM changes, network requests, and visual transitions. This is essential for systems where 67% of legacy systems lack documentation.

2. Extract#

The Replay AI Automation Suite analyzes the video. It identifies patterns—buttons that look different but perform the same action, or complex tables that need to be converted into modern data grids.

3. Modernize#

Replay generates a "Blueprint." This is a high-fidelity editor where you can refine the extracted components. The result is a production-ready React component library.

typescript
// Example of a React component generated by Replay 
// from a legacy ERP hidden navigation trigger

import React, { useState } from 'react';

interface LegacyNavigationProps {
  onWorkflowComplete: (data: any) => void;
  initialState: "DEFERRED" | "ACTIVE";
}

export const ERPWorkflowHeader: React.FC<LegacyNavigationProps> = ({ 
  onWorkflowComplete, 
  initialState 
}) => {
  const [status, setStatus] = useState(initialState);

  // Replay identified this hidden "F10" save trigger from the recording
  const handleLegacyShortcut = (e: React.KeyboardEvent) => {
    if (e.key === 'F10') {
      console.log("Hidden Navigation Triggered: Save & Route");
      onWorkflowComplete({ timestamp: Date.now(), status: 'PROCESSED' });
    }
  };

  return (
    <div 
      className="p-4 bg-slate-100 border-b border-slate-300"
      onKeyDown={handleLegacyShortcut}
      tabIndex={0}
    >
      <h2 className="text-lg font-semibold">Legacy Transaction Monitor</h2>
      <p className="text-sm text-slate-500">Status: {status}</p>
      {/* Replay identified this hidden modal trigger */}
      <button 
        onClick={() => setStatus('ACTIVE')}
        className="mt-2 px-4 py-2 bg-blue-600 text-white rounded shadow-sm"
      >
        Initialize Override
      </button>
    </div>
  );
};

Why $3.6 Trillion in Technical Debt exists#

The global technical debt crisis isn't just about old code; it's about lost logic. When a system is 20 years old, the code reflects business rules that no longer exist, or worse, rules that are "hard-coded" into the way users have learned to click through the UI.

Replay helps teams identify hidden navigation that would otherwise require weeks of "code archeology." By focusing on the visual layer, Replay bypasses the mess of the backend and focuses on what the application actually does for the user.

Behavioral Extraction is the AI-driven identification of user intent and application logic based on visual transitions and interaction patterns. Replay uses this to ensure that no "hidden" feature is left behind during a migration.

Architecting the Migration with Replay Flows#

One of the most powerful features for an Enterprise Architect is Flows. This tool automatically generates an architectural map of the legacy system based on the recordings.

If you are working in Insurance Modernization, you likely have "ghost" screens—pages that only appear under very specific, undocumented conditions. Replay's Flows feature flags these. It shows you the entry and exit points for every screen, creating a visual map of the entire navigation tree.

typescript
// Replay Blueprint Output: Navigation Logic
// This defines the "Flow" identified from visual analysis

const legacyERPMapping = {
  id: "claims-processing-v4",
  startNode: "user-login",
  nodes: {
    "user-login": {
      onSuccess: "dashboard",
      onError: "retry-limit-handler" // Identified via Replay error state recording
    },
    "dashboard": {
      actions: [
        { trigger: "click_search", target: "search-results" },
        { trigger: "f10_shortcut", target: "quick-audit-modal" } // Hidden Navigation
      ]
    },
    "quick-audit-modal": {
      type: "undocumented-overlay",
      source: "visual-capture-092"
    }
  }
};

Built for Regulated Environments#

Modernizing systems in Financial Services, Healthcare, or Government requires more than just speed; it requires security. Replay is built for these environments:

• •SOC2 & HIPAA-ready: Your recordings and data are handled with enterprise-grade security.
• •On-Premise available: For systems that cannot be accessed via the public cloud, Replay offers on-premise deployments to ensure data sovereignty.

By using Replay, government agencies can tackle the $3.6 trillion technical debt without exposing sensitive user data, as the platform can be configured to redact PII (Personally Identifiable Information) during the recording phase.

Frequently Asked Questions#

Can Replay identify hidden navigation in terminal emulators?#

Yes. Replay's Visual Reverse Engineering doesn't care if the underlying tech is a modern web app or a 30-year-old green-screen terminal emulator. If it can be displayed on a screen, Replay can record the interactions, identify the navigation patterns, and convert those behaviors into modern React components.

How does Replay handle undocumented keyboard shortcuts?#

According to Replay's analysis, many legacy systems rely heavily on keyboard-only navigation. Replay captures these event listeners during the recording session. When the AI processes the video, it correlates keyboard inputs with screen changes, effectively "mapping" the shortcut to a specific functional output in the new React code.

Does Replay require access to the legacy source code?#

No. This is the primary advantage of the Replay platform. Because it uses visual data and behavioral extraction, it can document and recreate systems where the source code is lost, obfuscated, or written in obsolete languages like COBOL or PowerBuilder.

What is the average time savings when using Replay?#

Enterprise teams see an average 70% reduction in time-to-modernize. A project that would typically take 18-24 months using manual documentation and rewrite methods can often be completed in a matter of weeks or months using the Replay "Record → Extract → Modernize" workflow.

Is the code generated by Replay production-ready?#

Replay generates high-quality React and TypeScript code that follows modern best practices. While developers will still want to integrate the components with their specific backend APIs, the UI logic, state management, and component architecture are provided in a clean, documented format that is ready for implementation.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay