Utilities Billing Portal Modernization: 80% Faster Requirement Gathering Through Visual Reverse Engineering

The most expensive mistake in enterprise software isn't the code you write; it’s the code you spend eighteen months trying to understand before a single line is rewritten. In the utilities sector—where legacy billing systems are often built on aging Java applets, Silverlight, or even mainframe-backed green screens—the "discovery phase" of a project is where budgets go to die. According to Replay's analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack any form of up-to-date documentation, forcing architects to play digital archaeologist for months.

When we talk about utilities billing portal modernization, we aren't just talking about a fresh coat of CSS. We are talking about extracting decades of embedded business logic, edge cases, and complex user workflows from systems that no longer have original source code or living developers.

TL;DR: Manual requirement gathering for utility portals typically takes 40 hours per screen. By using Replay to record live sessions and automatically generate documented React components and Design Systems, enterprise teams are reducing discovery and requirement gathering time by 80%, shifting 18-month timelines into weeks.

The $3.6 Trillion Bottleneck: Why Discovery Fails#

The global technical debt has reached a staggering $3.6 trillion. For a Tier 1 utility provider, this debt manifests as a billing portal that customers hate, CSRs (Customer Service Representatives) find impossible to navigate, and developers are afraid to touch.

The traditional approach to utilities billing portal modernization follows a predictable, failing pattern:

1. •Business analysts interview users for 3 months.
2. •Architects attempt to map legacy database schemas to new APIs.
3. •Developers try to replicate complex UI behaviors (like tiered pricing visualizations or multi-meter usage charts) from screenshots.
4. •The project exceeds its timeline by 50% before the first beta is released.

Industry experts recommend moving away from manual "interview-based" discovery toward Visual Reverse Engineering.

Video-to-code is the process of recording a functional legacy application in a browser and using AI-driven analysis to instantly generate production-ready React components, state logic, and documentation.

Comparing Discovery Methods: Manual vs. Replay#

Accelerating Utilities Billing Portal Modernization#

In a utility environment, the billing portal is the most complex touchpoint. It must handle:

• •Complex data grids for usage history.
• •Dynamic PDF generation for invoices.
• •Integration with payment gateways (PCI compliance).
• •Multi-factor authentication and accessibility (WCAG) standards.

When you use Replay, you record these workflows—for example, a customer disputing a high bill or a commercial entity managing 500 sub-accounts. Replay’s AI Automation Suite parses the recording, identifies the underlying component architecture, and exports it into a structured Design System.

From Legacy UI to Modern React: A Technical Shift#

A legacy utility portal might use an old-school table structure with inline event handlers. Modernizing this manually involves rewriting the entire state management. Replay automates this by identifying patterns in the recording.

Here is an example of what a legacy billing summary component looks like after being processed through Replay’s Visual Reverse Engineering engine:

typescript
// Generated via Replay Blueprints
import React from 'react';
import { useBillingData } from './hooks/useBillingData';
import { Card, Badge, Button, UsageChart } from '@/components/ui';

interface BillingSummaryProps {
  accountNumber: string;
  isDelinquent: boolean;
}

export const BillingSummary: React.FC<BillingSummaryProps> = ({ 
  accountNumber, 
  isDelinquent 
}) => {
  const { data, loading } = useBillingData(accountNumber);

  if (loading) return <div className="animate-pulse h-64 bg-slate-100 rounded-lg" />;

  return (
    <Card className="p-6 border-l-4 border-primary-500 shadow-sm">
      <div className="flex justify-between items-start mb-4">
        <div>
          <h3 className="text-sm font-medium text-slate-500">Current Balance</h3>
          <p className="text-3xl font-bold text-slate-900">${data.currentBalance}</p>
        </div>
        {isDelinquent && (
          <Badge variant="destructive">Past Due</Badge>
        )}
      </div>
      
      <div className="mt-6 h-32">
        {/* Replay identified this as a dynamic usage trend from the recording */}
        <UsageChart data={data.usageHistory} />
      </div>

      <div className="mt-6 flex gap-3">
        <Button variant="primary" className="flex-1">Pay Now</Button>
        <Button variant="outline" className="flex-1">View PDF Statement</Button>
      </div>
    </Card>
  );
};

This code isn't just a "guess." It is generated based on the actual DOM structures and data flows observed during the recording phase in the Replay library.

The Three Pillars of the Replay Ecosystem#

To achieve an 80% reduction in requirement gathering for utilities billing portal modernization, Replay utilizes three core modules:

1. The Library (Design System Generation)#

Instead of spending weeks defining a design system in Figma, Replay extracts the "source of truth" from your existing legacy application. It identifies recurring patterns—buttons, inputs, modals, and data tables—and organizes them into a documented component library.

Learn more about building a Design System from legacy code

2. Flows (Architecture Mapping)#

Utilities have complex user journeys. A "Move-In/Move-Out" request might involve 12 different screens and 50 conditional logic branches. Replay "Flows" records these sequences and generates architectural diagrams and sequence maps automatically. This eliminates the "67% lack of documentation" problem instantly.

3. Blueprints (The Editor)#

Once the recording is captured, the Blueprints editor allows architects to refine the generated code. You can map legacy data fields to new GraphQL or REST endpoints, ensuring that the modernized portal is ready for your new backend from day one.

Solving the "70% Failure Rate" in Utility Modernization#

Statistics show that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timeline. In the utility sector, these failures are often caused by "Requirement Drift"—where the new system is built, but users realize it’s missing 20% of the critical edge-case functionality that the old system handled silently.

By using Replay for your utilities billing portal modernization, you capture every edge case. If a CSR uses a specific "hidden" keyboard shortcut to override a late fee, Replay records that interaction. The AI identifies it as a functional requirement, ensuring it is documented and built into the React-based replacement.

Implementing a Modern Design Token System#

One of the biggest hurdles in modernization is consistent styling. Utility companies often have strict brand guidelines but multiple disparate portals (Water, Gas, Electric) that look completely different. Replay normalizes these by generating a unified token system.

typescript
// Generated Design Tokens from Legacy CSS Analysis
export const UtilityTheme = {
  colors: {
    primary: "#0056b3", // Extracted from legacy 'btn-submit'
    secondary: "#6c757d",
    success: "#28a745",
    warning: "#ffc107",
    danger: "#dc3545",
    usageHigh: "#e11d48",
    usageNormal: "#10b981",
  },
  spacing: {
    xs: "0.25rem",
    sm: "0.5rem",
    md: "1rem",
    lg: "1.5rem",
    xl: "2rem",
  },
  typography: {
    fontFamily: "'Inter', sans-serif",
    fontSize: {
      base: "16px",
      h1: "2.25rem",
      h2: "1.875rem",
    }
  }
};

Security and Compliance in Regulated Industries#

For utilities, security isn't optional. Whether it's HIPAA-ready requirements for medical baseline customers or SOC2 compliance for financial data, the modernization toolchain must be secure.

Replay is built for these environments. It offers:

• •On-Premise Deployment: Keep your recordings and code within your own VPC.
• •SOC2 Type II Compliance: Rigorous security standards for enterprise data.
• •PII Redaction: Automatically mask sensitive customer data (like SSNs or account numbers) during the recording process.

Read about our security protocols

The Financial Impact: 40 Hours vs. 4 Hours#

Let’s look at the math. A typical utility billing portal has approximately 150 unique screens (including admin dashboards, customer views, and reporting tools).

• •Manual Discovery: 150 screens x 40 hours = 6,000 man-hours. At a blended rate of $150/hr, that is $900,000 just to understand what to build.
• •Replay Modernization: 150 screens x 4 hours = 600 man-hours. At the same rate, that is $90,000.

That is an $810,000 saving before a single developer has even started the "actual" build. This is how Replay enables utilities billing portal modernization to move from an 18-month roadmap to a 12-week sprint.

Frequently Asked Questions#

How does Replay handle legacy systems like Silverlight or Flash?#

While Replay primarily targets web-based legacy systems, it can record any application accessible via a browser. For older technologies like Silverlight, we use a specialized containerized recording environment that captures the UI interactions and translates them into modern React components and state logic.

Does Replay replace my existing developers?#

No. Replay is a force multiplier for your existing team. It automates the "grunt work" of requirement gathering and boilerplate component creation (the first 70% of the work), allowing your senior developers to focus on complex integrations, security, and business-specific logic.

Can we export the code to our own repository?#

Yes. Replay is not a low-code platform that "locks" you in. All components, hooks, and design tokens generated are standard TypeScript/React code that you can export to GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket and own forever.

How does Replay ensure the generated code is accessible?#

Replay’s AI Automation Suite includes a WCAG-compliance engine. During the conversion process, it automatically suggests and implements ARIA labels, semantic HTML structures, and color contrast adjustments to ensure your modernized portal meets legal accessibility standards.

What industries besides Utilities benefit from this?#

While highly effective for utilities, Replay is widely used in Financial Services (core banking), Healthcare (EHR systems), and Government (tax and licensing portals) where legacy technical debt is high and documentation is low.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay