Visual Logic Capture: The Key to Modernizing 20-Year-Old Logistics Platforms

The average enterprise logistics platform is a 20-year-old black box held together by hope and undocumented business logic. When you look at your core Transportation Management System (TMS) or Warehouse Management System (WMS), you aren’t looking at a codebase; you’re looking at a $3.6 trillion global technical debt liability.

The industry standard for "modernizing" these systems is a suicide mission. We’ve been told for decades that the only way out is a "Big Bang" rewrite—an 18-to-24-month slog that carries a 70% failure rate. Most of these projects don't fail because the new code is bad; they fail because the old logic was never understood. You cannot migrate what you cannot document, and 67% of legacy systems lack any meaningful documentation.

The solution isn't more manual "code archaeology." It’s visual logic capture.

TL;DR: Visual logic capture replaces high-risk manual reverse engineering by using real-time user workflows as the source of truth, reducing modernization timelines from years to weeks.

The Archaeology Trap: Why Manual Modernization Fails#

In a 20-year-old logistics environment, the "source of truth" isn't the documentation—it doesn't exist. It isn't the code—that's a spaghetti mess of COBOL, Java, or PowerBuilder. The true business logic lives in the fingers of the operators who have used the system for two decades.

When an Enterprise Architect tries to modernize manually, they spend 40 hours per screen just trying to map dependencies. They are digging through layers of technical sediment, trying to figure out why a specific customs clearance flag triggers a secondary inspection workflow.

The Cost of Manual Extraction vs. Visual Logic Capture#

💰 ROI Insight: By switching from manual extraction to Replay, enterprise teams typically see a 70% average time saving, moving from "years-long" roadmaps to "weeks-long" delivery cycles.

What is Visual Logic Capture?#

Visual logic capture is the process of recording real user workflows to automatically generate documented, modern code structures. Instead of reading 50,000 lines of legacy Java to understand a freight-forwarding module, you record a senior dispatcher performing the task.

Replay captures every interaction, state change, and API call during that session. It then uses an AI Automation Suite to translate those visual actions into:

1. •React Components: Ready-to-use UI that mirrors the legacy functionality but uses modern architecture.
2. •API Contracts: Clearly defined interfaces for how the front end talks to the back end.
3. •E2E Tests: Automated tests that ensure the new system behaves exactly like the old one.

⚠️ Warning: The "Big Bang" rewrite is the single greatest risk to an Enterprise Architect's career. Attempting to rebuild 20 years of edge cases from scratch without a visual baseline is a recipe for a multi-million dollar write-off.

The Logistics Crisis: 20 Years of Undocumented Edge Cases#

Logistics platforms are uniquely difficult to modernize because they are built on "edge-case logic." A 20-year-old TMS handles international tax laws, shipping constraints, and carrier-specific quirks that were hard-coded in 2004.

If you miss one validation rule for a Bill of Lading, the entire supply chain halts. This is why "Understanding what you already have" is the most critical phase of modernization.

Case Study: The 40-Hour Screen Problem#

A Tier-1 Global Logistics provider attempted to modernize their dispatching dashboard.

• •The Manual Way: A team of 4 analysts spent 3 weeks documenting the "Add Shipment" screen. They missed a hidden validation rule that only triggered for shipments over 500kg going to the EU.
• •The Replay Way: The team recorded three 5-minute sessions of different shipment types. Replay’s Flows feature mapped the logic branches automatically. The entire screen logic was captured, audited, and converted into a React Blueprint in under 5 hours.

From Black Box to Documented Codebase: The 3-Step Process#

Modernizing with Replay isn't about "translating" code; it's about capturing intent.

Step 1: Visual Assessment & Recording#

You don't start with the IDE. You start with the user. Using Replay, you record the actual workflows of your logistics operators. This captures the "Visual Truth" of the system—how it actually behaves, not how the 15-year-old PDF says it should behave.

Step 2: Extraction and Design System Generation#

Replay’s Library feature identifies recurring UI patterns across your legacy screens. It extracts these into a standardized Design System. Instead of 500 different "Submit" buttons, you get one documented React component.

typescript
// Example: Generated React Component from Replay Visual Capture
// This component preserves the legacy validation logic while using modern hooks.

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { Button, TextField, Alert } from '@replay-ui/logistics-library';

export const LogisticsValidationForm = ({ legacyData }) => {
  const [status, setStatus] = useState('idle');
  const [errors, setErrors] = useState([]);

  // Business logic preserved from visual capture: 
  // Custom validation for maritime insurance flags
  const validateShipment = (data) => {
    const issues = [];
    if (data.weight > 500 && data.destination === 'EU' && !data.insuranceRef) {
      issues.push("EU Maritime Regulation 402 requires Insurance Reference for heavy loads.");
    }
    return issues;
  };

  return (
    <div className="p-6 border-l-4 border-blue-500">
      <TextField 
        label="Shipment Weight" 
        defaultValue={legacyData.weight} 
        onChange={(val) => handleUpdate(val)}
      />
      {errors.length > 0 && <Alert type="error" messages={errors} />}
      <Button onClick={() => setStatus('submitting')}>
        Sync to Modern ERP
      </Button>
    </div>
  );
};

Step 3: Blueprinting and Technical Debt Audit#

Once the flows are captured, Replay generates a Blueprint. This is an interactive map of your application’s architecture. It highlights technical debt "hotspots"—areas where the legacy logic is redundant or circular—allowing you to refactor during the migration rather than just moving the mess to a new cloud environment.

💡 Pro Tip: Use the Technical Debt Audit feature in Replay to identify which 20% of your legacy screens handle 80% of your business value. Modernize those first to show immediate ROI to the C-suite.

Preserving Business Logic Without Code Archaeology#

One of the biggest fears in modernization is losing the "hidden" business logic—the small code snippets added in 2012 to handle a specific carrier's API quirk.

When you use visual logic capture, you aren't just looking at the UI. Replay captures the data payload and state transitions. This allows the platform to generate API contracts that are backward compatible with your legacy backend while you build the new one.

json
// Generated API Contract from Replay Flow Capture
{
  "endpoint": "/api/v1/shipping/calculate-rate",
  "method": "POST",
  "legacy_mapping": "TMS_PROC_042_RATE_CALC",
  "required_fields": [
    "origin_zip",
    "destination_zip",
    "weight_kg",
    "hazmat_class"
  ],
  "captured_logic_constraints": {
    "hazmat_multiplier": "1.45",
    "weekend_surcharge_active": true
  }
}

Built for the Regulated Enterprise#

For industries like Healthcare, Financial Services, and Government-contracted Logistics, security is non-negotiable. You cannot send sensitive shipment data or PII to a public cloud AI for "analysis."

Replay is built for these environments:

• •SOC2 & HIPAA Ready: Compliance is baked into the extraction process.
• •On-Premise Available: Keep your legacy data and the extraction engine behind your own firewall.
• •No Data Retention: Replay captures logic, not sensitive user data, ensuring your modernization remains compliant with global privacy laws.

The Future Isn't Rewriting—It's Understanding#

The "Big Bang" rewrite is a relic of the 2010s. It’s too slow, too expensive, and too risky for the modern enterprise. The future of legacy modernization lies in understanding what you already have through visual reverse engineering.

By using Replay to capture visual logic, you transform your 20-year-old "black box" into a documented, modular, and modern codebase in a fraction of the time. You stop being an archaeologist and start being an architect.

Frequently Asked Questions#

How long does legacy extraction take with Replay?#

While a manual audit of a complex logistics screen can take 40+ hours, Replay typically reduces this to 4 hours. For an entire enterprise module (20-30 screens), we see customers move from "discovery" to "documented React code" in 2-4 weeks.

What about business logic preservation?#

Replay doesn't just record pixels; it records state and data flow. By capturing the actual inputs and outputs of a legacy system during a live session, it ensures that every edge case—even those undocumented for a decade—is represented in the generated API contracts and E2E tests.

Does Replay work with terminal-based or "green screen" systems?#

Yes. Because Replay uses visual reverse engineering, it can capture workflows from mainframe emulators, Citrix-delivered apps, and older desktop environments (PowerBuilder, VB6, Delphi) that traditional code-scanning tools can't touch.

Can we host Replay on our own servers?#

Absolutely. For our clients in Government, Defense, and Financial Services, we offer an On-Premise version of the platform to ensure that no proprietary logic or sensitive data ever leaves your secure environment.

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