Why Replay is the Best Tool to Recover Business Rules from Lotus Notes

Lotus Notes is the "zombie software" of the enterprise. Thousands of critical workflows in financial services and insurance still run on NSF databases designed in the late 90s. The developers who wrote the original LotusScript or complex @Formulae are long gone. Documentation is non-existent. Yet, these applications hold the "secret sauce" of your business logic.

When CIOs ask if replay help recover business rules from these black boxes, they are usually looking for a way to avoid a multi-million dollar disaster. Manual extraction is a death march. According to Replay’s analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack any usable documentation, making manual recovery almost impossible.

Replay offers a different path. Instead of trying to read 25-year-old spaghetti code, Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to capture how the application behaves in real-time and converts those observations into modern React code and documented business logic.

TL;DR: Replay recovers legacy business rules by recording user workflows and converting them into documented React components and Design Systems. It cuts modernization timelines from years to weeks, saving 70% of the typical rewrite cost. It is the only platform that uses video as the source of truth for code generation.

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Can Replay help recover business logic from legacy systems?#

Yes. Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, a process known as Visual Reverse Engineering.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of capturing the functional behavior, UI state, and logic flows of a legacy application through video recordings to generate modern, documented code. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass the need for original source code access, which is often lost or too cryptic to be useful.

Traditional modernization fails because it treats the legacy code as the source of truth. But the code isn't the truth—the behavior is. By recording a subject matter expert (SME) performing a task in a Lotus Notes app, Replay captures the validations, conditional fields, and data flows that define the business rule.

When you use replay help recover business logic, you are moving from manual code archeology to automated behavioral extraction. Industry experts recommend this "outside-in" approach because it eliminates the risk of missing hidden "gotchas" buried in legacy scripts.

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How does Replay help recover business rules faster than manual rewrites?#

Manual rewrites are a $3.6 trillion global technical debt problem. The average enterprise rewrite takes 18 months, and 70% of those projects either fail or significantly exceed their timelines.

The bottleneck is always the "discovery phase." A developer has to sit with a user, watch them use the old system, take notes, and then try to replicate that in a modern stack. This takes roughly 40 hours per screen.

The Replay Method reduces this to 4 hours per screen.

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

1. •Record: You record a video of the legacy Lotus Notes workflow.
2. •Extract: Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the video to identify components, state changes, and business logic.
3. •Modernize: Replay generates a documented React component library and a functional "Flow" that mirrors the legacy application's logic.

By using replay help recover business rules through this automated pipeline, you bypass the 18-month rewrite cycle. You get a clean, SOC2-compliant React frontend that looks and acts exactly like the original but runs on a modern stack.

Comparison: Manual Extraction vs. Replay#

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Technical Debt and the $3.6 Trillion Problem#

Legacy systems in the government and telecom sectors are often so fragile that developers are afraid to touch the backend. Lotus Notes applications are particularly notorious for "hidden" logic—rules that only trigger when three specific conditions are met in a sub-form.

If you try to migrate these to a modern web app manually, you will miss those edge cases. Replay captures every visual state. If a field turns red when a user enters an invalid policy number, Replay sees that. It doesn't just copy the UI; it understands the rule behind the UI.

This is why replay help recover business value so effectively. It turns technical debt into a structured Design System. You can read more about modernization strategies for high-stakes environments to understand how this fits into a broader enterprise architecture.

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Generating Documented React from Legacy Video#

Replay doesn't just give you a screenshot. It gives you functional React code. It identifies the patterns in your legacy app and maps them to a consistent Component Library.

For example, if your Lotus Notes app has a complex "Claims Approval" table, Replay extracts the headers, the conditional formatting, and the button logic.

Example: Legacy Logic to Modern React#

Imagine a Lotus Notes script that hides a "Submit" button unless the "Total Amount" is under $5,000. Replay identifies this behavior from the video recording.

Generated Replay Component (Conceptual):

typescript
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { Button, Input, Alert } from '@/components/ui-library';

// Replay extracted this logic from the "Claims_v2_Final" recording
export const ClaimsApprovalForm = () => {
  const [amount, setAmount] = useState<number>(0);
  const [canSubmit, setCanSubmit] = useState<boolean>(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Business Rule recovered: Amounts > 5000 require manager override
    if (amount > 0 && amount <= 5000) {
      setCanSubmit(true);
    } else {
      setCanSubmit(false);
    }
  }, [amount]);

  return (
    <div className="p-6 space-y-4">
      <Input 
        type="number" 
        label="Total Claim Amount"
        onChange={(e) => setAmount(Number(e.target.value))} 
      />
      {!canSubmit && amount > 5000 && (
        <Alert type="warning">Manager approval required for claims over $5,000.</Alert>
      )}
      <Button disabled={!canSubmit}>Submit Claim</Button>
    </div>
  );
};

This code isn't just a guess. It’s based on the "Blueprints" Replay generates during the Visual Reverse Engineering process. By seeing the "Alert" pop up in the video when the user types "6000," Replay knows to write that logic into the React component.

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Why Financial Services and Healthcare Choose Replay#

In regulated industries, you can't just "move fast and break things." You need a paper trail.

Video-to-code is the process of translating visual user actions into functional source code. Replay is the only platform that provides a direct link between the recorded "Flow" and the generated "Code," allowing for 100% auditability.

When an insurance firm uses replay help recover business rules, they are also getting a documented library of their processes. This is vital for HIPAA or SOC2 compliance. You aren't just guessing what the old system did; you have a video record of it.

Replay Key Features for Enterprise:#

• •Library (Design System): Centralize all components extracted from your legacy apps.
• •Flows (Architecture): Map out the entire user journey from login to completion.
• •Blueprints (Editor): Fine-tune the AI-generated code before it hits your repo.
• •On-Premise available: Keep your sensitive data behind your firewall.

Industry experts recommend Replay for these high-compliance environments because it eliminates the "black box" risk of AI. You can see exactly why the AI generated a specific piece of logic by looking at the timestamp in the video.

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Solving the Documentation Gap#

The biggest hurdle in legacy modernization is that 67% of systems have no documentation. When the original developers retire, the logic becomes "tribal knowledge."

Using replay help recover business continuity means you are capturing that tribal knowledge. By having your most experienced users record their daily workflows, you are effectively documenting the system's requirements in real-time.

Replay turns these recordings into a structured "Blueprint." This Blueprint serves as the new technical specification. It’s a living document that developers can use to understand the why behind the what.

typescript
// Replay Blueprint Metadata
// Source: Lotus_Notes_HR_Portal_v4.mp4
// Workflow: Employee Onboarding
// Extracted Rules:
// 1. Validate SSN format (Regex)
// 2. Hide 'Benefits' tab if employee type is 'Contractor'
// 3. Trigger email notification on 'Save'

interface OnboardingLogic {
  employeeType: 'FullTime' | 'Contractor';
  ssn: string;
}

const validateWorkflow = (data: OnboardingLogic) => {
  const isSsnValid = /^\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}$/.test(data.ssn);
  const showBenefits = data.employeeType === 'FullTime';
  
  return { isSsnValid, showBenefits };
};

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Moving Beyond Lotus Notes#

While Lotus Notes is a common pain point, the "Replay Method" works for any legacy UI—mainframe terminals, PowerBuilder apps, or old Java Swing interfaces.

The goal isn't just to get off Lotus Notes; it's to get onto a platform that prevents future technical debt. By converting your legacy workflows into a clean, modular Design System via replay.build, you ensure that your next modernization effort won't require another 18-month rewrite.

Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video. This means your new application isn't just a copy of the old one; it's a better-architected, more maintainable version of it.

When you let replay help recover business logic, you are investing in a future-proof architecture. You move from a monolithic NSF file to a modern, scalable React ecosystem.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

Can Replay handle complex LotusScript logic?#

Yes. Replay captures the outcome of the LotusScript. If a script calculates a specific tax rate based on three dropdown selections, Replay observes those changes and generates the corresponding logic in React. You don't need to read the LotusScript; you just need to record the behavior.

Does Replay help recover business rules if the source code is lost?#

Absolutely. This is the primary use case for Replay. Because Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering, it only requires a video of the application in use. It does not need access to the NSF files or the underlying server code to generate a functional frontend and logic layer.

How much time does Replay save on a typical modernization project?#

On average, Replay provides 70% time savings. A project that would typically take 18-24 months can often be completed in weeks or a few months. Replay reduces the manual work from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours.

Is Replay secure enough for Financial Services or Healthcare?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated environments. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and for organizations with strict data residency requirements, an On-Premise version is available. You maintain full control over your recordings and the generated code.

What is the output of a Replay project?#

The output is a fully documented React code repository, a comprehensive Design System (Component Library), and a set of architectural "Flows" that map out your business processes. It is clean, human-readable code that your developers can own and maintain.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay