Background
Project background
The client is a freight and logistics company with over a century of operating history. Their core ERP had been running on a legacy AS/400-based environment for nearly 20 years. Support for the application layer was no longer available to the client, internal system knowledge was limited, and the original CTO had already left after preparing handover documentation. The client needed an external team to take over day-to-day support, preserve business continuity, and gradually migrate the operation to a modern cloud-based ERP platform.
"The client's CEO had been with the company for over 40 years. He coordinated access to the sales and operations directors, stayed involved throughout the transition, and provided business context we couldn't have gotten from the documentation alone."
Migration Lead
Challenges
Key challenges
01
Limited documentation and a deeply customized legacy environment
The legacy ERP had accumulated nearly 20 years of business logic, much of it embedded in data structures, reports, and operational workflows rather than formal documentation. The team had to reconstruct the logic from the data layer while keeping the existing production environment stable.
02
Customer-facing web tracking and 500+ reports had to remain accurate
The client’s web tracking and reporting systems were used by both internal teams and external customers. More than 500 report templates and related data feeds had to be mapped, validated, and updated while the backend ERP data source changed. Maintaining continuity for these outputs was as important as the ERP migration itself.
03
Active EDI integrations had to remain operational throughout
Existing EDI connections with customers and suppliers could not be interrupted. The EDI migration workstream ran in parallel with the core ERP migration for the full duration of the project.
How the work unfolded
Project timeline
Phase 01
Initial Discovery & Business Mapping
March 2020 · 2 months
- 3 people, part-time (3 hrs/day overlap with client)
- Legacy system mapped from the data layer — no code changes
- Business context gathered through sessions with the CEO, sales directors, and operations leads
- Small feature work on the reporting system started to build familiarity
Phase 02
System Takeover & Migration Roadmap
May 2020 · 2 months
- 3 people, full-time
- Intermediate aggregation database built to bridge the two ERPs
- 500–600 report templates configured across finance, logistics, and customer data
- Migration scope and data mapping requirements defined
- ~50% of phase time on data mapping and validation
Phase 03
Phased Cloud Migration
~12 months · live Jul 2021 · no business disruption
- 4 people, full-time
- Legacy system license no longer renewed; historical data remained accessible through the intermediate database
- Core migration work included data mapping, EDI migration, integration validation, and production cutover preparation
- Client-facing web tracking and reporting platforms continued to run during the migration, with enhancements delivered in parallel
- Existing customer reports and tracking outputs were preserved while backend data sources shifted from the legacy ERP to the new cloud ERP
Phase 04
Post-Go-Live Support and Continuous Enhancement
Jul 2021 — present
- 2 people, full-time (stable embedded team)
- Ongoing .NET web tracking and reporting system maintenance and feature iteration
- AI-assisted tools developed to reduce repetitive data-entry workload
- EDI support for customer and supplier integrations
How we approach these projects
Our approach on this project
1
Map the existing system at the data layer before any migration work starts. Business logic accumulated over decades is rarely fully documented — it needs to be reconstructed from the data before it can be moved.
2
Run both systems in parallel throughout the migration. The legacy system stays live until the new system is validated against real production data — not test data.
3
Work in phases, with each phase signed off before the next begins. Scope is defined per phase; nothing moves to production without validation.
4
Involve the client's operational staff throughout. Documentation gaps are common on legacy systems — the people who have run the business fill them.