Legacy System Modernisation Strategy and Application Portfolio Renewal – Dubai, 25–29 Jan 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Conceptual · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

Core systems built decades ago still run payments, billing, records and operations in many organisations, and they are becoming harder to change, secure and staff. Replacing them outright has a poor record, while leaving them alone quietly raises cost and risk each year. This Core Concept course equips executives to decide what to retain, retire, migrate or rebuild, and in what order, using recognised architecture and portfolio methods. Participants weigh options on case material from several sectors and leave with a Legacy Modernisation Roadmap and decision paper for their own estate.

Course Objectives

• Assess the business risk of an ageing application estate, including technical debt, end-of-support exposure and skills scarcity
• Evaluate modernisation options using the TIME model, the 7 Rs of migration and pace-layered application strategy
• Direct architects to produce target-state and transition architectures under TOGAF and ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010
• Compare buy, build, SaaS and incremental replacement options on cost, risk and time to value
• Set continuity, security and exit controls that protect operations during migration
• Produce a Legacy Modernisation Roadmap and decision paper for board or executive committee approval

Target Audience

• Executives accountable for technology strategy and enterprise platforms
• Chief information, technology and digital officers managing ageing application estates
• Enterprise architecture and IT strategy directors setting target-state direction
• Business unit leaders whose operations depend on core legacy systems
• Risk, resilience and security executives overseeing technology obsolescence

Course Outline

Day 1: The Legacy Estate and the Case for Modernisation

• Legacy Risk Drivers: Skills Scarcity, Vendor End-of-Support and Security Exposure
• Technical Debt Quadrant and Its Business Consequences
• Application Portfolio Inventory and Rationalisation Baseline
• Pace-Layered Application Strategy: Systems of Record, Differentiation and Innovation
• Modernisation Driver Assessment with Wardley Mapping

Day 2: Architecture Frameworks and Modernisation Options

• TOGAF Architecture Development Method for Transition Planning
• ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 Architecture Descriptions as Executive Decision Aids
• Gartner TIME Model: Tolerate, Invest, Migrate and Eliminate
• The 7 Rs of Migration from Retain to Refactor
• ISO/IEC 25010 Quality Characteristics for Judging Application Fitness

Day 3: Shaping the Modernisation Strategy

• Application Disposition Scoring Matrix
• Strangler Fig Pattern and Incremental Replacement Sequencing
• Buy, Build or SaaS Option Appraisal
• Legacy Data Migration and Archiving Strategy
• Modernisation Business Case with Cost of Delay and Run-Cost Comparison

Day 4: Risk, Continuity and Failure Cases

• Big-Bang Replacement Failure Patterns from Stalled Programmes
• Business Continuity During Cutover Under ISO 22301
• Hybrid Estate Security and Access Control Risk Under ISO/IEC 27001
• ISO/IEC/IEEE 14764 Maintenance Strategy for Systems Kept in Service
• Vendor Lock-In, Exit Planning and Contract Terms for Replacement Platforms

Day 5: Case Work and the Modernisation Roadmap

• Core Banking Replacement Case Study: Phased Versus Big-Bang Decision
• Public Revenue System Case Study: Reviewing an Incremental Migration
• Application Portfolio Disposition Build for an Own Estate
• Legacy Modernisation Roadmap and Decision Paper Drafting
• Executive Review Panel and Roadmap Defence

Skills You Will Gain

• Application Portfolio Rationalisation
• Technical Debt Assessment
• Architecture Decision Oversight
• Modernisation Option Appraisal
• Migration Risk Governance
• Technology Obsolescence Planning
• Sourcing Strategy

Why Attend This Course

• Return with a Legacy Modernisation Roadmap and decision paper for a real application estate
• Recognise when a proposed big-bang replacement carries more risk than the legacy system it is meant to remove
• Brief boards on obsolescence risk in business terms rather than technical ones
• Compare modernisation choices with executives from banking, government, utilities and manufacturing

Conclusion

Legacy modernisation is a sequence of business decisions about which systems to keep, which to retire and how to move the rest without interrupting operations. This course moves from assessing the risk in an ageing estate, through architecture frameworks and disposition models, to option appraisal, continuity, security and the failure patterns of large replacements. The final day turns that material into a Legacy Modernisation Roadmap and decision paper that participants take back to their executive committee, ready to guide investment over the years ahead.