Pathways

This section provides technology-specific guidance for modernising legacy systems using AI tools.

Pathways are structured guides that take you through the complete modernisation journey for specific tech stacks. They build upon the foundations established in the Discovery and Analysis phase and apply the modernisation workflow to specific scenarios.

All pathways in this playbook have been written during the process of modernising legacy systems using AI tools, ensuring they are practical and grounded in real-world experience. They are designed to be used iteratively, allowing you to adapt and refine your approach as you progress through the modernisation process.

Each pathway includes:

• Technology-specific migration strategies
• Recommended tools
• Common challenges and solutions
• Recommended Prompts

Key Principles

All pathways follow on from the core principles established in Four Pillars of Legacy Modernisation:

• Domain Knowledge: Understanding the business logic, requirements, and constraints of the legacy system
• Clear Modernisation Goal: Define specific goals for transformation that improve user experience, performance, and maintainability
• Effective AI Usage: Combine capable AI models with well-crafted prompts to get high-quality results
• Effective Technical Documentation: Provide comprehensive technical overview of system architecture, data structures, and codebase

Choosing the Right Pathway

Select the pathway that matches your primary legacy technology. If your system uses multiple technologies, start with the pathway for your core data storage technology (typically the database), then reference other pathways as needed for additional components.

Available Pathways

• MS Access Pathway - Guidance for migrating Microsoft Access applications
• SQL Server Pathway - Comprehensive approach for SQL Server database modernisation