Case Study: Legacy ColdFusion


Coretechs often takes projects other companies can no longer manage.
This is one of those stories.

The Background:

A large company had a legacy application written in ColdFusion, and over time it had become both business-critical and extremely fickle. It is a common saying that the number one rule about software is if it works, don’t touch it. However, the company often needed to make changes, and found that anything they ‘touched’ would cause something—somewhere—to break. The bought a smaller company with a portal application and wanted to retrofit the portal to their main app. The developers working on it were overwhelmed, and with one of them retiring and winding down his workload they found they were unable to handle it by themselves, and that’s when they called Coretechs for help.

“The company does case management in the insurance and medical field, and they had bought a smaller company with a similar app. So they needed to integrate a ColdFusion app with Microsoft SQL with another Microsoft database application.

The challenge of a project like this is mostly having two old and patched-together legacy code bases and each has its own databases and models, its own forms. Getting any two apps spliced together is a big job, the kind of thing a lot of other shops or individual developers just couldn’t handle.”

Chad, ColdFusion Developer

Working With What’s In Place:

Coretechs started by rebuilding the subsidiary’s portal for managing data-entry. The new portal would have to take data in the subsidiary’s format and adapt it to the client’s format, making a square peg fit into a round hole. The client needed the right combination of referrals and medical forms based on multiple criteria, chiefly based on the types of medical claims and the specific types of treatment claimants needed. The company’s specifications required the project to be built and maintained in the language ColdFusion. Although it is mostly a legacy language, Coretechs’s ethos is to solve problems and work with what is in place if possible. We work to make things happen, regardless of the languages, stack, and whatever other barriers there may be.

“The structure of the project was very complex and the SQL database had complex tables and schemas. Vinod was a big help during that time and helped us break things down and get it all set up and working.

Coldfusion is a very opinionated framework which can make getting into it a big transition for developers unfamiliar with it. Considering it is built with Java you can also write functions using Java code, but there are substantial limits on what it allows us to develop in Java. It has built-in utilities that may help in many cases, otherwise you’ll have to dig in the Coldfusion documentation and libraries. I just remember that it was very challenging, and even a simple bug fix that may seem trivial would often have major consequences.”

Louis, ColdFusion Developer

“Many software developers just never work in ColdFusion, and so there are lots of businesses with applications and they have a hard time finding teams to even maintain them. A lot of times you find there is something old, a legacy application, and whatever the client has may be something really important to them. We have to find a way to keep something running while getting it to do something new.”

Chad, ColdFusion Developer

The Benefit of In-House Teams

Coretechs prides itself on having a team of in-house developers rather than offshore and freelance workers. This is exactly the kind of job where that kind of team pays dividends. Chad, Louis, Vinod, and Kiko had known each other and worked together on other projects for years. They were able to focus on getting in the code and working the problem not just as individuals but as a real team.

“I had prior experience from a government project, and Chad and I have worked together in other frameworks like Python/Django. Being on a team with other developers who know each other is a big help. I don’t have to deal with all-new teammates and getting people jumping on and off projects. I get to work with people I know well—Chad, Kiko, Vinod—I know I can send them a text or call them any time to work with me and get things done. We’re developers so we all know the tech, but working consistently well as a team makes it easy to get into the code and make things work.”

Louis, ColdFusion Developer

Testing and Integration

With thousands of possible combinations of forms and fields, testing and validation seemed impossible. Almost any change in the system could break other parts of the system, and this was mission-critical for a company with millions of dollars a month in revenue tied into the system. In order to get it built and tested, Coretechs brought on a first-rate project manager, Kiko, with a degree in physics and a developer’s knowledge of SQL and SQL queries. Kiko managed to work the problem and test every change.

“Testing this was not easy. It was slow and stressful. There were all kinds of changes, and almost any change to the fields would break things. Getting the entire application to work well together with all its moving parts meant not just writing a few lines of code, but doing serious piece-buy-piece black box testing. It requires being able to see what is working and what is not, and to diagnose what needs to be fixed. It is meticulous work, but whatever we need to do to get things done, that’s the job. Sometimes it’s not fun, but you just get it done and make it happen.”

Kiko, Project Manager

Bridging:

In addition to building the ColdFusion portal, the company needed a new portal written in Javascript. They had decided to outsource the frontend work to a company overseas, but they required a set of APIs in .NET for technical reasons. Coretechs made it happen, bringing in Griffin to build out what they needed in .NET. The task was challenging due in part to the very strict security requirements from the company’s medical data. Coretechs did not control either the databases at the backend or the codebase at the frontend, but managed to work with the company’s in-house database team, the overseas frontend team, and the corporate management and testing teams. Coretechs worked across multiple teams, languages, and time zones to make it happen.

“Customer support – both direct and indirect via the site users – and ease of use were high priority here. The project was set up using best practice design patterns in order to minimize support and feature development costs going forward, with heavy focus on logging to both supplement this and aid in external user support requests. Secondary output (on top of writing to the sql database) included robust pdf support, so customers have data input receipts as needed.”

Griffin, .NET Developer

The company came to us with an additional request that required a further bit of technical magic. They had several other legacy applications, and one subpart of the new API-driven portal would–per their requirements–have to link out to an entirely-different ColdFusion application with its own preexisting and distinct means of authenticating users. Although we offered cleaner alternative solutions, the company was adamant about having it done this way. They wanted a safe, modern way of bridging from one application to another legacy app with certain data, and this was medical data wherein security had to be very tight. In order to make this work, we reached out to one of our most seasoned senior developers, Vinod, who has a background in Java and in systems development. ColdFusion is built under the hood on the Java, and it allows developers to write in Java classes. Vinod integrated modern token-based system for authenticating users into the legacy application, and made sure all of the tokens were encrypted and secure up to the best modern standards, achieving a bridge between two entirely different apps with top-flight security.

“As the developer of this authentication system, I’d highlight its strength in leveraging symmetric encryption for securing data transfer between our .NET and ColdFusion platforms. This approach not only ensures a high level of security by protecting sensitive user information during transit but also facilitates seamless integration and interoperability between different technology stacks, enhancing user experience without compromising on security.”

Vinod, Senior Developer

Coretechs solves problems for our clients, often using the systems they have in place. Our developers love to learn and have the experience to make things happen. Our team members are more than just freelancers, we know each other and know how to work together. We handle technical challenges in the best modern frameworks and stacks, and also in legacy languages and frameworks, whether ColdFusion, Classic ASP, or whatever else our clients need. Where some may see problems, we see opportunities and find solutions. Give us a call!

Our proven approach allows us to deliver projects on time and within budget

  • Our project managers will listen to what you need and work with our developers to make it happen.
  • We’ll let you know when there may be a better way to go.
  • Our rapid prototyping process lets you watch your project as we work, so you stay in the loop.
  • Our In-house American-based team is committed to quality and excellence, and we have a track record to prove it.
  • We love building and maintaining relationships with businesses, and many of our clients stay with us for years.

Clients who invest with us see their business grow through the multiplying effect of custom software development.

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Talk to Gil

Calling 202-540-0002 will connect you with
Gil Austin, President of Coretechs.

Gil has over 39 years of experience in software development, project management, and business development. He’ll provide an on-the-spot assessment, critical feedback, and determine the level of effort required for your project.

Contact Us 202-540-0002