Migration of chemical manufacturer’s apps from Delphi 2007 to Delphi 10.4 Rio

Description

Our client had enterprise software written with Delphi 2007 and older Delphi versions. All in all, there were 20 desktop apps used for managing the manufacturing processes at the factory that produces different polyurethane foam types. The apps contained a lot of formulas and variables. Also, the software has been seriously expanded since then and needed code refactoring. As a result, the client even couldn’t make the necessary debugging and was unsatisfied with the work of their apps.

That’s why our first task was to analyze the existing code and to get a clear understanding of how everything had to function.
The main request from the client was to execute the migration of the software to an up-to-date Delphi version to provide necessary debug messages; to improve application authorization and authentication business logic; to extract settings from the source code to configuration files.

Client`s pain and concern

The software we use was written by external developers and we don’t have specialists who can understand how to manage it.

There are some obvious software work issues and there is no possibility to improve them.
Also, the apps have out-of-date libraries, and some components and modules are not supported anymore.

Project Team size

Project Manager
Delphi Software Developer
QA specialist
Business Analyst | Architect

Solutions

We allocated some time for studying the specificity of the processes established at the enterprise of our client.
We had to analyze the code and make sure that we fully understood the working principles of all formulas and variables used in the apps.
The product set that we had to deal with included 20 apps, some of them were written using different Delphi versions which required more time and effort for legacy code analysis.

We divided the entire work into sprints with precisely set tasks and results.

To ensure the best final results, we offered to start the migration process with the initial business analysis, thorough legacy code study, and creation of a migration roadmap.

The work with each of the 20 applications included the migration itself, extraction of settings from the source code, code refactoring, and testing of the migrated software.

One of the most important tasks that our team had within this project was the design of a new authorization architecture that had to be implemented in all the applications.
We projected and implemented a set of classes that allowed us to authorize into the system and check access rights, and then we implemented them in the apps.

Technologies

used in the project

Delphi
RAD Studio 10.4 Rio
Firebird
VCL

Outcome

We studied the peculiarities of the manufacturing processes in the chemical industry, deeply analyzed the written code, and managed to understand how it all worked.

As a result, we not only migrated the application to a newer Delphi version but also significantly facilitated software management and configuration. All components and modules are supported now.