Modernisation Readiness Check
Most conversations about an old system start too late, when a support deadline or a resignation forces the question. This check is for the time before that. Twelve questions, each with four plain answers, and no form to fill in first.
The answers are scored in your browser against a fixed rubric, printed further down this page, so you can see exactly how a reading was reached. Nothing leaves your browser unless you choose to put the result into the enquiry form, and then only the text you can see.
It is a first look, not an assessment. It cannot see your code, your data or your contracts. What it can do is turn a vague unease about a system into three readings and a short list of what we would examine first, which is a better start for a call than a blank page.
The check
Answer each question with the closest option. The readings appear once all twelve are answered; nothing is stored, and nothing is sent unless you choose to.
Your readings
From twelve answers, read against Rubric 1 (31 October 2026). A first look, not an assessment.
What an assessment would look at first
Your answers
This reads your answers against a fixed rubric, printed further down the page. It has not seen your code, your data or your contracts, and two systems with the same readings can need very different work.
How the scoring works
Every answer carries a fixed weight on each of three scales. The weights are described here because a score you cannot inspect is not advice.
The case for acting now
Grows with ended support, frightening releases, a system nobody can be hired for, isolation from other systems, and a business driver such as a deadline or a missing capability. A low reading means leave it alone; a high one means the system is costing you something every month.
Risk inside the work
Grows with undocumented rules, logic in the database, a single person who knows the system, no tests, and users who cannot tolerate a pause. It measures how dangerous a change is, not how large. A high reading is the strongest argument against a rewrite.
Cost drivers
Grows with messy or large data, integrations that read tables or swap files, a hosting move, a regulated process and a fixed date. These add work beyond the code itself, and they are what an assessment spends most of its time pricing.
The first-look list
Each answer that raises a reading carries a note on what we would examine first. The report shows the strongest five. It is the agenda for an assessment, in the order we would take it.
What it cannot see
Code quality, data volumes, contracts, licences, the team's appetite and the budget. Two systems with identical readings can need very different work. The readings start the conversation; an assessment answers it.
What happens after the check
Three outcomes, all of them acceptable.
Nothing, yet
Low readings are a good result. Keep the runtime patched, restore a backup once a quarter to prove it works, and run the check again when something changes.
A paid assessment
An engineer reads the code and data with your team for an agreed number of hours at our rates and hands you a written report: options, a slicing order, the limits of rollback, and the cost drivers with numbers. You can take it to any supplier.
Modernisation in slices
The old system stays in service while new parts take over one function at a time, each with a way back. The method is described in full on the software modernisation page.
Before you start
Is anything recorded when I answer?
No. The answers live in the page while it is open and vanish when you close it. There is no analytics script on this site. To keep the readings, print them, or put them into the enquiry form, which stores the enquiry like any other.
Who wrote the rubric?
Our engineers, from the kinds of system they are asked to modernise. It weights what has caused trouble before: undocumented rules, logic in the database, one person who knows everything, releases nobody dares make. It is revised when our view changes; the version and date are at the top of the check.
Why are the readings bands rather than numbers?
A percentage would look more precise than twelve multiple-choice answers can justify. Three bands and the reasoning behind each are as exact as this check can honestly be.
What if I do not know an answer?
Choose the "nobody is sure" option where there is one; not knowing is itself a reading, and the first-look list will tell you to find out. Where there is no such option, pick the closest and mention it when you send the readings.
Does a high reading mean a rewrite?
Almost never. A strong case for acting combined with high risk inside the work is exactly the situation in which a rewrite fails and a sliced replacement succeeds. The modernisation page explains the method.
Can I take the result to another supplier?
Yes. The rubric is on this page and the readings are yours. An assessment report, if you commission one, is also written so that any supplier can work from it.
Send your readings to an engineer
Use the button in the report to put your readings into this form, add anything the questions missed, and press Send when you are happy with it. An engineer replies within one business day with a view on what to look at first.