About project
Working time:
2025 – 2026
Industry:
Retail, Logistics
The service:
Legacy App modernization, Cloud Migration
Overview
A major Canada-based retail corporation operating over 300 locations nationwide needed to modernize the core platform powering its supply chain, inventory management, point-of-sale (POS), and financial systems.
For years, the business relied on a legacy IBM i (AS/400) environment that had grown into a mission-critical backbone for daily operations. While stable, the platform increasingly limited the company’s ability to scale, innovate, and compete in a rapidly evolving retail landscape shaped by e-commerce and real-time customer expectations.
The organization partnered with Dedicatted to execute a large-scale modernization initiative, transforming millions of lines of legacy code into a modern, cloud-ready architecture. The goal was not only to migrate systems, but to unlock faster delivery cycles, enable digital commerce, and future-proof the retail technology stack.
The Challenge
At the heart of the retailer’s operations was a deeply embedded legacy system:
- 4.5 million lines of RPG IV code
- 300,000 lines of CL scripts
- 2,000 DSPF terminal screens
- 1,800 DB2/400 tables
This platform powered everything from inventory and logistics to POS transactions and financial reporting across all store locations. Despite its reliability, the system created growing constraints for the business.
- Limited talent availability: Finding experienced RPG developers had become increasingly difficult, making it harder to maintain and evolve the platform over time.
- Slow release cycles: Even minor changes required navigating tightly coupled codebases, resulting in release cycles stretching from 3 to 6 months – far too slow for modern retail demands.
- Lack of e-commerce readiness: The architecture was not designed for API-based integrations, preventing seamless connectivity with modern e-commerce platforms and digital services.
- Operational rigidity: Any transformation carried significant risk. The platform supported daily operations across 300+ stores, meaning downtime or disruption was not an option.
They required a modernization strategy that could ensure uninterrupted business operations while systematically transforming both the application landscape and the underlying infrastructure.
Technology & Approach
Dedicatted delivered the transformation as a factory-scale modernization program, combining automation, phased delivery, and deep system analysis to ensure both speed and reliability.
Step 1: Deep system assessment and optimization
The engagement began with a four-month discovery phase, leveraging CAST Imaging and custom static analysis tools to fully map the application landscape. This analysis provided visibility into:
- Cross-module dependencies across six core business domains
- Code complexity and coupling
- Redundant and unused logic
As a result, the team identified 18% dead code, eliminating approximately 810,000 lines of unnecessary logic before migration began. This significantly reduced project scope and accelerated delivery timelines.
Step 2: Automated code transformation at scale
To handle millions of lines of legacy code, Dedicatted developed a custom automated conversion pipeline, transforming RPG IV → Java (Spring Boot). The pipeline achieved 82% automated code conversion, dramatically reducing manual effort while maintaining consistency and quality.
Manual remediation was applied selectively to business-critical components, such as the inventory pricing engine, where precision and performance were essential.
Step 3: Modernizing the user experience
The legacy platform relied on 2,000 DSPF terminal-based screens, used daily by more than 20,000 employees across stores and operational centers. Dedicatted converted these interfaces into modern Angular-based web applications using custom-built tooling designed to:
- Preserve existing workflows and user logic
- Minimize retraining requirements
- Improve usability and performance
Step 4: Phased migration with zero disruption
Given the scale of operations, the migration was executed through a carefully orchestrated, multi-phase rollout. The transformation was delivered across five waves, aligned with regional operations:
- Western Canada
- Central Canada
- Eastern Canada
To ensure data consistency throughout the transition, Dedicatted implemented Qlik Replicate CDC (Change Data Capture) to synchronize data between: Legacy DB2/400 systems and Target PostgreSQL database. his enabled a parallel-run strategy, allowing both systems to operate simultaneously until validation was complete, eliminating risk and ensuring a smooth transition.
Step 5: Building a modern, scalable architecture
The target platform was built using modern technologies designed for scalability and integration: Java (Spring Boot) for backend services , Angular for user interfaces, PostgreSQL for data management This new architecture introduced API-driven capabilities, allowing seamless integration with external systems, including e-commerce platforms and digital services.
Business impact
The modernization delivered immediate and measurable improvements across performance, efficiency, and business agility.
- Zero operational disruption: All 300+ retail locations remained fully operational throughout the entire 20-month migration, ensuring uninterrupted customer service and business continuity.
- Significantly improved POS performance: Average transaction times were reduced from 2.4 seconds to 1.1 seconds, delivering a 50% improvement in POS performance and enhancing the in-store customer experience.
- Reduced project scope and faster delivery: By eliminating 18% of dead code, the team reduced complexity and saved approximately three months of development effort.
- E-commerce enablement: The new API-driven architecture enabled seamless integration with a modern e-commerce platform, which was fully operational within 60 days of go-live.
