Case Studies
Transport Canada — Business Rules Extraction and Legacy Transition
Project Overview
CORE Software Corp. was engaged by Transport Canada to execute a comprehensive Business Rules Extraction and Legacy Transition project. The initiative focused on five critical business applications: AMES (Classic ASP/Oracle), BSIS (VB.NET/Oracle), FDR (VB.NET/Oracle), P3 (ColdFusion/Oracle), and CCARCS (PowerBuilder/Oracle). The project had two main objectives: first, to extract and fully document all business rules into an intuitive HTML5/UML website; and second, to modernize and transition key components of the legacy CCARCS application to a modern Microsoft .NET C# web application.
The Challenge
Transport Canada faced significant risks and operational constraints due to its reliance on aging legacy systems. Critical business knowledge was locked within outdated applications, creating a key-person dependency risk. The legacy technologies—such as PowerBuilder, Classic ASP, and ColdFusion—were obsolete, which made system maintenance, integration, and scaling both difficult and costly. The lack of comprehensive documentation further compounded these issues, making it challenging to understand interdependencies, business logic, and data flows, all of which hindered modernization efforts. To reduce risk, the department needed to extract and preserve vital business knowledge before the underlying systems became unsustainable.
Our Approach
CORE Software applied its patented methodology and automated toolset to deliver a complete turn-key solution designed to ensure the full recovery of business rules while carrying out a targeted application modernization. The process began with a thorough current state assessment, which analyzed each application’s source code to identify compile issues, missing objects, and dependencies. Automated design recovery tools were then used to parse, assess, and extract all business rules, logic, and data models from the legacy codebase.
The recovered artifacts were centralized in a business rules repository, which enabled full impact analysis and served as the single source of truth. For the CCARCS application, CORE Software applied forward engineering, converting critical PowerBuilder user interfaces and data windows into .NET web forms and migrating the business logic into C# code. The engagement also included the generation of a Business Rules Extraction Website, which featured UML diagrams, navigation flows, and BPMN 2.0 standard diagrams such as activity, data flow, use case, sequence, and class. A structured project lifecycle ensured rigorous quality assurance, with phases for management, assessment, data modeling, production, and client review, all delivered on time and within budget.
Results
The project provided Transport Canada with complete visibility into its critical business systems while also delivering a modernized application component. All business rules across five applications were successfully extracted, recovered, and documented, ensuring that institutional knowledge was preserved for the long term. Critical processes from the CCARCS application were transitioned to a scalable Microsoft C# .NET web application integrated with the existing Oracle database, giving the organization a modernized and future-proofed platform. The HTML5/UML website now serves as an intuitive resource for both developers and business analysts, providing clear visibility into system interdependencies, business rules, and data flows. Overall, the project significantly reduced Transport Canada’s IT risks by safeguarding core knowledge and reducing dependency on scarce legacy skills.
Why It Matters
Modernizing mission-critical systems and extracting embedded business rules are essential steps for government agencies seeking to reduce operational risk and maintain long-term agility. By leveraging automation and proven methodologies, Core Software enabled Transport Canada to secure its core business knowledge, strengthen governance, and build a foundation for future modernization initiatives. Importantly, this was achieved without disruption to daily business processes, ensuring continuity while positioning the department for ongoing innovation.