Issue studies

Research notes on this issue

• Lenders Do Not Fear Their Old Systems. They Fear One Weekend.
• Before You Ask What a Replacement Costs, Ask What It Is Worth.
• "Nothing Will Be Lost" Is a Promise. A Benchmark Is Something You Can Check.

Research notes on this issue

• Unsupported Software Is Now a Board Matter. Most Firms Cannot Say Where It Is.
• Your Software's Maker Has Set the Date. The Plan Can Still Be Yours.
• "Accepted Again" Is Not a Plan. A Shrinking Register Is.

Research notes on this issue

• Every Outage Was Resolved. The Record Is What the Regulator Reads.
• Your Busiest Days Are Your Growth Days. Old Systems Fail on Them.
• Know Which Part Gives Way First, and Move It Before the Next Peak

Research notes on this issue

• Only Your Vendor Understands the System. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Only One Firm Can Quote for Your System. A Second Quote Starts With a Document.
• A Supplier Runs Your System. Here Is the Benchmark for Overseeing It.

Research notes on this issue

• The Regulator Now Looks at How You Change Your Systems. Most Old Systems Cannot Show a Change Was Safe.
• Your Releases Happen at Midnight, by Hand. Four Ways Out, Weighed.
• Your Security Fixes Are Waiting in a Queue. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• The Skills for Old Systems Are Running Out. The Knowledge Does Not Have To.
• You Cannot Hire for Your Old System. You Can Stop Needing To.
• The Scarce Skill Is Reading the Old Code. Here Is the Benchmark for Needing It Less.

Research notes on this issue

• Your System Applies Its Rules Every Day. Nobody Can Say What They Are.
• The Rules in Your System Were Decisions. The Business Can Make Them Again.
• "We Documented It" Is Not the Same as Having the Rules. A Benchmark Shows the Difference.

Research notes on this issue

• Your Launch Has Been "Next Quarter" for Two Years. The Blocker Has Never Been Named.
• Your System Is "Not AI Compatible". That Is Where the Decision Starts.
• Your Staff Are the Connection Between Your Systems. Here Is the Benchmark for Ending It.

Research notes on this issue

• The Regulator Can Now Stop a Lender's Growth Over Its IT. Most Boards Hear It Last.
• The Regulator Named the Areas in Public. The Record Behind Them Can Be Ready First.
• A Replacement Plan Needs Stages Someone Can Check. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Online Shops Stay on Unsupported Versions for One Reason. It Is Rarely the Platform.
• New Offers Are Waiting on Shop Code Nobody Can Change.
• An "Unsupported" Entry With No Date Is Not a Plan. A Shrinking List of Custom Code Is.

Research notes on this issue

• About Half of PHP Websites Run a Version the PHP Project No Longer Fixes. The Reason Is Rarely Neglect.
• A Few Old Parts Hold the Whole Shop on an Old Version. Everything Else Waits With Them.
• An Upgrade Nobody Can Check Is a Gamble. A Shrinking List of Blocking Parts Is a Plan.

Research notes on this issue

• Retail Systems Rarely Share What They Know. The Connection Is Usually a Person.
• Invoices Now Have a Clock. Systems Joined by a Monthly File Run Behind It.
• Every Crossing Between Your Systems Should Have an Owner. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Retail Figures Are Not Wrong by Accident. Each One Is Made Wrong Somewhere.
• A Price History and a Ninety-Day Answer: What Waits on Retail Data Nobody Trusts.
• Before Old Data Moves, Someone Should Write Down Where It Cannot Be Trusted.

Research notes on this issue

• Many Firms Cannot Say Whose Name Is on Their Own Systems. They Find Out on the Worst Day.
• A Firm That Does Not Hold Its Own Systems Cannot Plan a Move.
• Leaving Someone Else's Systems Is Not a Weekend. It Is a List, Then One Module at a Time.

Research notes on this issue

• Every Retail Replacement Story You Have Heard Is One Kind of Project. Yours Probably Is Not.
• The Cost of Waiting Belongs Beside the Fear of Replacing. Four Ways Forward, Weighed.
• A Replacement You Can Pause Is One You Can Start. The Measures to Hold It To.

Research notes on this issue

• Every Shop Has a Part That Gives Way First. Most Find Out Which on the Day.
• Sale Days Your Shop Cannot Hold. More Servers Are One Answer of Four.
• Nobody Can Promise You a Peak Day. You Can Know Where It Will Be Decided.

Research notes on this issue

• Every Booking System Has a Ceiling. Most Firms Learn Theirs in the Busiest Week.
• The Weeks That Earn the Year. More Servers Are One Answer of Four.
• The Day the Plan Changes Is the Day That Counts. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• The End Dates Are Published. The List of What Runs on Each Old Server Is Not.
• One Old Program Can Keep a Server Switched On. Extended Support Is One Answer of Four.
• The Plan to Leave the Old Servers Has One Line for the Hard Part. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• You Bought the Business, and Its Systems Came With It. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Nobody Left to Ask. Four Ways to Deal With an Inherited System, Weighed.
• A Year After the Deal You Still Run Two of Everything. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• The Old System Still Works. That Is Why the Replacement Never Starts.
• Everything Waits for "After the Replacement". Four Ways Forward, Weighed.
• Finished Should Mean Matched. The Benchmark We Would Set for a Replacement.

Research notes on this issue

• Your Systems Each Work. The Trouble Is Where a Consignment Crosses Between Them.
• Consignments Now Meet Tax Clocks. Replacing Everything Is One Answer of Four.
• Your Systems Are Already Joined, by Files, Scripts and Spreadsheets. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• The Rules for Your Fares Live in Code Two People Can Read. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Two People Know How Your System Works. Four Ways to Stop Depending on Them, Weighed.
• A Record Your Staff Open Before They Pick Up the Phone. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Nobody Can Say How Much of Your Department Runs on Unsupported Systems. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Your Oldest Server Stays Because One Application Cannot Leave It. Four Ways Out, Weighed.
• The Fix for Your Old Systems Is Too Big to Fund as One Project. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• The People Who Understand Your Oldest System Are Retiring. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• A Public Service Should Not Rest on a Retirement Date. Four Ways Forward, Weighed.
• Every Question About Your Old System Waits for One Person. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Your Supplier's Contract Has an End Date You Cannot Use. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Your Contract's End Date Means Little Until You Can Describe Your Own System. Four Ways Forward, Weighed.
• Leaving Your Supplier Does Not Have to Be One Handover Day. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Public Replacements Overrun, Fail at Go-Live or Go Unused. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• A Deferred Replacement Is Still a Decision. Four Ways to Replace an Old System, Weighed.
• "Live" Is Not "In Use". Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set for a Replacement.

Research notes on this issue

• The Largest Line in Your Technology Budget Is the One Nobody Can Explain. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Every New Service Waits Because the Budget Is Already Spent on the Old Ones. Four Ways to Make Room, Weighed.
• Your Team Spends Its Year Keeping the Old System Alive. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• When a Figure Is Questioned, "the System Shows It" Is Often the Only Answer. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Nobody Has Set Your System Beside the Rules It Was Built to Apply. Three Ways to Check, Weighed.
• Every Figure Your System Produces Should Trace to a Written Rule. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Your System's Manual Describes a System That No Longer Exists. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• A New Officer Takes Charge of Your System With Nothing to Read. Three Ways to Change That, Weighed.
• Every Document About Your System Goes Out of Date. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Your Replacement Was Scoped From the Systems Everyone Could Remember. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• While One Large Figure Waits for Approval, New Options Wait Too. Four Ways to Replace, Weighed.
• Your Replacement Is One Programme With One Go-Live, Years Away. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Nobody Can Say What a Database Upgrade Would Break. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• One Old Application Can Keep Every Other on an Unsupported Database. Four Ways Out, Weighed.
• The Upgrade Is Your Team's to Do. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set to Check It Against.

Research notes on this issue

• When the Supplier's Contract Comes Up, Nobody Can Write the Tender. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• Only the Supplier Can Say What Your System Does. Four Ways Forward at the End Date, Weighed.
• Changing Supplier Does Not Have to Rest on One Handover Day. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• Your Results Rest on Rules Written Down Only Inside the Application. Here Is What the Public Record Shows.
• The Rules Your Results Application Applies Keep Changing. Four Ways to Make a Change You Can Check, Weighed.
• One Step in Results Processing Takes Most of the Time. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.

Research notes on this issue

• The Fees Office Says Paid and the Examination Section Says Due. Here Is What the Public Record Shows About Separate Systems.
• When a Record Is Typed in Three Offices, Replacing Everything Is One Answer of Four.
• Your Systems Are Already Joined, by Scripts, Files and Spreadsheets. Here Is the Benchmark We Would Set.