Edmonds Commerce - Legacy Codebase Assessment
Overview
Complete codebase analysis with technical debt scoring and modernisation roadmap.
What We Do
Comprehensive assessment of legacy PHP applications. We analyse your codebase across multiple dimensions, identify technical debt, provide risk scoring, and create a prioritised modernisation roadmap.
Assessment Scope
Code Quality Metrics
Measure code complexity and maintainability.
Metrics Analysed:
- Cyclomatic complexity (function complexity)
- Lines of code per function
- Code duplication percentage
- Coupling between modules
- Cohesion within modules
- Test coverage gaps
Technical Debt Analysis
Quantify and prioritise technical debt.
Debt Categories:
- Outdated PHP version
- Missing test coverage
- Code duplication
- Large classes/functions
- Tight coupling
- Missing documentation
PHP Version Assessment
Evaluate PHP version currency and risk.
Analysis:
- Current PHP version
- Time until EOL
- Security patch status
- Framework compatibility
- Dependency requirements
- Migration effort
Framework & Libraries
Assess framework and dependency health.
Analysis:
- Framework version (current, LTS, EOL?)
- Deprecated package usage
- Security vulnerabilities
- Update availability
- Supported versions
Security Assessment
Identify security vulnerabilities and compliance gaps.
Security Review:
- OWASP Top 10 assessment
- Authentication implementation
- Authorization strategy
- Input validation
- Encryption usage
- Dependency vulnerabilities
- Compliance status (GDPR, PCI DSS, etc.)
Performance Analysis
Baseline performance metrics.
Performance Metrics:
- Database query efficiency
- N+1 query problems
- Caching strategies
- Memory usage patterns
- Response time baselines
- Load capacity
Documentation Assessment
Evaluate documentation quality and completeness.
Documentation Review:
- Architecture documentation
- API documentation
- Deployment guides
- Runbook availability
- Knowledge preservation
- Code commenting
Scalability Evaluation
Assess ability to handle growth.
Scalability Analysis:
- Current capacity
- Scaling limitations
- Database scalability
- Infrastructure elasticity
- Concurrent user capacity
- Growth trajectory
Our Assessment Process
Phase 1: Information Gathering
Understand the system and business context.
Gathering:
- Repository access
- Documentation review
- Team interviews
- Requirements discussion
- Current performance baseline
- Historical context
Phase 2: Codebase Analysis
Automated and manual code analysis.
Tools Used:
- PHPStan for type analysis
- PHPMD for code metrics
- PHP_CodeSniffer for standards
- Sonarqube for comprehensive analysis
- Dependency analysis
- Manual code review
Phase 3: Metrics Collection
Quantify findings.
Metrics:
- Technical debt score (0-100)
- Coverage percentage
- Complexity metrics
- Lines of code
- Defect density
- Maintainability index
Phase 4: Risk Assessment
Evaluate risks and impact.
Risk Factors:
- Security vulnerabilities
- Performance limitations
- Scalability constraints
- Compliance gaps
- Talent risk (knowledge)
- Business risk
Phase 5: Reporting
Comprehensive assessment report with findings and recommendations.
Report Structure:
- Executive summary
- Detailed findings
- Risk assessment
- Prioritised recommendations
- Implementation roadmap
- Resource estimates
- Timeline and cost
Assessment Deliverables
Executive Summary
High-level overview for business stakeholders.
Covers:
- Overall health assessment
- Critical risks
- Recommended priorities
- Business impact
- Resource requirements
- Timeline estimate
Detailed Technical Report
Comprehensive technical findings.
Includes:
- Current state assessment
- Code quality metrics
- Security assessment
- Performance analysis
- Scalability evaluation
- Detailed findings by category
- Root cause analysis
Modernisation Roadmap
Prioritised, phased improvement plan.
Roadmap Structure:
- Phase 1 (0-3 months): Quick wins, security fixes
- Phase 2 (3-6 months): Major improvements
- Phase 3 (6-12 months): Long-term evolution
- Phase 4 (12+ months): Strategic upgrades
Risk Matrix
Visualise risks and priorities.
Matrix Includes:
- Severity vs. probability
- Impact vs. effort
- Risk heat map
- Colour-coded priorities
Resource Estimation
Detailed effort and cost estimation.
Estimates:
- Development effort (hours)
- Duration (weeks/months)
- Team composition
- Budget range
- ROI projection
Technical Debt Scoring
Scoring System (0-100)
90-100: Critical
- Immediate action required
- Security vulnerabilities
- Compliance violations
- Blocking production issues
70-89: High
- Plan for next quarter
- Significant improvement
- Impact business outcomes
- Technical team pain points
50-69: Medium
- Plan for 6-12 months
- Quality improvement
- Developer productivity
- Code maintainability
30-49: Low
- Consider in roadmap
- Nice-to-have improvements
- Quality polish
- Code style refinement
0-29: Minimal
- Excellent state
- No immediate action
- Best practices implemented
- Maintainable codebase
Common Assessment Findings
PHP Version Lock-in
Legacy systems stuck on PHP 5.x or 7.x.
Impact: Security vulnerabilities, performance, dependency conflicts.
Test Coverage Gaps
Low test coverage (0-20%) prevents refactoring.
Impact: High regression risk, expensive maintenance.
Tight Coupling
High interdependencies make changes risky.
Impact: Slow feature development, high refactoring cost.
Missing Documentation
Architecture and design unknown.
Impact: Onboarding delays, knowledge loss to turnover.
Performance Issues
Inefficient queries, missing indexes, no caching.
Impact: Slow user experience, scalability limitations.
Security Vulnerabilities
Unpatched dependencies, weak authentication, input validation gaps.
Impact: Data breach risk, compliance violations.
Modernisation Priorities
Priority 1: Security
- Critical vulnerabilities
- Compliance violations
- Data protection gaps
Priority 2: Stability
- Reliability improvements
- Test coverage
- Error handling
Priority 3: Performance
- Response time
- Scalability
- Infrastructure efficiency
Priority 4: Quality
- Code maintainability
- Technical debt
- Developer experience
Priority 5: Features
- New capabilities
- Business requirements
- Competitive advantage
Assessment Timeline
Typical Assessment Duration:
- Small project (5k-10k LOC): 1-2 weeks
- Medium project (10k-50k LOC): 2-4 weeks
- Large project (50k+ LOC): 4-8 weeks
Cost of Technical Debt
Hidden Costs:
- Slower feature development (20-40% slower)
- Higher defect rates
- More support incidents
- Team frustration and turnover
- Security breaches
- Compliance violations
Assessment ROI:
- Identifying $100k in annual waste
- Assessment cost: $10k-20k
- Payback in weeks
- Creates roadmap for improvement
Target Audiences
C-Level Executives: Understand what you've acquired or invested in.
Technical Leaders: Plan modernisation strategy.
Business Owners: Understand risks and investment needs.
New Teams: Onboard to unfamiliar codebase.
Assessment Uses
Before Acquisition: Know what you're buying.
Before Scaling: Validate readiness for growth.
Vendor Evaluation: Compare implementation quality.
Staffing Planning: Understand skills needed.
Budget Planning: Estimate investment needed.
Related Services
Modernisation Roadmap Implementation: Execute recommendations from assessment.
Legacy Refactoring: Improve code quality systematically.
PHP 8 Migration: Upgrade to modern PHP version.
Security Hardening: Address identified security issues.
Contact
Based in the UK, serving global clients. Schedule your legacy assessment, discuss modernisation priorities, or plan your technical debt reduction.