Trace a behaviour
Follow the relevant code paths, conditions and data changes across the components involved, rather than stopping at the screen or entry point.
Application discovery
Find out how an existing application works
Use discovery when important rules or dependencies are not documented, an application has changed hands, or a proposed change depends on assumptions nobody has checked. Harten investigates the agreed source and explains what the available evidence supports.
Start with the question you need answered
You may need to understand why a transaction is rejected, which systems consume a particular output, or what would be affected by replacing a component. We agree that starting question and the application boundary before analysing the source.
For an estate, the initial work can establish which applications need deeper investigation. An application-level recovery and a portfolio assessment are different scopes; we agree which is needed.
What we need to begin
| Material | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Source code and revision | Identify the application version being examined, including components held in separate repositories. |
| Database and dependency definitions | Include stored procedures, schemas, package references and build files where they form part of the application. |
| Configuration, interfaces and tests | Show how components connect and which behaviours the existing tests describe. |
| Available technical and operational knowledge | Help explain practices or external systems the source alone cannot establish. |
Complete documentation is not a prerequisite. Missing material becomes a recorded limitation, not a reason to invent an answer. Sensitive access is arranged under the engagement’s information-handling requirements.
How Harten investigates the application
Show the basis for a finding
Retain the supporting source references and distinguish what the code shows directly from an interpretation that needs review.
Put specific questions to specialists
Ask the business or technical owner about the particular rule, dependency or operational practice that remains unclear.
Example: an order-release rule
In a previously published synthetic application example, the source analysis identified a check comparing available stock weight with order weight using a 2.50% tolerance.
The percentage alone was not a complete requirement. The report left questions about rounding, partial release and stock changes. A reviewer could work through those specific questions before a replacement workflow was designed.
This is a selected finding from a public synthetic example, not a customer outcome. Read the application examples.
Scope a discovery engagement
Tell us which application or part of the estate needs investigation and what decision depends on the findings. The combined engagement also includes documentation, a recovered specification and modernisation planning.
See the four-week engagement