Taylor Consulting
We take over software other people walked away from
If your business depends on a system that nobody is looking after, you don't have to start again from nothing. We take responsibility for what you have, make it safe, and then work out with you whether to keep it, extend it or replace it.
Does this sound familiar?
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The developer has gone quiet
Emails go unanswered, the company has closed, or the freelancer took a full-time job. You're not sure who holds the source code or the server passwords.
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There is no documentation
The system does important things every day, but how it does them lived in one person's head, and that person is no longer around.
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It runs on technology nobody supports
A desktop program from the 2000s, a PHP or .NET Framework version that stopped getting security fixes years ago, or a database only one old PC can open.
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Every change breaks something else
Small requests take weeks, fixes cause new faults, and your staff have built spreadsheets to work around the gaps.
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The replacement project stalled
You paid for a rewrite that is half-finished, and you're running the old and the new side by side with no end in sight.
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You've been told to throw it all away
Every developer you ask wants to rebuild from scratch. That is sometimes right. It is also the most expensive answer, and the one most often given without reading the code.
How a takeover runs
The review comes first and stands on its own. If it shows your system is in better shape than you feared, that is the end of it and you've lost nothing.
What stays yours throughout
- The source code, in a repository you own and can hand to anyone.
- Servers, domains and third-party accounts, registered in your name.
- Documentation written as we go, so you are never locked in again, including to us.
- Your data, with backups you can see and restores that have been tested.
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Review
We read the code, look at where it is hosted, and talk to the people who use it. You get a written report: what the system does, what state it is in, where the risks are, and costed options to stabilise, extend or replace it.
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Recover control
We track down source code, credentials, domains and licences, and move them into your name. Where the code is lost, we work from the running system and its database.
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Stabilise
Backups, monitoring and a separate copy for testing go in first. Then the faults that are costing you the most get fixed, and security holes get closed.
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Maintain, extend or rebuild
Whichever the review recommended. If it is a rebuild, the new system runs alongside the old one and is checked against it until the results match and your staff are ready to switch.
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Run
We can host and look after the system long term, with monitoring, updates and someone to call. Or we hand over to your own team with everything documented.
Not every rescue is a rewrite
The review ends in one of three recommendations. We'll tell you which, and why.
Keep it and look after it
The code is sound and only the caretaker is missing. We take over maintenance, bring hosting and backups up to standard, and handle changes as you need them.
Modernise it in place
The core works but the platform is ageing. We upgrade it piece by piece, such as a newer language version, a web front end or a proper database, while it stays in service.
Replace it carefully
The technology is a dead end. We build the replacement, migrate the history, and run both in parallel until the new one is proven.
Systems we have inherited
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A Delphi payroll system, replaced to the cent
A desktop HR and payroll program with ten years of history. Its web replacement, xHR, has to pass one test before it takes over: reproducing a real month's pay, bank file, tax file and pension file exactly.
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A FoxPro point-of-sale, kept and extended
The tills stayed. We built a layer on top that imports their data and adds stock, purchasing, cash-drawer reconciliation and visitor reporting the original never had.
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A foundry's workflow, converted and carried forward
Northern Natal Bronze moved to a full workflow management system, with its legacy data migrated and converted so the history came with it.
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Cash and paper vouchers, turned into a ticketing platform
For Seychelles' parks authority, a manual process became online sales and handheld validation that works offline between islands. Read the case study.
Common questions
We don't have the source code. Can you still help?
Usually, yes. For web systems the code is normally on the server and can be recovered. For compiled desktop programs we work from the database and the behaviour of the running system, and rebuild from there.
Which technologies do you take on?
Most of our takeovers are PHP, .NET and JavaScript systems on MySQL, MariaDB or SQL Server, along with older desktop software in Delphi, FoxPro and Access. If yours is something else, ask. The review will tell us both quickly whether we're the right people.
Will our staff have to stop using the system while you work?
No. Work happens on a separate copy and is released in small steps. During a rebuild the old system stays in service until the new one has been proven against it.
What does the review cost?
It depends on the size of the system, and we quote a fixed price before starting. Send a short description and we'll tell you what a review would involve.
What if you stop answering too?
A fair question to ask people who rescue abandoned software. Your system is looked after by a team, not one person, so knowledge of it is shared. And your code sits in your repository, your infrastructure is in your accounts, and the documentation is kept current, so you are free to take it elsewhere.