Project Overview

Legacy System Overhaul The health customer required a major overhaul of their legacy enterprise management system, built with outdated Flash for the front-end and PHP for the back-end. It was highly challenging to maintain the system and optimize performance.

Migration to Modern Technologies Migration of more than 200 screens from Flash to React.js, and the order management module from PHP to the far more efficient Java-based architecture. Reason was supposed scalability and maintainability improvements.

Improvement of the User Experience and the back-end system This was a two-way solution to improve the front-end user experience and the back-end performance. Integration of the third-party billing and reporting system and algorithm fine-tuning, along with database query fine-tuning, had to be done for smooth operation.

Implementation of Single Page Application This is a modern SPA, built in Java technologies, which replaced an outdated Flash interface. These changes enhanced app speed as well as usability to provide for a smoother, more effective user experience.

The Problem

Their available enterprise management systems were afflicted by various problems

Outdated Flash Technology

The front end was built on Flash, which is an outdated technology. Support for it had been withdrawn, and keeping it updated and rendering it a highly performance-driven system was also very challenging. Thus, the system crashed or ran very slow most of the times with tough updates and upgrades.

Performance Issues

The performance of the system was low, as the algorithms were not optimized and the back-end was on PHP. With the system's complexity, these inefficiencies had caused slow response times and difficulty in scaling the system.

Integration Complexity

It integrated other third-party services such as billing platforms, reporting tools using different protocols like HL7, SFTP, among others; keeping those integrations up-to-date was really hard when the system is legacy.

Difficulty in Maintenance and Future Updates

It was hard to maintain the system or introduce future updates with the old technology stack, which was expensive. The client needed an easier maintenance and extension solution over time.

The Solution

Our team solved the challenges faced by the client through the following solutions

Migrating from Flash to React.js (SPA)

Migrated the legacy front-end that was in excess of 200 Flash screens into a modern JavaScript framework called React.js. It made sure it was a Single Page Application (SPA), hence making faster load times, better user experience, and maintainability. React.js made the system dynamic and responsive in nature to rectify the performance issues on the front-end.

Upgrading the Back-End from PHP to Java (Spring 4 + Hibernate 5)

We migrated the order management module, which was based on PHP, as it proved to be the bottleneck for slow performance. The system was enhanced to Java-based using the Spring 4 and Hibernate 5. This transformed the system's speed and scalability level considerably. The features of Spring 4 along with the ORM capabilities provided by Hibernate enabled better management of data and faster execution.

Optimizing Algorithms and Database Queries

In the migration process, the development team worked on optimizing the algorithms of the system and its database queries. This has greatly improved the performance of the system, and the latency and response time for all modules are greatly improved.

Maintaining Third-Party Integrations

Several third-party services interacted with the system through various protocols like HL7 for the purpose of healthcare data and SFTP for file transfer purposes. All of these integrations were key to enabling the operation of the system; hence our primary aim was to maintain their functionality intact. My team made sure that the integration would continue uninterrupted as long as the back-end code remained updated, with the communication from external services with the system intact.

Ensuring Compliance with Healthcare Standards

In relation to the needs of the healthcare industry, it ensured that the system was compliant with health standards, including HL7. Our business analysts teamed up with the development team to ensure that the HL7 protocol was implemented in such a manner that data exchange with any healthcare systems would remain safe and standardized.

The Result

This migration has significantly improved the client’s enterprise management system regarding performance and future-proofing. By shifting from back-end PHP to Java and migrating from Flash to React.js, the system offers much faster processing and shorter load times, making the environment very responsive. The technology stack also made it relatively easy to maintain the system with improvements and updates being easily rolled out without the constraint of aging technologies.

The use of React.js has brought with it the newer, easier interface that improves the user experience to its utmost capacity. It also does away with the security gaps and cross-browser incompatibilities present in Flash. The incorporation of Java (Spring + Hibernate) has further made the system more scalable, allowing the accommodation of heavier loads of users as well as complex operations so that it allows growth to occur over the long haul without performance issues.

All of those changes were of that level, but the system would not lose its integration at all with third-party tools for billing and reporting purposes. Our team ensured smooth operation of all external services, thus not tampering with the client’s operations or processes. The legacy modernization, therefore, through our team, met urgent demands but also created a good foundation for future growth in capabilities and scalability.

Successful modernization of a legacy healthcare system to enhance performance and streamline maintenance with React.js and Java.

Migrating 200+ Flash Screens to React.js and PHP Back-End to Java

About The Project