Kforce develops API modernization tactical roadmap

ENGINEERING

Project overview

An employee benefits service company was embarking on a large-scale modernization effort to update their legacy core system to a microservices architecture. Because their technical posture and applications hadn't been updated in over ten years, the journey required more than a simple lift-and-shift transition to the cloud. It involved an application rationalization and a complete rewrite within Azure.

Kforce completed an assessment of the client's current system and created a plan and timeline to transition their monolithic application to a state-of-the-art microservices architecture, leveraging services and cloud-native development.

Problem

OUTDATED LEGACY CORE SYSTEM REQUIRED TRANSFORMATION TO ENHANCE SYSTEM MAINTAINABILITY AND AGILITY

Our client was struggling to keep up with the day-to-day management of their current system and financial product growth while simultaneously building out future product and technical needs. Because their data access layer was not aligned with current ORM technology, they experienced unreliable database connections and errors in data retrieval that made it difficult to access real-time information. They also needed to improve their reporting and analytics capabilities to provide better business insights. Facing these challenges from an outdated legacy core system, the client realized that a transformation was essential to enhance system maintainability and agility.

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Solution

COMPREHENSIVE DATABASE REVIEW AND REDESIGNED, DOMAIN-BASED FRAMEWORK

Kforce brought together a team of cross-functional subject matter experts (SMEs) and practice leaders with expertise spanning cloud, digital experience, application engineering and the insurance industry. This unified team assessed the client's problem and developed an executable plan for uplifting the technology stack without disrupting existing business operations.

Our team conducted comprehensive database model reviews, allowing us to master the existing complexities and introduce the framework for a redesigned, domain-based model that will significantly enhance data management and efficiency. We also decoupled the application to adopt a service-oriented architecture and enable real-time data processing.

Results

KFORCE'S MICROSERVICES TRANSITION PLAN IMPROVES SYSTEM MAINTAINABILITY AND AGILITY, POSITIONING CLIENT FOR SUSTAINED GROWTH AND INNOVATION

Kforce delivered a comprehensive technical evaluation and engineering solution to address current technological debt and performance issues while paving a path for future performance and scalability. This included a detailed product roadmap and technical audits that align business priorities with technical configurations.

Additionally, we provided targeted training programs to upskill the client's programming staff, empowering them with the skills needed to become change agents and leverage new technologies effectively.

We delivered four embedded learning series focused on:

• CI/CD pipeline creation

• Development environment setup

• Containerization/AKS

• Azure monitoring (spend and workloads)

Finally, we concluded the assessment with a transition to a proof-of-concept phase. This included building out the modern platform and hosting a capstone transition Hackathon event to support the new development and knowledge.