MARBLE: Modernization approach for recovering business processes from legacy information systems

The volatile IT industry often tempts companies to replace legacy information systems with new ones. However, these systems cannot always be completely discarded because they gradually store a significant amount of valuable business knowledge as a result of progressive maintenance over time. MARBLE semi-automatically rebuilds the hidden business processes embedded in legacy information systems. MARBLE supports a business process archeology method which allows business experts to attain a rapid and meaningful understanding of the organization's business processes. MARBLE-framed techniques are based on static and dynamic analysis by considering different legacy software artifacts (e.g., source code, event logs, etc.). Through the validation of MARBLE with several industrial systems, the proposal proved to be less time-consuming and more exhaustive (since it considers the embedded business knowledge) than a manual process redesigned by experts from scratch. The main implications are that MARBLE provides maintainers with a mechanism with which to modernize legacy information systems in line with the actual business processes of an organization.