Context
Inheriting complex projects with limited in-house expertise
Our client, in the midst of an acquisition process, had inherited a sprawling legacy codebase. However, due to the loss of internal technical knowledge and documentation, they lacked clear visibility on the actual value of these software assets. In this context, they needed a detailed assessment of the codebase, complete with precise metrics to better understand and evaluate the development work that had already been done.
Our approach
Automating detailed reporting to estimate past development effort
Following discussions with the client, it became clear that they needed quantitative metrics on the technologies used, as well as insights into the development effort involved in their inherited projects. The goal was to audit the codebase and estimate the financial value of the existing source code.
We implemented an automated analysis process for each project within the client’s GitLab code repository.
The analysis was integrated into GitLab’s CI/CD pipeline, automatically generating detailed PDF reports.
These reports are accessible to non-technical stakeholders and contain key metrics such as the total number of lines of code per language, the estimated developer-years required to produce the code or a summary of the technologies used.
Results
A clear overview of the existing technical assets
Thanks to the automated reports, the client now has a comprehensive, up-to-date view of its legacy projects. These documents provide concrete support for assessing the value of their software assets, can be used in executive summaries to justify budget allocations and serve as a strong foundation for upcoming negotiations.
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