What you are buying
An independent assessment of the risks that could change the modernization budget, timeline, vendor scope, or operating impact.
Evincia
Modernization Shield
A fixed-scope modernization risk assessment for legacy .NET and Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL systems.
Modernization Shield finds hidden dependencies, likely failure modes, and blockers before leadership commits budget, staffing, a delivery partner, or an AI timeline. Within 7 to 10 business days, the engagement produces a Legacy Modernization Risk Report (LMRR): an executive report with a risk register, failure analysis, recommended order of work, and supporting readiness score.
Modernization Shield in plain English
What you receive
An executive report with the major findings, what is likely to break first, supporting evidence, and a recommended order of work.
What it costs and takes
A fixed $15,000 to $20,000, delivered in 7 to 10 business days with 2 to 3 short working sessions.
What happens afterward
Use the report internally or hand it to your chosen implementation partner. Evincia does not require or sell the migration work.
Technical scope for your team
The executive decision comes first. For the architects and engineering leaders validating the work, the standard service covers legacy .NET and Microsoft SQL Server environments where risk hides in application code, database logic, and integrations.
- .NET application layer: ASP.NET, WCF, .NET Framework, C# codebases, project dependencies, coupling patterns, and framework exposure analyzed with the Roslyn SDK
- SQL Server/T-SQL data layer: Microsoft SQL Server schemas, T-SQL stored procedures, views, data dependencies, and schema complexity assessed through expert review, with automated ScriptDom analysis planned
- Legacy integration surface: SOAP services and message queues, file-based pipelines, monolithic APIs, and operational handoffs that create modernization risk
What Will Break First?
Most modernization failures do not begin with the obvious platform upgrade. They begin when hidden logic, brittle integrations, operational constraints, or work done in the wrong order meets production.
Common failure modes Evincia looks for include:
- Stored procedure business logic that has drifted from application behavior
- Shop-floor, warehouse, or other operational services that cannot be taken offline
- Web Forms or System.Web dependencies that block incremental ASP.NET Core migration
- Direct SQL access from UI layers that makes presentation changes unsafe
- Static shared state that causes runtime or threading failures after migration
- Authentication, EDI, file-transfer, or partner integrations that break during platform change
- Manual deployments and weak test coverage that make refactoring and rollback unsafe
Modernization Shield identifies which problems are most likely to surface first, ties them to evidence, and puts the fixes in a practical order. The detailed inspection method is published on the methodology page.
What we find inside a legacy .NET estate
Long-lived .NET Framework systems hide most of their modernization cost below the code you can read. The diagnostic goes after the parts that decide the timeline:
- Which authentication and identity mechanism -- Forms, Windows, ASP.NET Membership, WS-Federation -- has to be re-platformed, and which carries forward
- Whether session state is pinned to a single server (InProc), quietly blocking load balancing, horizontal scaling, and cloud hosting
- Which WCF endpoints and bindings need CoreWCF or a rewrite to REST or gRPC -- on both ends of every connection
- Where data access -- how the application reads and writes its database -- is tied to classic Entity Framework (EF6) or database-first EDMX models
- What is hiding in packages.config, classic assembly references, and COM interop that a NuGet-only view never shows
None of this is visible in a demo or a status report. Each one is a place where "just a version upgrade" quietly turns into a project -- which is why it belongs in the estimate before the budget is set, not after.
Modernization Readiness Score
The LMRR includes a 0-100 score that gives leadership a quick view of the system's modernization risk:
Red · 0-49
Critical blockers make broad change unsafe. Stabilize the system before a large migration or AI rollout.
Yellow · 50-79
Modernization is possible, but the highest-risk dependencies must be addressed first.
Green · 80-100
The system is in a stronger position for broader change. Green does not mean risk-free.
The score is backed by the risk findings and evidence in the report. It helps leadership see where change is unsafe, what must happen first, and when broader modernization or AI work becomes reasonable.
What decisions the report supports
Approve or revise the budget
See whether the proposed scope includes the hidden database, integration, testing, deployment, and operational work that could change the cost.
Pressure-test a vendor plan
Compare the implementation proposal with an independent view from a firm that has no implementation work to sell.
Sequence the investment
Understand what must be stabilized first, what can wait, and which work reduces the most budget, timeline, and operational risk.
Decide whether AI should proceed
Determine whether the systems, data paths, controls, and change environment can support the planned AI initiative safely.
A risk assessment, not an implementation pitch
Modernization Shield runs a structured assessment against legacy .NET and SQL Server systems and produces a concrete report. The scope is fixed, the timeline is fixed, and the output is written for leaders who need to decide whether a modernization plan is safe, under-scoped, or blocked by hidden technical risk.
Evincia does not sell implementation work. That matters because vendor selection, platform decisions, and delivery-team budgets all depend on particular answers -- and an assessment paid for by a vendor, a platform provider, or a delivery team tends to find those answers. The goal here is a defensible picture of what you're working with before you approve budgets, timelines, or AI work that depends on fragile systems.
A legacy estate raises two different questions: should we modernize this, and how? The firms that answer the second question -- the vendors, platforms, and integrators who deliver the migration -- are paid to do the work, so they tend to arrive already certain the answer to the first is yes. A free platform assessment exists to move you onto that platform; an integrator's review exists to win the build. Modernization Shield answers the first question on its own, before any of them are in the room.
| Question | Free vendor / platform assessment | Big-4 / large-firm diligence | Productized architecture review | Modernization Shield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent of the build? | Notied to a product or platform | Yes | Yes | Yesnothing to sell you next |
| Legacy .NET + SQL Server depth | Tool-scoped | Generalist | Generalist | The entire focus |
| Who does the work | An automated tool | An engagement team | A reviewer | A senior architect, no handoffs |
| Evidence you can trace | Tool output | Narrative | Varies | Traced to the file or proc |
| Time to deliver | Minutes | Multi-week | ~1 week | 7 to 10 business days |
| Typical price | Free | Tens of thousands+ | Low four figures | $15,000 to $20,000, fixed |
| You leave with | A migration recommendation | A diligence report | An architecture review | The LMRR -- a decision, not a sales path |
Categories, not specific firms, and each has its place. The free vendor assessment is the most common default -- and the one most tied to a downstream product decision. Evincia's only product is the read itself.
How the Engagement Works
Every engagement combines repeatable .NET code analysis with SQL Server/T-SQL review by a senior architect. Claims in the LMRR are backed by evidence from code, database artifacts, configuration, dependencies, or stakeholder review.
The Tool Finds the Evidence. Experience Interprets It.
Modernization Shield combines diagnostic engine output with senior architect review. Automation surfaces patterns across the .NET codebase, dependencies, configuration, and architecture. Senior architect judgment turns that evidence into risk priorities, sequencing, and executive recommendations. Not just a scanner. Not open-ended consulting.
AI-assisted synthesis is optional -- it happens only after the diagnostic engine has produced its deterministic outputs, can be turned off entirely, and runs on the client's terms (Security & Data Handling). For any narrative AI drafts from the engine's signals, traceability is enforced by the pipeline itself: a claim without matching engine evidence fails the run -- it does not reach review. The SQL Server and database-tier review, the 0 to 100 readiness score, and the judgment categories are the architect's separate human work.
Deterministic Engine
Extracts structured signals from .NET code with the Roslyn SDK. It does not guess; it surfaces what is there.
- Roslyn SDK on C#/.NET source
- ScriptDom SQL automation (planned)
- Dependency and coupling extraction
Senior Architect Review
Interprets signals against the actual codebase and the institutional knowledge that lives in heads, not files.
- Architect-led SQL Server/T-SQL review
- Stakeholder interviews
- Architectural synthesis
Legacy Modernization Risk Report
A defensible deliverable, traceable from each finding back to the evidence that produced it. Read in 30 to 45 minutes by a technical leader.
Evidence pipeline
From code signals to executive decisions.
Every major finding is traceable back to observed evidence, not modernization guesswork.
-
01
Source estate
- .NET solution
- SQL Server / T-SQL
- Integrations
-
02
Diagnostic signals
- Roslyn extraction
- Dependency/coupling indicators
- SQL review
-
03
Evidence
- Observed patterns
- Specific risk indicators
- Stakeholder context
-
04
Finding
- What is likely to fail
- Why it matters
- Severity
-
05
Recommendation
- Sequence of work
- Decision impact
- 90-day next step
The engagement runs 7 to 10 business days end to end. Typical client involvement is 2 to 3 short working sessions with leadership and key technical stakeholders.
Step 1
Introductory discussion
Confirm the business decision, system scope, timeline, and questions leadership needs answered.
Step 2
Code and artifact collection
Gather the .NET solution, SQL Server artifacts, architecture material, and relevant operating context -- inside your environment.
Step 3
Diagnostic analysis
Identify hidden dependencies, blockers, failure modes, and evidence through .NET diagnostics and SQL Server review.
Step 4
Executive review
Review the findings, business impact, budget risk, timeline risk, and recommended order of work.
Step 5
LMRR delivery
Deliver the executive report, risk register, failure analysis, evidence, and modernization sequence.
The output: Legacy Modernization Risk Report (LMRR)
The Legacy Modernization Risk Report is the primary deliverable of every Modernization Shield engagement. It is a written document plus a structured evidence appendix, designed to be read by a technical leader.
The LMRR contains an executive summary, a prioritized Risk Register, failure analysis, a phased order of work, supporting evidence, and a Modernization Readiness Score. Together, they show what is risky, what is likely to slow or break the program, and what should happen first.
What the report covers
- Executive summary with the headline finding, business impact, and recommended decision
- Full Risk Register organized by priority rating (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
- Failure analysis showing what is most likely to disrupt the program first
- .NET dependency analysis with key coupling patterns identified
- SQL Server/T-SQL observations tied to schema complexity, stored procedure risk, and data dependencies
- AI readiness observations tied to current .NET and SQL Server constraints
- Modernization sequencing guidance with phased timeline and workstreams
- Supporting readiness score and evidence appendix with traceability back to raw signal data
What it looks like
Before scheduling a scoping call, you can inspect the SocialGoal sample Modernization Risk Report built from a public codebase. It shows how Modernization Shield translates source evidence, risk scoring, optional AI-assisted synthesis, and senior architect review into a report leadership can use. For how Evincia stands behind the method without client logos or testimonials, see the evidence of method.
Illustrative example -- not a client result
Example readiness profile.
Modernization Shield scores the four Modernization Readiness dimensions that drive budget, sequencing, and delivery confidence -- each out of 25, summing to the 0 to 100 readiness score. AI readiness is reported as written observations tied to the same constraints, never as a score.
Executive risk register
Risk register view.
The report separates noisy technical detail from decision-level risk.
| Likelihood / Impact | Low impact | Medium impact | High impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low likelihood | Monitor | Watch | Review |
| Medium likelihood | Watch | Prioritize | High |
| High likelihood | Review | High | Critical |
- Stored procedure business logic blocks service extraction.
- Direct SQL access from presentation code increases regression risk.
- Legacy integration cannot be paused during migration window.
The SocialGoal sample report renders all of it end to end -- the score, the risk register, the failure analysis, and the recommended sequence -- against a publicly available .NET codebase.
What it costs
Modernization Shield is fixed-fee at $15,000 to $20,000 for one .NET solution and the SQL Server database behind it, depending on solution size and the number of stakeholder interviews required. No urgency premium, no scope-creep risk.
Private equity is priced differently: $25,000 to $30,000 per .NET solution, scaled across the portfolio. It is the same instrument and the same fixed scope. The premium buys a delivery date committed to your IC calendar rather than to our queue, and, across a multi-application portfolio, a comparison of every application on the same scale. The details are on Modernization Shield for private equity.
Measured against what it prevents, that fee is small. A Modernization Shield engagement costs a fraction of a single mis-sequenced modernization phase, a stalled migration, an audit or cyber-insurance scramble, or a deal repriced on a finding nobody caught. Committing six or seven figures to modernize a system you have not measured is the expensive risk -- measuring it first is the cheap part.
Who this is designed for
Modernization Shield is most useful when a legacy .NET and SQL Server estate is about to become a business decision, not just a technical concern. The most common situations:
- Private equity firms evaluating .NET and SQL Server risk during acquisition due diligence
- CTOs planning .NET modernization or SQL Server modernization programs who need to know what they are actually dealing with
- Engineering leaders who inherited legacy .NET applications with undocumented SQL Server dependencies
- Leadership teams under pressure to adopt AI but unsure whether their legacy Microsoft stack can support it safely
- CISOs and security leaders preparing for cyber insurance renewal or audit response who need defensible answers about the legacy .NET and SQL Server estate
Find out if this is the right next step
Describe your .NET and SQL Server situation in a few sentences and a senior architect responds within two business days with an honest read on whether Modernization Shield fits your timeline and risk profile. If it fits, a short scoping call settles the boundaries and timing, and the engagement delivers your Legacy Modernization Risk Report in 7 to 10 business days. If you'd rather start with the call, that works too.