A related issue can be the cost to the business of significant delays in the delivery of a reliable and usable system, which can be disproportionate to the length of the delays in some cases. A risk assessment of low or moderate can be increased to high on the strength of these potential costs. The lower the risk assignment, the greater our degree of bias toward a more aggressive technical strategy, such as replacement with new development and new technology. For a moderate risk assignment, our bias is toward an in-between strategy such as reengineering. High potential cost per error or for delivery delays translates into an argument for a more conservative technical strategy and for significant investments in effective testing of the results, regardless of the strategy chosen.
Logic problems are a different story.
Solving problems of business logic, if they affect a significant fraction of the code base, may well require a rewrite, despite the technical risks of doing so. If this is what is required, it is best to enter into the process with a clear understanding of what you're getting into, and with an appropriate budget. The largest item in that budget will be testing. XML Encapsulation XML encapsulation is a technical strategy we have been analyzing and developing for the last year. What's remarkable about these visions is that their essence involves componentization without regard to hardware or software platform, due to their reliance on open, rather than proprietary, standards.