Re-architecting DEKRA’s end-of-life application on a modern technology stack

/ GLOBAL INDEPENDENT TIC ORGANIZATION /

A rebuild now powering operations across a €4.4 billion, 60-country enterprise

years of ongoing engagement

dedicated members

new projects since the original rebuild

/ SUMMARY /

DEKRA is a century-old, Germany-based group and the worldwide leader in the Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC) sector. Since 1925, DEKRA has served corporations and organizations across multiple sectors, offering 1000+ different safety, security, and sustainability services and solutions in 60 countries. In 2018, DEKRA’s application relied on Angular 1 and Ionic 1, both of which had reached end-of-life and were no longer supported. Without action, the legacy application risked becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and unable to support new, complex features. Although DEKRA had worked with several other development companies, the company still struggled to find the right fit. In October 2018, DEKRA partnered with Orient Software to rebuild its legacy application on a modern technology stack.

Location

Germany

Cooperation period

2018 - ongoing

Industry

Testing, Inspection & Certification (TIC)

Engagement model

Dedicated development team

Services used

Mobile app development

Web app development

UI/UX design

/ The situation /

A system heading toward technical obsolescence

With a system built on end-of-life frameworks no longer maintained by their own teams, DEKRA’s top priority was to re-engineer it on an architecture that was easier to maintain, performed better, and offered strong security. Before Orient Software, DEKRA had worked with other development companies, none of which delivered on DEKRA’s expectations. DEKRA sought an engineering team that understood both the technical complexity of a rebuild and the operational stakes of getting it done right. Beyond a service provider, DEKRA needed a reliable partner for its long-term plan. Orient Software checked all the boxes on DEKRA’s list, becoming the right fit for the long haul.

An unsupported, outdated stack

DEKRA’s legacy system ran entirely on its own without security patches, bug fixes, and updates, as the frameworks it was built on were no longer maintained by their own development teams.

No room for new, complex features

The legacy stack aged, making it harder to maintain and complex to add the features that required modern technologies to meet DEKRA's operations.

A system isolated from modern infrastructure

Beyond maintenance, the legacy stack limited how DEKRA’s system could integrate with its new backend.

/ THE SOLUTION /

A rebuild that preserved the old & opened up the new

Orient's approach centered on one dedicated development team tailored to the technical demands of DEKRA’s legacy system modernization and migration.

A compact Angular unit

A dedicated 5-person team was purpose-built for DEKRA’s overhaul. Each member on the team was a specialist in the exact Angular and Ionic expertise the rebuild demanded.

Core business logic built on a modern stack

Orient’s professionals extracted the original business logic from DEKRA’s legacy Angular 1 and Ionic 1 application and re-engineered it into the new Angular 2+ and Ionic 3 architecture. This approach allowed DEKRA to preserve all the existing operational workflows of the legacy system while enabling seamless integration with the modern backend.

A roadmap tailored for evolving needs

Rather than a fixed, one-time engagement, Orient designed the team to flexibly scale in size, scope, and technical range alongside DEKRA, ready to take on new projects and capabilities as the need arose, without disrupting work already underway.

/ THE RESULTS /

A modernized system fully rebuilt for efficiency & long-term growth

The deliverables reflected exactly what DEKRA came for: quality, efficiency & stability. The success of this rebuild has established the foundation for everything that followed, carrying DEKRA’s trust forward into new plans. What began as a legacy system rebuild in 2018 has since grown into an ongoing collaboration in which DEKRA expanded the dedicated team to take on additional projects.

An overhaul

that raises the bar on quality

What was once unsupported and fragile was rebuilt into a modern system that runs on stability and efficiency. Orient’s team ensured the migration to a modern architecture caused zero disruption, keeping every existing workflow intact throughout the transition.

Speed of delivery

from an end-of-life to an extensible architecture

Orient engineered a modern, highly extensible architecture, offering a level of speed the legacy stack could never support. The team could build and deploy new, complex features and applications faster without compromise.

A relationship

that kept growing, project after project

The quality of work and Orient’s dedication gave DEKRA confidence to invest further. The trust built through this modernization project carried the partnership forward, and DEKRA entrusted Orient with new initiatives.

/ TECH STACKS /

Angular

Ionic

Electron

/ OUR INTERNAL THOUGHTS /

“The application is becoming more stable and user friendly, allowing our team to complete daily tasks with fewer interruptions, and is ready for go live.”

Mr. Hung Bui

ORIENT’S PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER

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