From code archaeology to cloud: How Blue Pearl built a repeatable modernization practice with IBM Bob
Learn how IT consultancy Blue Pearl used IBM Bob to modernize a VBA-based reporting workflow and establish an engineer-reviewed migration approach for a legacy .NET application.
Eight spreadsheets, six users and tens of thousands of lines of undocumented Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code supported daily investment reporting at an Australian investment firm client of Blue Pearl, an IT consultancy and IBM partner. It was a risky architecture: A formatting change or Excel failure could interrupt downstream work.
Using IBM Bob™ to help uncover and document the legacy logic, Blue Pearl replaced the desktop workflow with a cloud-hosted platform in four weeks. Blue Pearl reports that the new platform reduced daily processing time by more than 90%, preserved the required business functionality and is projected to deliver more than 500% first-year ROI.
The project marks the next stage in Blue Pearl’s use of IBM Bob, the IBM AI-powered development partner. Blue Pearl first applied Bob to its own talent-matching platform, Blue App. That internal modernization compressed a Java™ upgrade from more than 30 developer-days to three. Blue Pearl is now applying the same context-first, engineer-controlled approach to work at the investment management firm, and BookiePrice, a sports and racing wagering platform also based in Australia.
In this article, explore how Blue Pearl applies a repeatable, human-reviewed modernization method with IBM Bob to understand undocumented business logic, refactor legacy applications and prepare them for cloud deployment. The two projects show how that method adapts to different technology stacks serving different industries while reducing migration risk, preserving critical application behavior and creating more scalable, maintainable foundations.
The investment firm’s operations team used an Excel-based “Operational Position Report” workflow to support daily portfolio reporting and reconciliation. The process joined eight workbooks in multiple formats with two critical macros: one generated daily worksheets and distribution emails, while the other consumed that output for GEMS (global execution management system) intraday processing. The tight dependency on file structure and formatting created a desktop-only workflow with no centralized logging, automated recovery or durable audit trail.
The modernization had to preserve years of calculations and classifications, not simply convert VBA (visual basic for applications) syntax.
Blue Pearl used Bob to map dependencies, surface the business rules embedded in the macros, generate documentation and establish a test baseline- giving its engineers a clearer, lower-risk foundation for modernization. The resulting web workflow reduced manual handling and automated break detection, while consistent inputs lowered the chance that a local spreadsheet change would disrupt reporting.
BookiePrice needed to modernize the web API and trading engine behind customer workflows such as login, deposits and balance checks before moving from Microsoft Azure to AWS. The applications used older ASP.NET patterns plus Azure Service Bus, legacy identity, configuration-based secrets, Unity dependency injection and direct stored-procedure access.
Moving them unchanged would carry platform coupling and security risk into AWS. A previous automated transformation produced unusable output, so the new evaluation emphasized reference patterns and workflow validation instead of an unsupervised rewrite.
Bob helped Blue Pearl accelerate assessment, pattern generation, scaffolding, documentation and tests. Blue Pearl retained control of architecture, governance and production readiness. With no automated test suite available, engineers reviewed whether converted code preserved production-critical behavior and validated representative user workflows.
Blue Pearl’s method begins with legacy sources such as VBA macros, .NET and Java applications, APIs and databases. Bob analyzes code, extracts business logic, generates documentation and produces unit tests. Engineers review the result, validate behavior and enforce architecture, security, governance and quality requirements before deployment.
The final stage deploys application, data and integration services with automation, monitoring and logging. Operational feedback updates documentation, tests and patterns. This loop turns one-time conversion into a reusable method while keeping accountability with the engineers who govern what reaches production.
The investment firm’s modernization process starts with Excel files. A configuration-driven ingestion layer normalizes the eight workbooks into a consistent structure. Python services then implement business rules, validation and a reconciliation engine. This boundary prevents one user’s workbook layout from propagating into every downstream calculation. It also makes it easier to add another input format or custodian through configuration rather than a broad code rewrite.
FastAPI exposes REST APIs to a React interface hosted through AWS Amplify, where users upload files and monitor processing. Amazon EC2 runs compute workloads including Windows-based Excel COM automation where compatibility remains necessary. AWS Lambda handles serverless processing, Amazon S3 stores files and API Gateway manages access. Pandas and OpenPyXL process data, with pywin32 supporting the remaining COM-dependent operations.
Bob helped map more than 95 functions and convert the logic into over 20 modules. The implementation produced more than 15,000 lines of typed Python and at least 85% test coverage. Blue Pearl ran both workflows in parallel to validate parity before cutover, preserving user continuity while creating a more maintainable service boundary.
The BookiePrice target architecture moves the application to ASP.NET Core and packages services for Amazon Elastic Container Service. Messaging shifts from Azure Service Bus to Amazon Simple Queue Service.
Secrets leave web.config for AWS Secrets Manager. Legacy ASP.NET Identity moves to ASP.NET Core Identity, Unity gives way to built-in dependency injection and selected direct stored-procedure calls move toward Entity Framework Core where that abstraction fits the workload. The broader evaluation also identifies Amazon Kinesis as the target for Event Hub patterns.
Bob first analyzes the legacy application, then generates a reference modernization pattern. Engineers validate that pattern before extending it across controllers, services and supporting classes. Bob can then assist with repetitive refactoring, documentation, workflow validation and tests. This ordering limits pattern drift: an incorrect conversion does not become the template for the rest of the estate without human review.
BookiePrice remains an active evaluation rather than a completed production migration. Its output is a target foundation plus a clearer backlog of dependency replacements, validation risks and production controls. The proposed path moves from a one-to-two-week assessment to a two-to-four-week pilot, then to migration sprints if the pilot meets its go or no-go criteria.
Blue Pearl’s investment firm client shows the operational effect of this modernization strategy. Daily processing fell from two to three hours to under 10 minutes and custodian reconciliation fell from more than three hours to an automated process with exception detection.
The new web interface removed the desktop-only access constraint. Central validation, logging and an audit trail improved reporting control, while 100% parity let users adopt the new workflow without losing the functions embedded in the old macros.
Configuration-driven parsers reduce the effort to add a custodian or workbook format. Modular services and automated tests make calculation changes easier to isolate and validate. Less reconciliation, fewer format-related failures and a maintainable codebase support the first-year ROI and lower ongoing operating cost.
BookiePrice adds a cautionary lesson. AI-generated patterns can accelerate migration, but embedded logic still requires engineering review. Usage also needs cost planning: the evaluation exhausted its agentic-use allowance in one day. Therefore, a pilot should include a usage profile, security review and workflow-level acceptance criteria.
Blue Pearl’s progression from its own Java platform to its investment firm client’s VBA estate and BookiePrice’s .NET application shows where IBM Bob fits in a repeatable practice. Bob analyzes unfamiliar code, documents hidden dependencies and applies validated patterns. Experienced engineers remain responsible for architecture, security, governance and release decisions.
The model scales without treating every codebase as identical. The investment firm client can accommodate new funds, custodians and processing volume without rebuilding its reporting workflow. BookiePrice has a staged route for replacing Azure dependencies before production migration. Reusable analysis and validation patterns reduce rework while preserving the behavior users rely on.
By combining IBM Bob’s code understanding with human review and cloud delivery controls, Blue Pearl has expanded an internal success into a client modernization method. The result is a lower-risk path from undocumented applications to maintainable cloud services, with shorter delivery cycles, more reliable user workflows and a stronger TCO foundation.