From Undocumented Legacy Reporting to Implementation-Ready Modern Architecture in 6-8 Weeks

Sightline: Legacy Analytics Discovery & Modernization Design

Your undocumented Excel reports, Access databases, and aging BI tools ARE the requirements document you never wrote. Sightline extracts those hidden requirements and delivers implementation-ready architecture for your modern analytics platform.

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The Critical Insight Most Modernization Projects Miss

Legacy analytics artifacts contain institutional knowledge that took decades to build. Most migration projects treat them as technical debt to replace. Sightline treats them as assets to decode. We combine stakeholder interviews with AI-powered artifact analysis to extract the business logic, data lineage, and decision workflows that your organization depends on — then design modern equivalents that preserve what works while fixing what doesn't.

The Sightline Four-Phase Methodology

A structured discovery and design process refined through dozens of Fortune 500 analytics modernizations.

Artifact Collection & Stakeholder Mapping

We inventory your legacy reporting landscape and identify the humans who depend on it. This dual-track approach ensures we capture both what the systems do and why they matter.

•Complete inventory of legacy reports, dashboards, and data sources
•Stakeholder map with usage patterns and decision dependencies
•Critical path analysis: which analytics drive business decisions
•Initial risk assessment for migration complexity

Deep Discovery: Logic Extraction & Business Context

Structured interviews with report owners paired with AI-assisted analysis of SQL, formulas, and business rules. We decode the institutional knowledge embedded in your legacy systems.

•Business logic documentation for critical reports
•Data lineage maps showing source-to-insight flows
•Undocumented business rules and calculation methods
•Decision workflow diagrams: how analytics inform actions

Modern Architecture Design

We design your target state: cloud-native data platform architecture that preserves critical business logic while enabling modern analytics capabilities. Vendor-agnostic recommendations based on your constraints.

•Target architecture diagrams (data ingestion, transformation, serving layers)
•Technology stack recommendations with cost-benefit analysis
•Migration roadmap: phased approach with quick wins and risk mitigation
•Data governance framework aligned to your organizational structure

Implementation Readiness Package

Everything your team or implementation partner needs to execute: prioritized backlog, technical specifications, and success criteria. No ambiguity, no guesswork.

•User stories and acceptance criteria for development team
•Data model specifications with business logic requirements
•Testing strategy: how to validate migrated reports match legacy outputs
•Change management plan: training, rollout, and stakeholder communication

What You Own at the End

Complete legacy analytics documentation with business context
Data lineage maps from source systems to business decisions
Target architecture design with vendor-agnostic technology recommendations
Phased migration roadmap with effort estimates and risk mitigation
Implementation-ready user stories and acceptance criteria
Data governance framework and operating model
Executive summary for board or leadership presentation
All working files, diagrams, and documentation in editable formats

Sightline in Action

Financial Services

Regional bank, $5B in assets, 15-year-old Oracle BI deployment with 800+ reports

Challenge

New CDO inherited undocumented BI environment. Business users couldn't articulate requirements beyond 'make it work like before.' Previous vendor proposed rip-and-replace migration — estimated 18 months and $4M.

Approach

Sightline discovery in 7 weeks. Interviewed 25 stakeholders, analyzed 200 critical reports with AI-assisted SQL parsing, mapped data lineage across 12 source systems. Identified 30% of reports were unused, 40% could be consolidated, 30% were mission-critical.

Results

•Reduced migration scope by 70% by eliminating unused reports
•Delivered implementation roadmap with 4 phases over 9 months (vs. 18)
•Revised budget estimate: $1.2M (70% reduction)
•Executive presentation convinced board to approve modernization

9-month implementation (vs. 18-month original estimate)

Healthcare Technology

SaaS provider, 500 employees, organic growth through acquisitions created fragmented analytics across 4 platforms

Challenge

VP of Analytics tasked with consolidating reporting into single platform. No unified data dictionary. Each acquired company had different metrics definitions. Migration attempts stalled on requirements gathering.

Approach

Sightline focused on business metric reconciliation. Conducted 15 stakeholder interviews to understand metric definitions, analyzed calculation logic across platforms, facilitated cross-functional workshops to align on canonical metrics.

Results

•Documented 60 core business metrics with unified definitions
•Identified 12 metrics with conflicting calculations across platforms
•Delivered governance process for future metric creation
•Target architecture designed for multi-tenant SaaS analytics

60 unified metric definitions (from 4 conflicting systems)

What Happens After Sightline

You Execute Internally

Many clients use Sightline deliverables to brief their internal engineering teams or existing implementation partners. Everything is documented for handoff.

We Build It Together

If implementation makes sense, I can lead the architecture while a vetted delivery team builds it. Single accountability from design through go-live.

Ongoing Leadership

Some clients transition to Fractional CDO engagement for ongoing data leadership while their teams execute the roadmap. Quarterly strategy reviews keep the work aligned.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if our legacy systems are too messy to document?

That's exactly why Sightline exists. The messier your legacy environment, the more value we deliver. I've documented 20-year-old Access databases, undocumented Excel macros, and reporting systems where the original developers retired years ago. If humans are using it to make decisions, we can decode it.

Do we need to pick our target technology stack before starting?

No. Sightline is vendor-agnostic by design. We focus first on understanding your business requirements and constraints (budget, team skills, existing infrastructure). Technology recommendations come in Phase 3 based on what you actually need — not what vendors want to sell you.

How much stakeholder time does this require?

Expect 2-3 hours per key stakeholder over the 6-8 week engagement: one 90-minute discovery interview, one 30-minute validation session, and asynchronous review of documentation drafts. Most clients find this a small investment compared to failed migration projects that didn't capture requirements upfront.

What if we discover our legacy systems can't be migrated?

Rare, but it happens. If Sightline reveals that migration risk outweighs benefit, I'll tell you. Sometimes the right answer is incremental modernization, not wholesale replacement. You'll still own the documentation and can make an informed decision.

Can Sightline work for cloud-to-cloud migrations, not just legacy modernization?

Yes. The methodology applies to any analytics consolidation or re-platforming project. I've used Sightline for Tableau-to-Power BI migrations, multi-cloud warehouse consolidations, and SaaS analytics unification after M&A.

Do you offer Sightline as a fixed-price engagement?

Yes, for scopes up to 500 reports and 25 stakeholders. Larger environments require custom scoping. The discovery call will determine if your scope fits the standard Sightline package.

What happens if requirements change during the engagement?

Sightline is discovery, not implementation — so changing requirements are expected. If we uncover significant hidden complexity (e.g., undocumented third-party integrations), we'll discuss scope adjustment. Minor variations are absorbed in the engagement.

How is this different from what a Big 4 consulting firm would do?

Three differences: (1) You get me doing the work, not junior associates. (2) Sightline is scoped for speed — 6-8 weeks, not 6 months. (3) Deliverables are implementation-ready, not strategy decks. I've led these projects at Fortune 500 scale; now I bring that methodology to mid-market and growth companies without the enterprise price tag.

Ready to Modernize Your Analytics?

Not sure Sightline is the right fit? Let's figure that out together.

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