Case Study
Bringing structure to a multinational law firm’s fragmented application estate
Background
Navigating unmanaged complexity
A leading multinational IT solutions provider engaged us to support a global legal firm embarking on a major transformation programme. At first glance, the brief appeared straightforward: bring order to a sprawling application estate. However, it soon became clear that this was far more than a simple packaging exercise.
Years of organic growth had created a labyrinth of bespoke, legal-specific applications, many lacking documentation and standardisation
Challenges
A disjointed and unpredictable landscape
The client’s environment was characterised by:
- Hundreds of disparate applications: Many were heavily customised or niche to the legal sector, with some installations passed down informally between teams.
- Lack of documentation: Critical install details, licensing information, and configuration steps were often missing or incomplete.
- No single source of truth: There was no central repository or consistent packaging standard, resulting in a patchwork of vendor executables, homegrown scripts, and ad-hoc registry modifications.
- Risk of deployment failures: The absence of structure increased the risk of failed deployments, downtime, and business disruption.
Solution
Embedding structure and discipline
Comprehensive discovery and analysis
Our first step was a detailed application requirement capture. We collaborated with subject matter experts across departments to understand how each application was installed, licensed, configured, and used. This included identifying DLL dependencies, COM registrations, hardcoded paths, certificate requirements, and anything that could affect install behaviour.
Simultaneously, we conducted an environment analysis, reviewing the existing deployment platforms (Intune and App-V 5.1), user context requirements, OS compatibility, and any Group Policy or antivirus rules that could impact installations. All findings were meticulously logged in a central tracker, ensuring complete visibility and traceability.
This work was vital because if a package failed in UAT due to a missing runtime or a permission issue, it would cause delays downstream, so everything was captured upfront, assumptions were tested early, and alignment between the discovery and packaging teams was kept tight.
Robust packaging and quality assurance
With a complete picture of the requirements, we progressed to the packaging phase. Depending on compatibility and licensing, we produced either MSI installers or App-V 5.1 virtual packages. For applications unsuitable for virtualisation, we created wrapper-based silent installs using PowerShell and custom scripting, always aiming for repeatable, unattended deployment.
Each package underwent rigorous internal QA, tested on clean virtual machines to verify file paths, registry entries, services, and uninstall behaviour. Only after passing these checks did packages move to User Acceptance Testing (UAT), accompanied by detailed test plans and rollback procedures.
Our defined SLA model enabled rapid turnaround—standard applications were typically packaged within 1–3 working days, depending on complexity. Velocity was key, as the client’s transformation couldn’t afford bottlenecks, and the business couldn’t tolerate downtime.
Transparent tracking and ongoing support
Throughout the engagement, we leveraged a dedicated platform to monitor the full lifecycle of each application, from discovery through to packaging, QA, UAT, and release. This provided the client with real-time visibility, robust version control, comprehensive documentation, and reusability.
Post-release, we offered a 90-day support warranty, delivering structured install guides, rollback steps, licensing notes, and version logs for each application.
Results
From chaos to control
By project completion, the once fragmented application estate had been transformed into a structured, fully documented, and deployable portfolio. Key outcomes included:
- Rationalised applications: Redundant and duplicate software were identified and removed.
- Eliminated configuration drift: Standardised processes ensured consistency across all deployments.
- Empowered IT teams: Clear documentation and repeatable procedures enabled both in-house and external teams to confidently manage future packaging requirements.
Deployments became more reliable, UAT feedback improved, and IT teams gained trust in the process, knowing every application was installable, supportable, and production-ready.
This engagement was about more than just packaging apps. It was about creating clarity in a high-stakes legal environment, where reliability, auditability, and stability are non-negotiable.
By embedding technical discipline into the process from day one, we helped the client not only meet their immediate transformation goals but also set themselves up for long-term operational success.
