RETAIL

How a multinational retail company modernized its VB6 ERP
without interrupting production, sales, or logistics

The corporate ERP of a multinational retail leader based in Latin America managed production, sales, inventory, logistics, and orders in an integrated way. Developed in Visual Basic 6 on a proprietary component-based architecture, it was the operational core of the organization. The retail legacy system migration project documented in this case shows that an ERP of this complexity can be fully modernized — nearly 1,000 windows and its proprietary architecture included — without interrupting daily operations or losing a single business rule.

Project Scope


  • Nearly 1,000 windows and functional components modernized
  • Corporate ERP used to manage production, sales, inventory, logistics, and order management
  • Complete migration from VB6 to JavaFX
  • Evolution of a proprietary component-based architecture to its technological equivalent in Java
  • Platform used by multiple business areas within a multinational company

The challenge: a critical ERP with a proprietary architecture
and components with no direct equivalent

This project presented a specific technical challenge that does not appear in most VB6 modernizations: the proprietary architecture. The ERP had not been developed using standard VB6 components, but on a custom framework built to meet the specific needs of the retail business.
Among these components were interface controls equivalent to advanced spreadsheets, widely used by inventory and logistics management teams, for which there was no direct equivalent in JavaFX. Losing or degrading them would have had an immediate operational impact.
According to Gartner data (2023), 52% of manual legacy application modernization projects do not complete functional migration within the expected timeframe. In systems with proprietary architectures, this percentage increases: the logic is not documented in standards, but in custom conventions that the migration team must decipher before it can be replicated.
Un hombre trabajando en un almacen revisando los datos

The solution: migration to JavaFX
while preserving custom patterns and conventions

Go4IT Solutions carried out the full modernization of the system, evolving the application from Visual Basic 6 to a JavaFX environment and adapting the existing proprietary architecture to its technological equivalent in Java. A key aspect was preserving the client’s own development patterns and conventions. The target Java architecture was not an imposition of generic standards: it was a faithful translation of the paradigms the organization had built over the years, adapted to the new technological environment. Highly complex interface components were reimplemented in JavaFX while preserving their original functional behavior, ensuring that inventory and logistics management teams could continue working with the same capabilities.


Results: modern platform,
improved maintainability, full continuity

The result was a fully modernized corporate ERP, with a sustainable Java technology architecture ready to support future growth needs. The isofunctional migration ensured that none of the nearly 1,000 windows lost functionality. The business logic, production rules, inventory conditions, and logistics flows were fully preserved on the new platform. The organization eliminated its dependency on VB6 and on its proprietary component architecture, moving to operate on a Java technology base with significantly improved maintainability and internal teams capable of evolving the system without critical external dependencies.

Key Challenges Addressed

  1. Modernize a critical corporate ERP for production, sales, inventory, and logistics.
  2. Adapt a proprietary component-based architecture to Java while preserving existing development patterns.
  3. Ensure a fully isofunctional migration while preserving the business logic accumulated over years.
  4. Reimplement highly complex interface components, including controls equivalent to advanced spreadsheets, with no direct equivalent in JavaFX.
  5. Maintain adequate response times for operations involving large volumes of information.
Delivered by

Project team

Guillermo Rodríguez
Project Leader David Vidal

at GO4IT Solutions, a spin-off from Tecnalia, has supported modernization projects in the banking, insurance, and retail sectors in Spain and Europe, with clients operating critical systems with volumes ranging from 500 to 6,000 functional windows.

"Old-way" sales, service, and customer success methods don't work as they used to

Old strategies, process optimization, data analysis, reporting, and other traditional tactics fail to scale according to the company's size and needs today
“Describe the consequences and pain that customers will experience if they continue to implement outdated methods and strategies”
“Describe the consequences and pain that customers will experience if they continue to implement outdated methods and strategies”
“Describe the consequences and pain that customers will experience if they continue to implement outdated methods and strategies”
“Describe the consequences and pain that customers will experience if they continue to implement outdated methods and strategies”