Platform Evolution
Assessment run-2026-07-27-1 · 213 of 213 repos assessed
Repos / phenix-retail

phenix-retail

The central Phenix ASP.NET MVC application for managing bookings and loading Retail components, aggregating dozens of estate services behind one .NET Framework 4.7.2 web app.

50 · amberhighkernelOn-premZDD: a long roadweb-ui

Health score

50

0 to 100 across seven weighted factors; nothing is hidden. Green is 75 and above, amber 50 to 74, red below 50. How scoring works.


Runtime currency / 25
0
.NET Framework, out of mainstream support
Legacy transport / 15
2
Hosts WCF or SOAP endpoints with no successor on modern .NET
Test posture / 15
8
Some tests, coverage is thin
Security hygiene / 15
15
No credentials found in source
Dangerous coupling / 15
11
depends on pinning component(s): application-framework, phenix-feature-service, phenix-passenger-configuration-service-contract, mail-service, mailtemplate-service
Activity / 10
10
Actively maintained
Deployment hygiene / 5
5
CI in place
Health over time
2026-07-24 (run-2026-07-24-1): 502026-07-27 (run-2026-07-27-1): 50
No change since 2026-07-24 (50 to 50).

Facts

Languagescsharp, javascript
FrameworksASP.NET MVC 5, Ninject, Gulp 4
Runtimes.NET Framework 4.7.2
Tests / CIsome / CI in place
Last commit2026-07-23
OwnerOwner unknown (mapping to be curated)
DomainSelling and quoting (system generated; curate in repo-owners.json to override)
Product areaPhenix
HostedOn-prem Deployed to our own machines
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI": QA: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI": Staging: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI": Training: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI": Production: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI": DR: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
Releases2 release pipeline(s): \finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI; \finance\phenix\phenix-retail Stealth
Integrationrest, wcf, redis, jwt
SourceOpen in Azure DevOps

Risk flags

Each flag links to its glossary definition.

Dependencies in context

Laying out the graph…
greenamberreddata store (square, dashed link)Node size follows fan-in. Click any node to open it.

Entanglement

kernel Bound into the core by 2 mechanism(s).

Detaches when its pinning dependencies are cut or multi-targeted (application-framework, phenix-feature-service, phenix-passenger-configuration-service-contract, mail-service, mailtemplate-service); and when its WCF surface gains a modern interface or its WCF calls move to one.

Migration playbooks

Generated from this repo's assessment data: what is feasible, what blocks it, and the steps in order. Ratings: green means actionable now, amber means sequence other work first, red means blocked, grey means not applicable.

ZDD adoption

A long road

Technically eligible one day, but the blockers are structural: hosted WCF or SOAP contracts that cannot run two versions at once, or heavy legacy coupling. Sequence the modernisation work first. Hosts WCF or SOAP endpoints: strict serialization contracts cannot safely run two versions at once (the shared-enum trap). End-of-life runtime compounds the work.

Dependencies and gotchas
  • 1 system(s) depend on this repo; during a rolling deploy they will talk to old and new versions at once, so responses must stay compatible
  • Serialized state or messages in flight (Redis or queues): new code must deserialize objects written by the previous version
  • Feature flags come from phenix-feature-service (WCF-only): flag reads themselves are a legacy dependency to watch
  • Session is externalised to Redis: keep it that way, and check session object compatibility between versions
Steps
  1. Adopt the four-stage discipline from the ZDD engineering standard: pre-deployment compatibility, deployment, feature activation behind a flag, post-release cleanup.
  2. Raise automated test coverage first: ZDD trades the end-of-sprint manual gate for continuous automated confidence, so the tests are the entry ticket.
  3. Make every change dual-version safe: backwards-compatible APIs (new major version for breaking wire changes), expand and contract for any schema change, and consumers tolerant of unknown fields.
  4. Audit serialized data: anything in Redis, queues or shared caches must deserialize cleanly across adjacent versions.
  5. Externalise any remaining session state so users can move between nodes mid-session without disruption.
  6. Wrap behaviour changes in feature flags so code deploys dark and release becomes a business decision, not a deployment event.
  7. Route deployments through the Workflow Engine's automated drain, deploy, health-check, return cycle (the path proven by the first automated production run in mid-2026).
  8. Verify with area-scoped regression rather than the whole-platform cycle, and watch error rates after rollout with automated rollback on alert.

SQL Server exit

Blocked by a shared database

sqlserver:MediaServer is shared, so this system cannot change engine on its own: every sharer moves in convoy. Either agree the move with all sharers as one programme, or first split this system's data out behind an owned API, then follow the steps below.

Blockers
Steps
  1. Inventory the schema and query surface of sqlserver:MediaServer: tables, stored procedures, triggers, cross-database joins and anything else engine-specific.
  2. Confirm the target: PostgreSQL (relational model; keep transactions and joins, swap the engine).
  3. Replatform to modern .NET first (see the recommended actions): current PostgreSQL and MongoDB drivers and EF Core providers target modern .NET, and doing one risky change at a time is cheaper than doing two.
  4. Data access is not through an ORM, so port the SQL by hand: translate T-SQL constructs, replace stored procedures with application code or target-native equivalents, and add integration tests around the queries that matter first.
  5. Stand up the target alongside SQL Server, backfill with an ETL pass (pgloader or an export/import job), then dual-write or replicate until parity is proven.
  6. Move reads to the target, watch correctness and latency, then cut writes over and keep SQL Server read-only until confidence is earned.
  7. Decommission the SQL Server database and remove the connection strings and firewall paths that pointed at it.

Containerisation

Feasible after replatforming

Appropriate eventually, but not from here: the legacy runtime and the hosted WCF surface both have to go first, and that work is already in this repo's recommended actions.

Blockers
Steps
  1. Replatform to modern .NET first (see the recommended actions), replacing the hosted WCF/SOAP surface with REST, gRPC or messaging so consumers can follow. Containerising then becomes routine.
  2. Add a Dockerfile and make the app read all configuration from environment variables and the secrets manager, never from machine-local files.
  3. Log to stdout and expose a health check endpoint so ECS can supervise it.
  4. Adopt the shared ci.yml pipeline template with the container parameters (awsRegion, containerAfterBuild, ecsTerraformRepo), which is exactly how the estate's existing AWS services deploy.
  5. Define the service in the Terraform repo, deploy to a non-production environment, then shift traffic and disarm the deployment-group release pipeline.

Recommended actions

Replatform phenix-retail to modern .NET

Runs on .NET Framework 4.7.2, out of mainstream support. Blocked until stage 2 cuts: application-framework, phenix-feature-service, phenix-passenger-configuration-service-contract, mail-service, mailtemplate-service.

Impact: Unblocks 1 dependent system(s)

proposed

Assessment notes

phenix-retail

Purpose

Phenix Retail is "the central Phenix application for managing bookings and loading Retail components" — the booking-management hub of the Phenix agent platform, hosted under /Sites/Phenix/Retail. The README notes some features have been migrated out to phenix-booking-ui, but the migration is incomplete, so Retail still owns many booking tabs and flows (payments, quotes, flights, honeymoon/gift lists, credit checks, documents, alerts and more, judging by its controllers and service clients).

Tech stack

Single large ASP.NET MVC 5 web project on .NET Framework 4.7.2 with old-style csproj and a 285-package packages.config. Ninject-flavoured ConnectionBroker DI, TC.Cache multi-level caching (memory storage configured), TC.RemoteSession Redis session-state provider, JWT token handling, plus a gulp/Sass asset pipeline using @tc/phenixstyles and a phenix-styles folder. Backstage catalog-info.yaml is present.

Deployment

Included as prod_application with 2 release pipelines (\finance\phenix\phenix-retail CI and Stealth) from the phenix-retail CI build. A YAML build.yml exists but runs classic MSBuild/VS/vstest on a default agent pool; releases fan out to QA, PreProduction, Production, Training and DR stages per the README badges. Runs under IIS as part of the wider Phenix site.

Dependencies

Exceptionally high fan-out: service clients and contracts for card payments (including virtual credit cards and payment router), quote, retail API, flights (web API + configuration + provider), destination management, alert management, custom data fields, event log, exchange rate, booking documentation, mail and mail templates, user accounts, contact centre WCF, business-travel credit check, company info, feature flags, passenger configuration, reviews, tax, teams and the core Phenix booking services (TC.Phenix.Services.Client → backoffice). The front matter lists the confidently mapped estate repos.

Data stores

No owned database. Redis backs the out-of-proc session store (RedisSessionStore via ConnectionBroker); one controller pulls a MediaServer SQL connection string for honeymoon media. Everything else is accessed through service APIs.

Integration points

Server-rendered MVC UI; outbound REST via ConnectionBroker HTTP clients and legacy WCF service clients; Redis session/cache; JWT-based Phenix user authentication.

Code health

One MSTest project with ~182 tests over 34 files — reasonable for helpers/controllers but thin against the app's size. Good README with build/release badges and local-dev prerequisites (requires phenix-root and phenix-content-ui-web cloned locally to debug — heavy coupling even at dev time). Actively developed (last commit 2026-07-23).

Modernisation risks

High: a production-critical .NET Framework 4.7.2 MVC monolith with a 285-package legacy dependency graph and packages.config — no incremental path to .NET 8 without a rewrite. It is the estate's biggest coupling hotspot (25+ internal service dependencies), and the half-finished migration to phenix-booking-ui splits booking functionality across repos. Retiring Retail requires completing that migration tab by tab.