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

phenix-root

ASP.NET MVC parent site for the Phenix suite handling user logon (AWS Cognito), password management and top-level navigation for the nested Phenix sites.

32 · redhighkernelOn-premZDD: a long roadweb-uisecrets in source

Health score

32

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
6
Calls at least one legacy WCF endpoint
Test posture / 15
8
Some tests, coverage is thin
Security hygiene / 15
0
Credentials or keys committed to source
Dangerous coupling / 15
3
shares a core database (sqlserver:Phenix, sqlserver:EventLog); depends on pinning component(s): application-framework, mail-service
Activity / 10
10
Actively maintained
Deployment hygiene / 5
5
CI in place
Health over time
2026-07-24 (run-2026-07-24-1): 322026-07-27 (run-2026-07-27-1): 32
No change since 2026-07-24 (32 to 32).

Facts

Languagescsharp, javascript
FrameworksASP.NET MVC 5, Ninject, Gulp 4
Runtimes.NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET Standard 2.0
Tests / CIsome / CI in place
Last commit2026-07-22
OwnerOwner unknown (mapping to be curated)
DomainPlatform services (system generated; curate in repo-owners.json to override)
Product areaPhenix
HostedOn-prem Deployed to our own machines
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-root": QA: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-root": Staging: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-root": Production: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-root": Training: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\finance\phenix\phenix-root": DR: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
Releases2 release pipeline(s): \finance\phenix\phenix-root; \finance\phenix\phenix-root Stealth
Integrationrest, wcf
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 3 mechanism(s).

Detaches when its pinning dependencies are cut or multi-targeted (application-framework, mail-service); and when its WCF surface gains a modern interface or its WCF calls move to one; and when the shared database group it belongs to gains an owned API or completes schema separation (sqlserver:Phenix, sqlserver:EventLog).

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. Legacy web front end: session state and framework age make mixed-version fleets risky until state is externalised.

Blockers
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
  • Consumes WCF contract packages: never take a breaking client bump mid-feature, and treat obsolete warnings as migration debt
  • Shares sqlserver:Phenix with 21 system(s): destructive schema change is prohibited in a single release; expand and contract only
  • Shares sqlserver:EventLog with 13 system(s): destructive schema change is prohibited in a single release; expand and contract only
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 core database

sqlserver:Phenix, sqlserver:EventLog, sqlserver:Repository are shared, so this system cannot change engine on its own: every sharer moves in convoy. The stage 4 work (named owner, declarative schema, owned API) has to land first; after that, the steps below apply to whatever slice this system ends up owning.

Blockers
Steps
  1. Inventory the schema and query surface of sqlserver:Phenix, sqlserver:EventLog, sqlserver:Repository: 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, but the .NET Framework runtime has to go first; container work rides along with the replatform rather than preceding it.

Blockers
  • .NET Framework only runs on Windows; practical (Linux) containers need modern .NET
Steps
  1. Replatform to modern .NET first (see the recommended actions). 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

Rotate the credentials committed to phenix-root

Risk flags indicate credentials or keys in source (plaintext-credentials). Rotate now and enable secret scanning in CI; this is independent of all other work.

Impact: Closes a live security exposure at near-zero cost

proposed

Replatform phenix-root to modern .NET

Runs on .NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET Standard 2.0, out of mainstream support. Blocked until stage 2 cuts: application-framework, mail-service. Shares sqlserver:Phenix, sqlserver:EventLog, so batch it with its database group (stage 4).

Impact: Unblocks 1 dependent system(s)

proposed

Assessment notes

phenix-root

Purpose

Phenix Root is the entry point to the Phenix platform: user logon, password management and navigation for the non-Angular nested sites. As the "parent" site, much of the shared services configuration for the whole Phenix IIS estate lives in its Web.config, and unauthenticated users of any child site are redirected here to log in.

Tech stack

Main project TC.Phenix.Root.UI.Web is ASP.NET MVC on .NET Framework 4.7.2 with Ninject and packages.config; supporting netstandard2.0 libraries provide Cognito authentication, forms-auth/password management and configuration. Frontend assets are built with Gulp/Sass using internal @tc/phenixstyles, @tc/web-icons, @tc/web-styles-bs3 npm packages.

Deployment

Release pipelines \finance\phenix\phenix-root and phenix-root Stealth (release_count 2) from the phenix-root build pipeline, defined by build.yml in the repo (self-hosted pool needing msbuild/visualstudio/vstest). Publishes the UI.Web project to IIS as the root of the Phenix site.

Dependencies

Internal packages: TC.ConnectionBroker suite (Sql, Redis, Mongo, Aws, Wcf, Api), TC.Exceptions, TC.Phenix.ApplicationFramework, TC.Phenix.ServiceManagement, TC.Phenix.User/User.Authentication, TC.UserAccount.ServiceClient, TC.Mail.ServiceClient, TC.Features, TC.VirtualCreditCard.Api.Client, and the full TC.Cache stack. External: AWS Cognito for authentication.

Data stores

No owned database. Web.config connection strings reference the shared Phenix, EventLog and Repository SQL Server databases. TC.Cache is configured with memory storage (Redis storage available but commented out); Redis/ConnectionBroker settings for child sites are also declared here.

Integration points

Server-rendered MVC UI; outbound REST to Phenix APIs via ConnectionBroker and legacy WCF via TC.Phenix.Services.Client / TC.ConnectionBroker.Wcf. Cognito for token-based logon.

Code health

One small MSTest project covering LogOn and Shared controllers only. Actively maintained (last commit 2026-07-22) with a helpful README. Web.config contains plaintext SQL credentials for QA-environment connection strings checked into source.

Modernisation risks

High: it is the authentication and navigation root for the whole Phenix IIS estate, so every child site depends on its session/forms-auth model, and its Web.config acts as shared configuration — a classic high-fan-in coupling point. .NET Framework 4.7.2 MVC with packages.config has no in-place path to .NET 8; untangling root logon/navigation is a prerequisite for retiring the other Phenix Framework sites.