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UAE Government Customs Portal Migration to Liferay DXP 7.4
Case Study Topics
Client Overview
The end client is a UAE federal government authority responsible for customs administration, cross-border trade regulation and the protection of a major national economic gateway.
The authority supports secure and efficient trade while enforcing customs regulations and contributing to the UAE’s economic and digital-transformation objectives. Its identity remains confidential in this case study.
Project Overview
SilwaTech’s in-house team modernised the existing customs portal by migrating it from Liferay 7.2 to Liferay DXP 7.4 Enterprise Edition.
The project focused on improving security, performance, scalability and long-term maintainability while preserving existing data, content, business logic and integrations.
The migration covered:
- Transition to a modular OSGi architecture
- Refactoring of legacy modules and APIs
- Modernisation of themes and user-interface components
- Migration of Arabic and English content
- Search and infrastructure optimisation
- Authentication and access-control enhancements
- Controlled deployment and post-launch stabilisation
Scope of Work
-
Platform Upgrade
SilwaTech migrated the platform from Liferay 7.2 to Liferay DXP 7.4 while preserving critical configurations, data and business logic.
Custom Module Refactoring
The in-house engineering team:
- Refactored more than 15 custom modules
- Modernised portlets, hooks and REST APIs
- Replaced deprecated APIs
- Rebuilt components using Liferay 7.4 OSGi standards
- Validated compatibility with dependent systems
Theme and Template Migration
SilwaTech migrated and modernised:
- Portal themes
- Layout templates
- Display pages
- User-interface widgets
- Reusable frontend components
Clay UI and Lexicon standards were adopted to improve responsiveness, accessibility and interface consistency.
Content and Metadata Migration
Validated migration processes were developed for:
- Structured web content
- Documents and digital assets
- Metadata and classifications
- Arabic and English content
- Content relationships and configurations
The migration approach focused on maintaining data accuracy and language parity.
Search and Supporting Services
The engagement included:
- Elasticsearch optimisation
- Search-index validation
- Media repository integration enhancements
- Caching improvements
- Cluster and multi-instance performance tuning
Testing and Deployment
SilwaTech conducted:
- Infrastructure testing
- Application testing
- Integration testing
- Regression testing
- Performance and load testing
- User acceptance testing support
- Phased deployment with rollback planning
- Post-launch monitoring and stabilisation
Solution Approac
Assessment and Planning
SilwaTech audited the existing platform, custom modules, integrations, themes, content structures and technical dependencies.
The assessment identified deprecated components, compatibility risks and modernisation priorities before development began.
Development and Refactoring
Legacy components were rebuilt using the Liferay 7.4 OSGi framework. Frontend elements were modernised using Clay UI and related design standards.
Content and Asset Migration
Automated and validated migration processes were used to transfer content, documents, metadata and multilingual assets while maintaining Arabic and English consistency.
Infrastructure Optimisation
Elasticsearch indexing, caching and clustered-platform performance were reviewed and optimised to improve reliability and responsiveness.
Security and Authentication
The solution incorporated:
- OAuth2
- UAE PASS integration
- LDAP synchronisation
- Role-based access control
- Strengthened authentication and authorisation
- Controlled administrative permissions
Quality Assurance and Rollout
A phased deployment strategy, supported by regression testing, integration testing and rollback planning, reduced migration risk and supported service continuity.
Key Technical Challenge
Rebuilding Legacy Modules Without Source Code
A major challenge was the absence of source code for several existing custom modules. These components were available only as deployed JAR and WAR files.
SilwaTech’s in-house team:
- Analysed the available binaries
- Examined class structures and dependencies
- Reconstructed underlying service logic
- Rebuilt the functionality as Liferay 7.4-compatible OSGi modules
- Conducted extensive regression testing
- Validated functional parity with the legacy components
Additional challenges included:
- Migrating large volumes of bilingual content without data loss
- Refactoring more than 50 interdependent components
- Preserving Elasticsearch index integrity
- Maintaining service availability during migration
- Meeting strengthened Liferay 7.4 security and modularity requirements
Technology Environment
The modernised platform incorporated:
- Platform Liferay DXP 7.4 Q4.0 Enterprise Edition
- Backend Java 11 and OSGi Framework
- Database PostgreSQL
- Frontend Clay UI, Tailwind CSS and Lexicon Design
- Search Elasticsearch
- Authentication OAuth2, UAE PASS and LDAP
- Architecture Modular OSGi services
- DevOps Enterprise CI/CD and deployment pipelines
Security and Compliance
Security and operational control were fundamental because of the platform’s government and customs context.
Key measures included:
- Strengthened authentication and authorisation
- UAE PASS and LDAP integration
- Role-based access control
- Secure content and platform administration
- Controlled deployment across environments
- Audit-friendly development and release practices
- Regression, integration and penetration testing
- Alignment with applicable government security requirements
- Rollback planning and post-launch monitoring
Outcome and Impact
The modernisation delivered:
- Approximately 35% improvement in page-response and content-loading performance
- Improved Arabic and English content-management workflows
- A responsive user experience based on Clay UI
- Stronger authentication and role-based access controls
- Simplified maintenance through modular OSGi architecture
- Improved stability across clustered environments
- Better deployment control through enterprise CI/CD pipelines
- Reduced reliance on outdated APIs and legacy components
- A scalable foundation for future services and integrations
- Successful reconstruction of critical modules without original source code
Engagement Model
SilwaTech was engaged by an established primary contractor to provide the specialised technology delivery required for the government platform. The migration architecture, development, module reconstruction, content migration, integration, testing and technical implementation were completed by SilwaTech’s in-house delivery team.
The primary contractor managed the contractual relationship with the government end client, while SilwaTech worked within the agreed delivery structure and coordinated with relevant project stakeholders. SilwaTech was not contracted directly by the government authority.
The project was delivered through SilwaTech’s India development centre using defined governance, communication, quality-assurance and release-management processes.
The identities of both the government end client and the primary contractor remain confidential. This case study therefore describes the sector, platform and SilwaTech’s delivery responsibilities without naming either organisation.
Relationship Value
The project demonstrated SilwaTech’s ability to execute complex and high-risk Liferay migrations within a government delivery environment.
The engagement highlighted:
- Deep in-house expertise in Liferay DXP migrations
- Strong understanding of OSGi architecture and legacy modernisation
- Ability to reconstruct critical functionality without original source code
- Experience with UAE PASS, LDAP and government identity systems
- Effective collaboration within a primary-contractor-led engagement
- Secure offshore delivery through an experienced engineering team
- Readiness to support future enhancements and platform initiatives
Why Silwatech
SilwaTech provided the specialised Liferay expertise and engineering capacity required to modernise a mission-critical government platform.
Proven Liferay 7.x to 7.4 migration capabilities
In-house expertise across architecture, development, migration and quality assurance
Strong understanding of modular OSGi development
Experience with bilingual government portals
Capability to modernise live platforms while protecting service continuity
Structured delivery through an established India-based development centre
Ability to operate effectively within government contracting and governance structures
Selected Enterprise & Public Sector Experience
Our project experience spans government authorities, regulated enterprises, and major organisations across multiple industries.
References shown may include direct SilwaTech engagements and work delivered through our contracted partner network. Inclusion does not imply a direct contractual relationship with, or endorsement of, SilwaTech.
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