Towards automated modification of legacy assets

In this paper we argue that there is a necessity for automating modificatio ns to legacy assets. We propose a five layered process for the introduction and employment of tool support that enables automated modification to enti re legacy systems. Furthermore, we elaborately discuss each layer on a conc eptual level, and we make appropriate references to sources where technical contributions supporting that particular layer can be found. We sketch the perspective that more and more people working in the software engineering area will be contributing to working on existing systems and/or tools to su pport such work.