(Doug 2001).
What is the Rational Unified Process?.
It is a Software Engineering Process, delivered through a Web-enable, searchable knowledge base. .
It uses industry-standard Unified Modelling Language (UML) as the modelling language. .
It is component-based. .
It is a generic software development process framework for building object-oriented software systems, with different classes of system application areas, types of organizations, competence levels, and project sizes.
Why Rational Unified Process?.
Developed and maintained by Rational Corporation and continuously updated and improved. .
Activities that create and maintain models. .
Guides for effective use of UML. .
Supported by tools, which automate most of the process. .
Fits small development teams as well as large and can be customised to suit variable team sizes.
Its simple and clear architecture accommodates different situations. .
It captures many of the best practices in modern software development.
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The RUP's iterative life cycle.
The Lifecycle of the Unified Process is made out of four serial phases and nine workflows and each phase is concluded with a well-defined milestone--a point in time at which certain critical decisions must be made, and therefore key goals must have been achieved. The four serial phases are: .
1. Inception: the inception phase is where the project scope and business case of the system are defined. The initial use cases for the software are identified and the key ones are described briefly. Project management documents are started including risk assessment, the estimate, and the project schedule.
2. Elaboration: the Elaboration phase focuses on the detailed analysis of the problem domain and the definition of an architectural foundation of the project. A deliverable called a Supplementary Specification is defined which describe all non-functional requirements of the system.
