The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is an iterative software development process framework created by the Rational Software Corporation, a division of IBM since 2003. RUP is not a single concrete prescriptive process, but rather an adaptable process framework, intended to be tailored by the development organizations and software project teams that will select the elements of the process that are appropriate for their needs. RUP is a specific implementation of the Unified Process.
History Rational Software originally developed the RUP as a software process product. The product includes a hyperlinked knowledge-base with sample artifacts and detailed descriptions for many different types of activities. RUP is included in the Rational Method Composer (RMC) product which allows customization of the process. Philippe Kruchten, an experienced Rational technical representative was tasked with heading up the original RUP team. These initial versions combined the Rational Software organisation's extensive field experience building object-oriented systems (referred to by Rational field staff as the Rational Approach) with Objectory's guidance on practices such as use cases, and incorporated extensive content from Jim Rumbaugh's Object Modeling Technology (OMT) approach to modeling, Grady Booch's Booch method, and the newly released UML 0.8. To help make this growing knowledge base more accessible, Philippe Kruchten was tasked with the assembly of an explicit process framework for modern software engineering. This effort employed the HTML-based process delivery mechanism developed by Objectory. The resulting "Rational Unified Process" (RUP) completed a strategic tripod for Rational:
a tailorable process that guided development tools that automated the application of that process services that accelerated adoption of both the process and the tools. This guidance was augmented in subsequent versions with knowledge based on the experience of companies that Rational had acquired. In 1997, a requirements and test discipline were added to the approach, much of the additional material sourced from the Requirements College method developed by Dean Leffingwell et al. at Requisite, Inc., and the SQA Process method developed at SQA Inc., both companies having been acquired by Rational Software. In 1998 Rational Software added two new disciplines:
business modeling, much of this content had already been in the Objectory Process a Configuration and Change Management discipline, sourced through the acquisition of Pure Atria Corporation. These additions lead to an overarching set of principles that were defined by Rational and articulated within RUP as the six best practices for modern software engineering:
Develop iteratively, with risk as the primary iteration driver Manage requirements Employ a component-based architecture Model software visually Continuously verify quality Control changes These best practices were tightly aligned with Rational's product line, and both drove the ongoing development of Rational's products, as well as being used by Rational's field teams to help customers improve the quality and predictability of their software development efforts. Additional techniques including performance testing, UI Design, data engineering were included, and an update to reflect changes in UML 1.1. In 1999, a project management discipline was introduced, as well as techniques to support real-time software development and updates to reflect UML 1.3. Besides, the first book to describe the process, The Unified Software Development Process (ISBN 0-201-57169-2) by Ivar Jacobson, Grady Booch and James Rumbaugh., was published in the same year. Between 2000 and 2003, a number of changes introduced guidance from ongoing Rational field experience with iterative development, in addition to tool support for enacting RUP instances and for customization of the RUP framework. These changes included:
the introduction of concepts and techniques from approaches such as eXtreme Programming (XP), that would later come to be known collectively as agile methods. This included techniques such as pair programming, test-first design, and papers that explained how RUP enabled XP to scale for use on larger projects. a complete overhaul of the testing discipline to better reflect how testing work was conducted in different iterative development contexts. the introduction of supporting guidance - known as "tool mentors" - for enacting the RUP practices in various tools. These essentially provided step-by-step method support to Rational tool users. automating the customization of RUP in a way that would allow customers to select parts from the RUP process framework, customize their selection with their own additions, and still incorporate improvements in subsequent releases from Rational. IBM acquired Rational Software in February 2003. In 2006, IBM created a subset of RUP tailored for the delivery of Agile projects - released as an OpenSource method called OpenUP through the Eclipse web-site.
Rational unified process topics
RUP building blocks RUP is based on a set of building blocks and content elements, describing what is to be produced, the necessary skills required and the step-by-step explanation describing how specific development goals are to be achieved. The main building blocks, or content elements, are the following:
Roles (who) – A role defines a set of related skills, competencies and responsibilities. Work products (what) – A work product represents something resulting from a task, including all the documents and models produced while working through the process. Tasks (how) – A task describes a unit of work assigned to a Role that provides a meaningful result. Within each iteration, the tasks are categorized into nine disciplines:
Six "engineering disciplines" Business modelling Requirements Analysis and design Implementation Test Deployment Three supporting disciplines Configuration and change management Project management Environment
Four project life-cycle phases
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