SDLC – Unified Process

The Unified Process was developed by Ivar Jacobson, Grady Booch, and James Rumbaugh. It follows incremental and iterative processes and is extensively used for Object-Oriented Software Development. The incremental and iterative means that the requirements are identified upfront. Over several iterative developments, the software is deployed at the client-side, and the client feedback is obtained. The unified process also features the evolutionary model as the features continue to be discovered as the development proceeds.

Additional Information: The unified process is tailored by the Rational corporation and is called a Rational Unified Process (RUP), and IBM acquired the Rational corporation in 2003.

The unified process occurs over four phases which include, Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition. Each of these phases consists of several iterations.

Unified Process Phases

  • Inception Phase: Communication with the customer is made, and all the features are identified and plan for the development process.
  • Elaboration Phase: Identified features are modeled. 
  • Construction Phase: The is constructed and developed.
  • Transition Phase: The software is deployed on the client-side.
Unified Process - SDLC

The output of each Phase

  • Inception Phase: The initial use case model includes the features, the business case, risk list, project plan, prototype, etc.
  • Elaboration Phase: Analysis model. Preliminary model, manual use case model, etc.
  • Construction Phase: The software is developed, the test plan made, the user manual, and the installation manual are written.
  • Transition Phase: Software increment, the beta test report, and the user feedback.

Rational Unified Process (RUP) Graphical Visualization

With the graphical visuals, we can see a more realistic picture of the rational unified process. The horizontal axis shows the lifecycle aspect, and the vertical axis shows the core process flow. 

Structure of RUP process

From the graphical representation, we can see that the four phases are marked, and each occurs over several iterations. The requirements and the planning peak during the inception phase. Even they continue during the elaboration and construction phase. The analysis and design lifecycle is peak during the elaboration and construction phases. The implementation aspect is peaked during the construction phase. However, the testing aspect is present throughout the phases.

Reference

  1. Fundamentals of Software Engineering Book & NPTEL Video Lectures by Rajib Mall.

 1,946 total views,  1 views today

Scroll to Top
Scroll to Top