Unified process

As a result, it is often impossible to say whether a refinement of the process was derived from UP or from RUP, and so the names tend to be used interchangeably.

Although most iterations will include work in most of the process disciplines (e.g. requirements, design, implementation, testing) the relative effort and emphasis will change over the course of the project.

The unified process insists that architecture sits at the heart of the project team's efforts to shape the system.

One of the most important deliverables of the process is the executable architecture baseline which is created during the elaboration phase.

This partial implementation of the system serves to validate the architecture and act as a foundation for remaining development.

The deliverables of each iteration, especially in the elaboration phase, must be selected in order to ensure that the greatest risks are addressed first.

If the inception phase is long then it may be an indication of excessive up-front specification, which is contrary to the spirit of the unified process.

Develop an approximate vision of the system, make the business case, define the scope, and produce a rough cost estimate and project schedule.

During the elaboration phase, the project team is expected to capture a healthy majority of the system requirements.

However, the primary goals of Elaboration are to address known risk factors and to establish and validate the system architecture.

Agile refinements streamline RUP by simplifying workflows and reducing the number of expected artifacts.

Organizations utilizing the unified process invariably incorporate their own modifications and extensions.