TRADITIONAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES - Software Design for Six-Sigma: A Roadmap for Excellence - page 41

Rational Unified Process ) generally is used to describe the generic process, including
those elements that are common to most refinements (Unified Process, 2008). The
Unified Process name also is used to avoid potential issues of copyright infringement
because Rational Unified Process and RUP are trademarks of IBM (Unified Process,
2008). Since 2008, various authors unaffiliated with Rational Software have pub-
lished topics and articles using the name Unified Process , whereas authors affiliated
with Rational Software have favored the name Rational Unified Process (Unified
Process, 2008).
The Unified Process is an iterative and incremental development process. The
Elaboration, Construction and Transition phases are divided into a series of time-
boxed iterations. (The Inception phase also may be divided into iterations for a large
project.) Each iteration results in an increment , which is a release of the system
that contains added or improved functionality compared with the previous release.
Although most iterations will include work in most process disciplines (e.g., Require-
ments, Design, Implementation, and Testing) the relative effort and emphasis will
change over the course of the project. The number of Unified Process refinements
and variations is countless. Organizations using the Unified Process invariably incor-
porate their own modifications and extensions. The following is a list of some of the
better known refinements and variations (Unified Process, 2008):

Agile Unified Process (AUP), a lightweight variation developed by Scott W.
Ambler.
Basic Unified Process (BUP), a lightweight variation developed by IBM and a
precursor to OpenUP.
Enterprise Unified Process (EUP), an extension of the Rational Unified Process.
Essential Unified Process (EssUP), a lightweight variation developed by Ivar
Jacobson.
Open Unified Process (OpenUP), the Eclipse Process Framework software de-
velopment process.
Rational Unified Process (RUP), the IBM/Rational Software development pro-
cess.
Oracle Unified Method (OUM), the Oracle development and implementation
process.
Rational Unified Process-System Engineering (RUP-SE), a version of RUP
tailored by Rational Software for System Engineering.

2.3.2.1.1 Advantages

It provides a disciplined approach to assigning tasks and responsibilities within
a development organization.
Unified Process is architecture-centric, and the Unified Process prescribes the
successive refinement of an executable architecture.
Risks are mitigated earlier.