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Define a Flexible Process With Rational Unified Process
RUP provides a deeper level of formality and definition than many agile methods.
by Brian Noyes

At first glance, the Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a bit confusing—what is it? A process? A product? A tool suite? Could it be two of those three, but the third is there to help implement the other two, as I will describe shortly? The answer: RUP is both a product and a process framework. Another common first impression of RUP is that it is a heavyweight process with too much emphasis on phases, documentation, and management to be deemed lightweight. Rational does its best to fight this impression through comparisons with XP, emphasizing that the process is scalable and customizable and that you don't need to use all parts in every situation. Rational also puts a heavy emphasis on using tools to automate the process so you can have more formal process activities and artifacts but still move quickly.

RUP is easy to approach, navigate, and employ, and it stores process information, guidance, samples, and templates. It contains a Web-enabled searchable knowledge base, dubbed "Tool Mentors" for Rational's tool suite, and many model and document templates to help speed your process implementation. If you want to maximize your RUP use, you should buy the actual RUP product as well as some tools to help you employ the process (though these tools don't necessarily need to be Rational products).

One first point of confusion that often surfaces is RUP's functionality as both a product and a process framework. The process framework is a well-defined, documented set of definitions, principles, and practices you can employ it either out-of-the-box or customized to suit your needs. You can use the RUP process without buying a single Rational product, but its products are positioned as key enablers to push RUP to its limits.

The RUP process is configurable and focuses on providing a disciplined approach to managing tasks and responsibilities. You can use it to produce products in a repeatable and efficient manner. The process is described through a set of four phases and a set of accompanying workflows that support these phases; eventually, you'll produce the artifacts needed at the completion of each phase of the development lifecycle using this process. The RUP process is also model-centric. Many of the process's artifacts are considered to be represented best in the form of models, primarily Unified Modeling Language (UML).