IBM Rational Unified Process

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.

Rational Software originally developed the rational unified process 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 IBM 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. This journey began with the creation of the Rational Objectory Process (ROP) in 1996, when Rational acquired the Objectory Process that had been written by Ivar Jacobson and company. This was renamed Rational Unified Process (RUP) in subsequent releases, in part to align the name with that of the Unified Modeling Language.

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:

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