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Ventera's RUP Implementation Scheme
Ventera uses the industry standard Rational Unified Process (RUP) to deliver projects. As reflected in the graphic below, RUP is an iterative approach to application development. Development proceeds through each project phase only once, performing potentially multiple iterations of each process discipline in each phase.
The following paragraphs describe Ventera’s implementation of each RUP phase.
Inception
Ventera gains an understanding of the system requirements and relevant business processes, identifies product evaluation criteria, and formulates design standards. Ventera uses the high-level business and technical requirements to define the project’s scope and functionality.
Elaboration
Ventera defines the foundation upon which the complete system will be built by developing detailed use cases, sequence diagrams, and the class/data model, and builds initial system components for the defined subset of functionality included in the Elaboration iterations. During the Elaboration phase Ventera completes multiple design and development iterations that focus on designing and building the baseline system architecture.
Construction
Ventera designs, builds, and tests system components consistent with planned iterations. Iterations begin with high-risk core components and conclude with low risk non-core components. Ventera integrates system components, building one on another. This results in an increasingly complete system which we subject to increasing levels of testing.
Transition
Ventera focuses on formal system acceptance and system deployment. Ventera makes the application available to the user community, provides ongoing production support as required, and transitions the production system to the client.
Benefits of Ventera’s Implementation of the RUP Methodology
- Risk Mitigation: RUP’s iterative approach to development and integration allows Ventera to mitigate project risks early, because we integrate and test system elements progressively, rather than at the end of the project.
- Accommodating Changes: In any development project, it is inevitable that users will change their minds in some degree along the way. The reason is that the context of the system changes as the users learn more about the technology and as they review interim products. Ventera encourages a controlled level of in-scope requirements change; we know that this comes from active user involvement in the project, and that user involvement is one of the keys to project success. RUP’s iterative lifecycle approach accommodates changes of this nature.
- Higher Quality: RUP’s iterative approach results in a more robust, higher quality product because errors are corrected over several iterations. As we test each new iteration, Ventera’s technical staff discover system defects and performance bottlenecks. By discovering them early we can reduce and repair them early, as opposed to being discovered upon delivery of the final product.
- Increased Reusability: RUP’s iterative lifecycle facilitates code reuse. Our developers identify common components as they are partially designed or implemented, compared to having to identify all commonality up front. As a regular part of the design reviews we conduct, our software architects identify previously unsuspected reusable components. We then further develop and mature this common code in subsequent iterations.