The Enterprise Unified Process: Extending the Rational Unified Process for the *Fortune* 1000

by Scott W. Ambler

The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a prescriptive, well-defined, system development process that is often used to develop systems based on object and/or component technologies. It is built on sound software engineering principles such as taking an iterative, requirements-driven, architecture-centric approach to software development. It provides several mechanisms, such as relatively short-term iterations with well-defined goals and go/no-go decision points at the end of each phase, that offer management visibility into the development process. IBM Rational, the division of IBM that was formerly Rational Corporation, has made, and continues to make, a significant investment in RUP, including an HTML-based description of RUP that your organization can tailor to meet its exact needs.