Review By: Alan Madick
07/25/2005Long a defacto standard for application development, the Rational Unified Process (RUP) describes four phases of application development. From the inception and elaboration phase through to the construction and transition phases, the RUP is a logical process meant to ensure that all application development efforts result in a successful final milestone--the product release.

"The Enterprise Unified Process" is easy to read and is logically structured. Hump diagrams present a clear picture of the levels of activity within each discipline and throughout each phase. An essential "activities" section is used to provide detailed information on the most important aspects of the phase. And, case studies are effective in showing real-world examples of the phases and disciplines within.

The book makes good use of diagrams, especially when describing the workflows. The authors provide many real life tips, allowing the reader to benefit from these experiences. References to relevant websites providing more background and information on the subject add to the overall value of this book.

The Enterprise Unified Process extends the traditional RUP, describing the equally-important but often less-understood and less-appreciated phases of operations, support, and product retirement, as well as addressing some of the gaps inherent to traditional RUP.

Whether you're someone who has always worked on the development side of the fence, or someone who has toiled in a support or operations center, this book provides an interesting look at the new workflows and essential activities of the production and retirement phases. The authors nicely tie this information together with the more established phases of the RUP.

Thus, the book presents the world through a wide-angled lens. We learn more about enterprise architecture, portfolio and people management, etc. Unlike traditional RUP disciplines, which describe the relationship to a particular application, these disciplines describe the relationship to the enterprise as a whole.

Of particular interest to QA and software testing professionals is the section on software process improvement, another discipline that must be managed at the enterprise level. It is common for many software processes to be used within one company, because many factors, such as the nature of the software project, budget, and time to market, dictate the process best in line with the business objective.

Numerous tips are provided throughout the book, including "anti-patterns" that describe common mistakes made within each discipline or phase. These two features elevate the status of this book from an academic textbook to a valuable reference guide that will be used again and again.

"The Enterprise Unified Process" provides an explanation of the essential activities and workflows that comprise the production and retirement phases, two phases that begin once the Product Release is met. These new phases, while not within the traditional application development domain, are equally important and critical to the overall success of the application. This book takes a more holistic view of the application lifecycle, even providing additional information on disciplines.