Lecture 4

Process and Method:

An Introduction to the
Rational Unified Process
 Traditional Structured Analysis
 Described by W. W. Royce, 1970, IEEE WESCON, Managing the
development of large software systems.
 Decomposition in terms of Function and Data
 Modularity available only at the file level

– cf. C language's static keyword (=="file scope")

 Data was not encapsulated:

– Global Scope
– File Scope
– Function Scope (automatic, local)
 Waterfall Method of Analysis and Design
 Waterfall Method
 Requirements Analysis
– Analysis Specification
• Design Specification
– Coding from Design Specification
» Unit Testing
» System Testing
» UAT Testing
» Ship It (????)
 Measuring rod is in the form of formal
documents (specifications).
 Waterfall Process Assumptions
 Requirements are known up front before design
 Requirements rarely change
 Users know what they want, and rarely need visualization
 Design can be conducted in a purely abstract space, or trial
rarely leads to error
 The technology will all fit nicely into place when the time
comes (the apocalypse)
 The system is not so complex. (Drawings are for wimps)
 Structured Analysis Problems
 Reuse is complicated because Data is strewn throughout
many different functions
– Reuse is usually defined as code reuse and is
implemented through cutting and pasting of the same
code in multiple places. What happens when the logic
changes?
• coding changes need to be made in several different
places
• changing the function often changes the API which
breaks other functions dependent upon that API
• data type changes need to be made each time they are
used throughout the application
 Waterfall Process Limitations
 Big Bang Delivery Theory
 The proof of the concept is relegated to the very end of a long singular
cycle. Before final integration, only documents have been produced.
 Late deployment hides many lurking risks:

– technological (well, I thought they would work together...)

– conceptual (well, I thought that's what they wanted...)
– personnel (took so long, half the team left)
– User doesn't get to see anything real until the very end, and they
always hate it.
– System Testing doesn't get involved until later in the process.
 The Rational Unified Process
 RUP is a method of managing OO Software Development
 It can be viewed as a Software Development Framework
which is extensible and features:
– Iterative Development
– Requirements Management
– Component-Based Architectural Vision
– Visual Modeling of Systems
– Quality Management
– Change Control Management
 RUP Features
 Online Repository of Process Information
and Description in HTML format
 Templates for all major artifacts, including:
– RequisitePro templates (requirements tracking)
– Word Templates for Use Cases
– Project Templates for Project Management
 Process Manuals describing key processes
The Phases
 An Iterative Development Process...
 Recognizes the reality of changing requirements
– Caspers Jones’s research on 8000 projects
• 40% of final requirements arrived after the analysis phase,
after development had already begun
 Promotes early risk mitigation, by breaking down the system into
mini-projects and focusing on the riskier elements first
 Allows you to “plan a little, design a little, and code a little”
 Encourages all participants, including testers, integrators, and
technical writers to be involved earlier on
 Allows the process itself to modulate with each iteration, allowing you
to correct errors sooner and put into practice lessons learned in the
prior iteration
 Focuses on component architectures, not final big bang deployments
 An Incremental Development Process...
 Allows for software to evolve, not be produced in one huge effort
 Allows software to improve, by giving enough time to the
evolutionary process itself
 Forces attention on stability, for only a stable foundation can
support multiple additions
 Allows the system (a small subset of it) to actually run much
sooner than with other processes
 Allows interim progress to continue through the stubbing of
functionality
 Allows for the management of risk, by exposing problems earlier
on in the development process
 Goals and Features of Each Iteration
 The primary goal of each iteration is to slowly chip away
at the risk facing the project, namely:
– performance risks
– integration risks (different vendors, tools, etc.)
– conceptual risks (ferret out analysis and design flaws)
 Perform a “miniwaterfall” project that ends with a delivery
of something tangible in code, available for scrutiny by the
interested parties, which produces validation or correctives
 Each iteration is risk-driven
 The result of a single iteration is an increment--an
incremental improvement of the system, yielding an
evolutionary approach
 Risk Management
 Identification of the risks
 Iterative/Incremental Development
 The prototype or pilot project
– Booch’s “Tiger Team”
 Early testing and deployment as opposed to
late testing in traditional methods
 The Development Phases
 Inception Phase
 Elaboration Phase
 Construction Phase
 Transition Phase
 Inception Phase
 Overriding goal is obtaining buy-in from all interested
parties
 Initial requirements capture
 Cost Benefit Analysis
 Initial Risk Analysis
 Project scope definition
 Developing a Prototype
 Development of a disposable prototype
 10% - 20% complete
 Elaboration Phase
 Common processes undertaken in this phase include the
creation of use case diagram, class diagrams &
architectural diagrams.
 Common language between users & Software Developers.
 The data is handed over to Development Team.
 Construction Phase
 This is the largest phase in the project.
 Constructing the actual software based on elaboration
phase.
 Using Compilers, Debuggers, GUI designers
 Using IDEs( Integrated Development Environment)
 Transition Phase

 The transition phase consists of the transfer of the system

to the user community
 It includes manufacturing, shipping, installation, training,
technical support and maintenance
 Development team begins to shrink
 Control is moved to maintenance team
 Alpha, Beta, and final releases
 Software updates
 Integration with existing systems (legacy, existing
versions, etc.)
 Use Case Analysis
 What is a Use Case?
– A sequence of actions a system performs that yields a
valuable result for a particular actor.
 What is an Actor?
– A user or outside system that interacts with the system
being designed in order to obtain some value from that
interaction
 Use Cases describe scenarios that describe the interaction
between users of the system and the system itself.
 Use Cases describe WHAT the system will do, but never
HOW it will be done.
 What’s in a Use Case?
 Define the start state and any preconditions that accompany it
 Define when the Use Case starts
 Define the order of activity in the Main Flow of Events
 Define any Alternative Flows of Events
 Define any Exceptional Flows of Events
 Define any Post Conditions and the end state
 Mention any design issues as an appendix
 Accompanying diagrams: State, Activity, Sequence Diagrams
 View of Participating Objects (relevant Analysis Model Classes)
 Logical View: A View of the Actors involved with this Use Case, and
any Use Cases used or extended by this Use Case
 Use Cases Describe Function not Form
 Use Cases describe WHAT the system will do, but never HOW it will be done.
 Use Cases are Analysis Products, not Design Products.
 Use Cases Describe Function not Form
 Use Cases describe WHAT the system
should do, but never HOW it will be done
 Use cases are Analysis products, not design
products
 Benefits of Use Cases
 Use cases are the primary vehicle for requirements capture in RUP
 Use cases are described using the language of the customer
(language of the domain which is defined in the glossary)
 Use cases provide a contractual delivery process (RUP is Use Case
Driven)
 Use cases provide an easily-understood communication
mechanism
 When requirements are traced, they make it difficult for
requirements to fall through the cracks
 Use cases provide a concise summary of what the system should
do at an abstract (low modification cost) level.
 Difficulties with Use Cases
 As functional decompositions, it is often difficult to make
the transition from functional description to object
description to class design
 Reuse at the class level can be hindered by each developer
“taking a Use Case and running with it”. Since UCs do not
talk about classes, developers often wind up in a vacuum
during object analysis, and can often wind up doing things
their own way, making reuse difficult
 Use Cases make stating non-functional requirements
difficult (where do you say that X must execute at Y/sec?)
 Testing functionality is straightforward, but unit testing the
particular implementations and non-functional
requirements is not obvious
 Use Case Model Survey
 The Use Case Model Survey is to illustrate, in
graphical form, the universe of Use Cases that the
system is contracted to deliver.
 Each Use Case in the system appears in the
Survey with a short description of its main
function.
– Participants:
• Domain Expert
• Architect
• Analyst/Designer (Use Case author)
• Testing Engineer
Sample Use Case Model Survey
 Analysis Model
 In Analysis, we analyze and refine the requirements described in the
Use Cases in order to achieve a more precise view of the requirements,
without being overwhelmed with the details
 Again, the Analysis Model is still focusing on WHAT we’re going to
do, not HOW we’re going to do it (Design Model). But what we’re
going to do is drawn from the point of view of the developer, not from
the point of view of the customer
 Whereas Use Cases are described in the language of the customer, the
Analysis Model is described in the language of the developer:
– Boundary Classes
– Entity Classes
– Control Classes
 Why spend time on the Analysis Model, why
not just “face the cliff”?
 By performing analysis, designers can inexpensively come to a better
understanding of the requirements of the system
 By providing such an abstract overview, newcomers can understand
the overall architecture of the system efficiently, from a ‘bird’s eye
view’, without having to get bogged down with implementation
details.
 The Analysis Model is a simple abstraction of what the system is
going to do from the point of view of the developers. By “speaking
the developer’s language”, comprehension is improved and by
abstracting, simplicity is achieved
 Nevertheless, the cost of maintaining the AM through construction is
weighed against the value of having it all along.
 Boundary Classes
 Boundary classes are used in the Analysis Model to model interactions
between the system and its actors (users or external systems)
 Boundary classes are often implemented in some GUI format (dialogs,
widgets, beans, etc.)
 Boundary classes can often be abstractions of external APIs (in the
case of an external system actor)
 Every boundary class must be associated with at least one actor:
 Entity Classes
 Entity classes are used within the Analysis
Model to model persistent information
 Often, entity classes are created from objects
within the business object model or domain
model
 Control Classes
 The Great Et Cetera
 Control classes model abstractions that coordinate, sequence, transact,
and otherwise control other objects
 In Smalltalk MVC mechanism, these are controllers
 Control classes are often encapsulated interactions between other
objects, as they handle and coordinate actions and control flows.