Openup

Introduction to OpenUP (Open Unified Process)
Different projects have different process needs. Typical factors dictate the needs for a more formal or agile process, such as team size and location, architecture complexity, technology novelty, conformance to standards, among others. Nevertheless, there are good software development practices that benefit any project team and help them to be moreeffective. This paper introduces the building blocks of OpenUP – an agile and Unified Process that contains the minimal set of practices that help teams to be more effective in developing software. OpenUP embraces a pragmatic, agile philosophy that focuses on the collaborative nature of software development. It is a tools-agnostic, low-ceremony process that can be used as is or extended to addressa broad variety of project types.

What is OpenUP
OpenUP is a minimally sufficient software development process – meaning that only fundamental content is included. Thus, it does not provide guidance on many topics that projects may deal with, such as large team sizes, compliance, contractual situations, safety or mission critical applications, technology-specific guidance, etc. However, OpenUPis complete in the sense it can be manifested as an entire process to build a system. For addressing needs that are not covered in its content, OpenUP is extensible to be used as foundation on which process content can be added or tailored as needed. OpenUP is an agile process. Though OpenUP is lightweight, there is much more to agility than simply being light. Most recognized agile practices areintended to get a team communicating with one another providing a shared understanding of the project. Agile methods have drawn our attention back to the importance of coordinating understanding, benefiting stakeholders over unproductive deliverables and formality. OpenUP has the essential characteristics of a lean Unified Process that applies iterative and incremental approaches within a provenstructured lifecycle. OpenUP is based on use cases and scenarios, risk management, and an architecture-centric approach to drive development.

OpenUP principles
OpenUP is driven by the four core principles listed below. Principles capture the general intentions behind a process and create the foundation for interpreting roles and work products, and for performing tasks:

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Collaborate to align interests and share understanding. This principle promotes practices that foster a healthy team environment, enable collaboration and develop a shared understanding of the project. Balance competing priorities to maximize stakeholder value. This principle promotes practices that allow project participants and stakeholders to develop a solution that maximizes stakeholderbenefits, and is compliant with constraints placed on the project. Focus on the architecture early to minimize risks and organize development. This principle promotes practices that allow the team to focus on architecture to minimize risks and organize development. Evolve to continuously obtain feedback and improve. This principle promotes practices that allow the team to get early and continuousfeedback from stakeholders, and demonstrate incremental value to them.

Each OpenUP principle supports a statement in the Agile Manifesto, as seen in Table 1. OpenUP principle Collaborate to align interests and share understanding Balance competing priorities to maximize stakeholder value Focus on the architecture early to minimize risks and organize development Evolve to continuously obtainfeedback and improve Agile Manifesto statement Individuals and interactions over process and tools Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Working software over comprehensive documentation Responding to change over following a plan

Table 1 – Mapping between OpenUP principles and Agile Manifesto

How OpenUP is organized
OpenUP is organized in 2 different, correlated dimensions: method...