Mastering the Unified Process Transition Phase

Transition Phase

The transition phase is entered when a baseline is mature. A usable subset of the system has been built with acceptable quality levels and user documentation. It can be deployed to the user community.

• For some projects, the transition phase marks the starting point for another version of the software system.
• For other projects, the transition phase signifies the complete delivery of the software system to a third party responsible for operation, maintenance, and enhancement.

Objectives of the Transition Phase

• Achieve user independence (users can support themselves).
• Ensure the deployment baseline is complete and consistent with the criteria in the project agreement.
• Ensure the final baseline can be built as rapidly and cost-effectively as possible.

Activities of the Transition Phase

• Synchronization and integration of concurrent development increments into one consistent deployment baseline.
• Commercial packaging and production.
• Sales rollout kit development.
• Field personnel training.
• Testing of the deployment baseline against acceptance criteria.

Phase vs. Iteration

• Each of the four phases (inception, elaboration, construction, transition) consists of one or more iterations.
• An iteration represents a set of activities for which there is a milestone (a well-defined intermediate event).
• The scope and results of the iteration are captured via work products, known as artifacts in the Unified Process (UP).
• A phase creates a formal, stakeholder-approved version of artifacts and leads to a major milestone.

Phase-to-Phase Transition

Triggered by a significant business decision, not by the completion of a software development activity.

Iteration-to-Iteration Transition

An iteration creates an informal, internally controlled version of artifacts and leads to a minor milestone. This is triggered by a specific software development activity.

Artifacts in the Unified Process

An artifact is a work product in a uniform representation format (e.g., natural language, UML, Java, binary code). An artifact set is a collection of artifacts developed and reviewed as a single entity. The Unified Process distinguishes five artifact sets:

• Management set
• Requirements set
• Design set
• Implementation set
• Deployment set

Management Set

• Goal: Capture plans, processes, objectives, and acceptance criteria.
• Notation: Ad hoc text, graphics, textual use cases.

Requirements Set

• Goal: Capture the problem in the language of the problem domain.
• Notation: Structured text, UML models.

Design Set

• Goal: Capture the engineering blueprints.
• Notation: Structured text, UML models.

Implementation Set

• Goal: Capture the building blocks of the solution domain in a human-readable format.
• Notation: Programming language.

Deployment Set

• Goal: Capture the solution in a machine-readable format.
• Notation: Machine language.

Each artifact set is the predominant focus in one stage of the Unified Process.