Summa and the RUP® Process Framework

Unlike many consulting firms that invent new software development processes in order to seem innovative, Summa bases our project implementation process on the widely used, tested and accepted Rational Unified Process (RUP). The four phases guide participants through important analysis, testing and deployment, and rely on an iterative approach that minimizes risk and exposure at each phase. Summa has employed the RUP’s comprehensive yet adaptable design to accommodate software projects that range from enterprise web application, to integration and modernization projects. Summa ensures the RUP level of ceremony and resulting documentation is “right sized” to fit the needs client organization and culture. We work with its clients as a strategic partner in each phase of RUP: Inception, Elaboration, Construction and Transition.

• Appropriate Activities Depend Upon Your Stage of Decision-Making

  Not all companies and projects need the same solution. Typically, needs correlate to how far you are in your decision-making path, and – if the decisions have been made – how far you’ve progressed along the software development path. We craft offerings to appropriately meet your needs. Many Assessments are appropriate as Inception Phase steps, while others are the best choice in the latter stages of a project.

• Step by Step: A Recipe for Success

  We believe the key to successfully completing a project is properly launching it in the first place. Along with our experience, Summa applies specialized processes and templates during the Inception Phase of a project to rapidly frame the problem; capture and build consensus about business objectives; identify key stakeholders and user requirements, and existing IT landscape issues; and record costs and benefits, risks and dependencies. Typically, this up-front roadmap-setting work is conducted through one of Summa’s Business Assessment offerings.

  The next phase, Elaboration, focuses on mitigating risk through planning, architecture/design activities and building a proof-of-concept implementation of a slice of the application. The proof-of-concept quickly demonstrates results to IT management and business stakeholders to allow adjustments to requirements, validates the reference architecture and product functionality, and establishes a framework and design patterns that other development team members can use to build out functionality moving into the next phase. Plus, it provides enough functionality to begin scalability and deployment testing for operational aspects of the design and environment, and to initiate a source control management plan.

  Once a project gets a green light, Construction begins. Using Agile Application Development principles, and following the plan and requirements carefully laid out in the previous phase, the software development project team builds the specified functionality. Summa’s consultants employ the iterative development approach to whatever tasks are needed: data access and migration, designing and testing interfaces, addressing security and page display needs, initial documentation, and building and deploying validation procedures.

  Finally, the concluding Transition phase focuses on end-user system tests, stress testing, deployment and putting the system into production. Typically, this involves full, functional-level system testing and integration testing; final performance and scalability testing of products and developed components; building and documenting the production environment; conducting stress, failure mode and load balancing testing; and performing user acceptance testing, QA and any final data migration tasks. Equally important, these critical checkpoints for transferring knowledge occur at this point to ensure that our customer’s team is ready to take the helm at project completion.