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Let's talk a little bit more about phases. The rational unified
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process phases are fundamental aspects of this process and which just touched
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on them so we just give a quick overview. And I want to
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look at these phases in a little more detail. So, what I'm
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going to do is, for each phase, I'm going to discuss what it is,
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what it produces and how is the result of the phase suppose
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to be,. Assessed, and what are the consequences of this assessment. So
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let's start with the first phase, the inception phase. The first phase
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goes from the idea of the product to the
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vision of the end product. What this involves is basically
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to delimiting the project scope. And making the business case
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for the product presented. Why is it worth doing? What
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are the success criteria? What are the main risks? What
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resources will be needed? And so on, specifically these phases
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answer three main questions. The first one is, what are
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the major users or actors, to use the UML terminology.
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And what will the system do for them? To
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answer this, these phases produce a simplified use-case model where
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only a few use-cases are represented and described. So this
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is a sort of initial use-case model. The second question
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is about the architecture, what could be an architecture
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for the system? So in this phase we will normally
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also develop a tentative architecture. So an initial architecture that
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describes the most crucial subsystems. Finally this phase also answers
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the question, what is the plan and how much
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will it cost? To answer this question. This phase will
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identify the main risks for the project and also produce
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a rough plan with estimates for resources, initial planning for
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the phases and dates and milestones. Specifically, the inception phase
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generates several deliverables. It is very important that you pay
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attention so that you understand what this deliberate approach are.
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Starting from the first one, which is the vision document.
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And this is a document that provides a general
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vision of the core projects requirements, key features and main
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constraints. Together with this, the inception phase also produces an
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initial use case model, as I just mentioned. So this
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is a use case model that includes an initial set
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of use cases, and then will be later refined. Two
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additional variables are the initial project glossary, which describes the
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main terms, using the project and their meaning, and the
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initial business case which includes business context. And
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success criteria. Yet another deliverable for the inception phase
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is the initial project plan, which shows the
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phases, iterations, roles of the participants, schedule and initial
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estimates. In addition, the inception phase also produces
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a risk assessment document, which describes the main risks
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and counters measures for this risk. Finally, and this
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is an optional deliverable, in the sense that it,
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it might or might not be produced, depending on the specific
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project. As part of the inception phase we might also generate
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1 or more prototypes. For example, we might develop prototypes to
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address some specific risks that we have identified or to show some
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specific aspect of the system of which we are unsure to
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the stakeholders. So basically all the typical users of prototypes that
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we discussed before. So when we're done with the inception phase
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we hit the first milestone for the cycle we are currently performing.
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And so there are some evaluation criteria that will tell
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us whether we can consider the inception phase concluded or not.
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And the first of this criteria is stakeholder concurrence, which
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means that all the stakeholders must agree on the scope, definition,
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and cost schedule estimates for the projects. The second criteria
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needs requirements understanding, out of the initial primary use cases that
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we have identified so far, the right one for our system.
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And other criteria is the credibility of the cost schedule estimates,
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the priorities, defined the risks identifies and the countermeasures for
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those risks, and the development process that we're following. Finally, in
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the case we produce prototypes as part of the inceptional
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phase, this will also be evaluated and assessed to judge the
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overall outcome of the phase. So what happens if the
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project fails to pass this milestone? So if the outcome of
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the inception phase is considered to be inadequate with respect
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to one or more of these criteria. Well at this point,
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since we're kind of an initial phase of the cycle
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the project may be cancelled or considerably re-thought. So to
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summarize all of these in one sentence the Inception Phase
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is the phase in which we produce. Then you shall vision,
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used case model, project plan, risk assessment and possibly, prototypes
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for the project. And we have to make sure, that
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all of this deliverables satisfy a set of criteria, so
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that we can continue on the project. And otherwise, we'll either
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cancel the project or rethink its scope, or other aspects of it.
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