MSc Dissertation: "Customizing Rational Unified Process in a Systems Integration Scenario: A Case Study", by Erida Lice

Abstract

Information Technology continues to represent large business expenditures as does the setting up a Quality Management framework. The author of this dissertation works as project manager at a company investing in enhancing both its information systems and quality with the ultimate goal of becoming quality-certified. The context is a systems integration project initiated for the purpose of congregating existing systems in order to leverage greater benefits from the company’s computer systems.

The author/project manager has chosen Rational Unified Process (RUP) as the software development process because of its strong focus on promoting the fulfillment of the needs of end-users, while all along being delivered within an estimated schedule and budget. Despite the undisputed interest in RUP, there is a gap in the total amount of empirical studies on the adoption and introduction of RUP in the context of specific project types. Moreover, there is little research in investigating and adopting RUP in system integration scenarios.

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the right process-level of RUP to be applied to the systems integration project at the company, and furthermore evaluate the suitability of RUP for this project’s context. Evaluation results present advantages and disadvantages of using RUP in projects of the type presented in this dissertation while areas of future work are identified and presented to interested readers.

For the full version of the thesis contact Erida Lice at eridalice@gmail.com.