Transition Phase

In the transition phase, the product has moved from the development organization to the end user. The activities of this phase include training of the end users and maintainers and beta testing of the system to validate it against the end users' expectations. The product is also checked against the quality level set in the Inception phase. If it does not meet this level, or the standards of the end users, the entire cycle in this phase begins again.

Following is the engineering discipline followed in this phase of the project lifecycle:

• Deployment Discipline

  The purpose of deployment is to successfully produce product releases, and deliver the software to its end users.

  It covers a wide range of activities including:

  • Producing external releases of the software.
  • Packaging the software.
  • Distributing the software.
  • Installing the software.
  • Providing help and assistance to users.

Although deployment activities are mostly centered around the transition phase, many of the activities need to be included in earlier phases to prepare for deployment at the end of the construction phase. The Deployment and Environment workflows of the Rational Unified Process contain less detail than other workflows.

If all objectives are met, the Product Release Milestone is reached and the Development/Project cycle ends.