The Rational Unified Process® is a Software Engineering Process that provides a disciplined approach to assigning tasks and responsibilities within a development organization. Its goal is to ensure the production of high-quality software that meets the needs of its end-users, within a predictable schedule and budget. RUP employs phased project management, from “Inception” through “Elaboration” and “Construction” on to “Transition”, in conjunction with the iterative development process across a task-managed timeline.

The Rational Unified Process enhances team productivity, by providing every team member with easy access to a common information base with guidelines, templates, and tools for all critical development activities. This ensures that all team members use best practices, share a common language, process, and view of how to develop software – leading to efficiencies in the development process and a high-quality end product.

Stage-Gate is the creation and management of the innovation process from the voice of the customer to the end of life of a product. Stage-Gate implements a standard decision making and approval process across the enterprise and multiple design entities. To successfully take a new product from concept to market, Stage-Gate® divides this end-to-end process into a series of activities (stages) and decision points (gates). Stages are where all project activities occur up to a pre-defined milestone, including the management of associated risks. Stage activities are run in parallel, where possible, to minimize the time to the next gate. Gates are decision points where management will either approve the next stage or cancel the project based on pre-defined performance evaluation criteria. Projects that employ Stage-Gate typically achieve an accelerated time-to-market, utilize resources efficiently, make key decisions in a timely manner, and significantly increase the likelihood of success.