OUM White Paper
OUM White Paper
OUM White Paper
Executive Overview.......................................................................................... 3
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 3
Standards Based ............................................................................................ 3
Supports Both Agility and Discipline ........................................................ 4
Benefits of OUM............................................................................................... 4
Key Features of OUM...................................................................................... 5
Flexible ........................................................................................................... 5
Scalable ........................................................................................................... 5
Pre-defined Views......................................................................................... 5
Implementing an OUM Project ...................................................................... 6
Project Phases for Control .......................................................................... 7
Inception.................................................................................................... 7
Elaboration................................................................................................ 7
Construction ............................................................................................. 7
Transition .................................................................................................. 7
Production................................................................................................. 7
Project Processes for Continuity ................................................................ 8
Business Requirements............................................................................ 8
Requirements Analysis............................................................................. 8
Analysis ...................................................................................................... 8
Design ........................................................................................................ 9
Implementation ........................................................................................ 9
Testing........................................................................................................ 9
Performance Management .................................................................... 10
Technical Architecture........................................................................... 10
Data Acquisition and Conversion........................................................ 11
Documentation....................................................................................... 11
Adoption and Learning ......................................................................... 11
Transition ................................................................................................ 12
Operations and Support........................................................................ 12
Project Activities Represent the Engagement Lifecycle........................ 13
Managing an OUM Project............................................................................ 13
Developing and Maintaining Enterprise Architecture Activities ............. 15
Components of OUM .................................................................................... 16
Hardware and Software Requirements......................................................... 16
Conclusion........................................................................................................ 16
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW
The Oracle® Unified Method (OUM) can help you develop and implement
OUM supports the complete range of
technology-based business solutions with precise development and rapid
Oracle technology projects including:
- Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) deployment. You can tailor OUM to support your specific project situation. With
- Enterprise Integration its ready-made templates, guidelines, and tailored work breakdown structure, OUM
- Custom Software provides the programmatic tools you need to manage the risks associated with your
- Identity Management (IdM) information technology-based projects.
- Database Security
- Governance, Risk, & Compliance (GRC) Oracle Consulting Services has packaged OUM to accelerate your development and
- Performance Tuning technology-based efforts. OUM presents an organized, yet flexible, approach. Its
defined, operational framework helps anticipate critical project needs and
dependencies throughout your software development and implementation project.
With OUM, you can move efficiently through the development lifecycle to quickly
achieve business results.
INTRODUCTION
BENEFITS OF OUM
• More Focused Effort – OUM enables projects to clearly define business
scope and needs to create enterprise business process models. This planning
results in tighter scope control, more accurate business understanding, and a
firm foundation for client acceptance.
• Built-in Flexibility – By combining activities and tasks in different ways,
OUM can be applied to many types of information technology software
development and implementation projects.
• Saves Time – Seasoned information technology practitioners representing
years of experience contributed their knowledge to OUM. OUM allows
project teams to take advantage of this experience by leveraging these leading
practices along with industry standards.
• Higher Quality – OUM subscribes to an iterative approach that
incorporates testing throughout the lifecycle, rather than testing for quality
only at the end of the project.
Flexible
OUM is flexible because it allows your organization to select the strategy,
techniques, and tasks appropriate for your project. OUM provides specific
guidelines for tailoring your project plan to fit your situation - from the most basic
development to changes in the underlying technical architecture. By combining
activities and tasks in different ways, OUM can be applied to many types of
information technology software development and implementation projects.
Scalable
OUM was designed with scalability in mind. From the largest, multi-national,
multi-site, multi-entity projects, through to the smallest, limited size, constrained
scope projects—OUM provides the scalability required by each unique project.
Guidelines aid in determining which tasks to include in the project plan. This
greatly reduces the complexity for the project management team in planning the
work effort required.
Elaboration
The goal of the Elaboration phase is to move development of the solution from the
scoping and high-level requirements done during the Inception phase to
development of detailed requirements models, the partitioning of the solution, the
user interface prototype, and the architectural prototype. The Elaboration phase is
used to verify the development team's understanding of the client's business
requirements and to reduce development risk.
Construction
The Construction phase takes the solution from detailed requirements models,
through development and testing of components, and integration to a system that
is ready for a first release that goes into production, often a limited release and
often called a beta release. An iterative process is used to refine the data and detail
the use cases, as well as develop the physical database and components, until they
meet the business requirements, within the constraints of the project timeboxes and
priorities.
When all of the planned iterations have been completed, the complete system is
tested. The tested system is the end deliverable of the phase.
Transition
The Transition phase takes the completed solution from installation onto the
production system through the acceptance test to launch of the live application,
open and ready for business. The goals of the Transition phase are to gain
acceptance of the new system within the user organization, and, if the new system
replaces and old one, to provide a smooth cut-over to the new application. Minor
upgrades may be developed and released after production starts. Also, planning is
performed for the development of any remaining functionality, in a new increment.
Production
The goal of the Production phase is to provide system support, monitor the system,
to determine, develop and implement required upgrades, as well as measure the
Business Requirements
In the Business Requirements process, the business requirements for the proposed
system or new enhancements are identified, refined, and prioritized by a tightly
integrated team of empowered ambassador users and experienced analysts. The
process often begins from an existing high-level requirements document and a
scope document. However, it is possible to begin from an agreed on scope and
objectives before requirements have been defined.
The Business Requirements process delivers a set of requirements models and a
prioritized list of requirements as a basis for system development. Both the models
and requirements list are dynamic work products that change as the understanding
of the team develops with the system.
The main work products of this process are the business objectives and goals, the
list of functional requirements, and non-functional requirements.
Requirements Analysis
Analysis
In the Analysis process, the captured requirements are analyzed by refining and
structuring them via a conceptual object model, called the Analysis Model. The
Analysis Model provides a more precise understanding of the requirements and
provides details on the internals of the system. The Analysis Model is described
using the language of the developers as opposed to the requirements obtained in
the Business Requirements and Requirements Analysis processes where the
emphasis is on the functionality of the system expressed in the language of the
client. Thus, it contributes to a sound and stable architecture and facilitates an in-
Design
In the Design process, the system is shaped and formed to meet all functional and
non-functional requirements. This form is based on the architecture created and
stabilized during the Analysis process. Thus, the work products produced during
Analysis are an important input into this process.
Design is the focus during the end of Elaboration phase and the beginning of
Construction iterations. Models are created that are used during the
Implementation process. The Design Model can be used to visualize the
implementation of the system.
The main work products of this process are the Design Model which includes an
object model that describes the design realization of the use cases, design classes
that detail the analysis classes outlined in the Analysis Model, the software
architecture description enriched with the new architecture views, and deployment,
and design models.
Implementation
Testing
Performance Management
Technical Architecture
In the Data Acquisition and Conversion process the data that is required to be
converted is explicitly defined, along with its sources. This data may be needed for
system testing, training, and acceptance testing as well as for production. In some
cases, it is beneficial to convert (some) data at earlier stages to provide as realistic as
possible reviews of the components during the development iterations. On the
other hand, this may be difficult, as the actual Database Design for the new system
is not yet stabilized.
The amount of effort involved with conversion greatly depends on the condition of
the data and the knowledge and complexity of the data structure in legacy systems
and existing applications. For large projects, where large existing systems are
replaced, and most all of the data needs to be converted, consider running this as a
separate project in parallel to the development project. In such situations,
thoroughly analyze the existing systems, map them to the new data model, and
build multiple conversion modules of various complexities. The project team
determines an overall Data Conversion Strategy to meet the Data Conversion
Requirements, including both automated and manual methods. The process
includes designing, coding, and testing any conversion modules that are necessary
as well as the conversion itself. The cleaning of legacy data is visibly identified as a
user and client project staff task so that it can be staffed and scheduled. If data
anomalies exist in the current system(s), or there is an unusual number of
exceptions, recommend data clean-up to the project sponsor.
Documentation
Adoption and Learning focuses on the use and acceptance of new applications by
all users and the optimization of organizational performance. Inherent in every
technology change is the opportunity to become a stronger, more cohesive
organization; a more efficient performer; a more agile competitor. The benefits are
Transition
The goal of the Operations and Support process is to monitor and respond to
system problems, upgrade the application to fix errors and performance problems,
evaluate the system in production and plan enhancements for increased
functionality, improved performance, and tighter security.
The development project does not come to an abrupt end when the team installs
the application system into production. In fact, the months following that
milestone can determine the real success or failure of the project. Internal auditors
have not yet produced the system evaluation, and users most likely still have a few
problems to uncover. There are certain to be requirements with lower priorities
that have not been implemented. The “Could have” requirements and any
remaining “Should have” requirements can now be re-prioritized into an
enhancement plan, from which upgrades can be defined.
CONCLUSION
With OUM, Oracle’s full lifecycle method for developing and implementing
technology-based business solutions, you can move efficiently through the
development and implementation lifecycle to quickly achieve business results.
For more information about OUM, contact [email protected].
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