The Rational Unified Process is a software development process covering the entire software development lifecycle.
It is a process product that brings a wealth of knowledge, always up-to-date, to the developer's workstation, in the form of an "e-coach," or electronic coach.
It embeds guidance on many modern techniques and approaches: object technology and component-based development, modeling and UML, architecture, iterative development, and so on.
It is not a frozen product; rather, it is alive , constantly maintained , and continuously evolving.
It is based on a solid process architecture, and that allows a development organization to configure and tailor it to suit its needs.
It supports our six best practices for software development:
Develop software iteratively.
Manage requirements.
Use component-based architectures.
Visually model software.
Continuously verify software quality.
Control changes to software.
It is supported by an extensive palette of tools developed by Rational Software.