AWERProcedia Information Technology & Computer Science 1 (2012) 585-589 2 nd World Conference on Information Technology (WCIT-2011) Empirical evaluation of RUP and XP process models M. Rizwan Jameel Qureshi a * a Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,King Abdul Aziz University,Jeddah P.O.BOX 80221, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abstract Rational Unified Process (RUP) is one of the most widely practiced classical models whereas Extreme Programming (XP) is one of the most widely implemented agile models. From a simple web page to complex multi-tier corporate software, a suitable process model is the essential requirement to ensure the reliability and success of the product. Agile process models are introduced to minimize the limitations of classical process models. A comparison of Rational Unified Process (RUP) and Extreme Programming (XP) process models is provided with the help of two case studies using RUP and XP process models. XP process model is commonly used to develop small software projects while RUP is commonly used for large software projects. There is no adequate case study available for implementation of RUP. The objective of this paper is two folds. First is to provide an empirical evidence for tailoring of RUP on a project and second is to compare it with XP to find out major practices that are keys for the success of both models. Keywords: Traditional methodologies; Agile methodologies; Case Study; Practices; Refactoring Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Hafize Keser. ©ϮϬϭ2 Academic World Education & Research Center. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Process model is a framework having standard procedures used in an organization to analyze, design and develop high quality software (SW) [1]. The goal of process models is to establish a relationship between quality of process model and quality of software [2]. Quality of software means it must function according to customer requirements. It must possess all quality parameters defined by McCall in 1977 [3]. Most of the offered tools help to develop information systems by meeting the requirements of process models such as structured and object oriented [4,5]. Many classical process models, like Waterfall, Rapid Application Development (RAD), and Rational Unified Process (RUP) are proposed in the history of software development [3,6]. Although these models contain good features and strengths but still there are improvement possibilities in these models. Agile * ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: M. Rizwan Jameel, Qureshi, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,King Abdul Aziz University,Jeddah P.O.BOX 80221, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. E-mail address: anriz@hotmail.com / Tel.: +0-966-536474921