EPIC Phases and Anchor Points
An organization using EPIC simultaneously considers factors from four spheres influencing a system solution:
- stakeholder needs and business processes
- product marketplace
- system architecture and design
- programmatics (budget, schedule) and risk considerations
The four spheres continuously evolve through successive iterations. Each iteration is designed to meet specific objectives and will nominally take one to eight weeks to complete. EPIC iterations are managed by the four RUP phases (Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition) and associated anchor points (LifeCycle Objectives, LifeCycle Architecture, Initial Operational Capability, EOS: Dawn/End Of Service). (Note: RUP uses the term "lifecycle milestones" for the anchor points. They also omit EOS.)
The EPIC phases accommodate the continuous change induced by the COTS marketplace. Each phase has explicit objectives, activities, artifacts and phase exit criteria. Each phase ends with an anchor point that provides an opportunity to review progress, ensure continued stakeholder commitment to the evolving solution, and to decide to proceed, change direction, or terminate the project. The goals of the phases are
Inception Phase Goal: achieve concurrence among affected stakeholders on the life-cycle objectives for the project. The Inception Phase establishes feasibility through the business case that shows that one or more candidate solutions exist.
Elaboration Phase Goal: achieve sufficient stability of the architecture and requirements; to select and acquire components; and to mitigate risks so that a single, high-fidelity solution can be identified with predictable cost and schedule.
Construction Phase Goal: achieve a production-quality release ready for its user community. The selected solution is prepared for fielding.
Transition Phase Goal: transition the solution to its users. The selected solution is fielded to the user community and supported.
The four EPIC phases are repeated for each potential system or subsystem solution. Thus across the life of a large or complex project, many solutions–often overlapping–are created and retired in response to new technology, new components, and new operational needs.