The APS Improvement Method (AIM) was developed by the Continuous Improvement Cohort based on analysis of industry best practices and our collective knowledge of APS. The method is designed to be simple and flexible, allowing us to improve our processes without introducing unnecessary overhead. AIM  builds on our prior work with APQC, the skills we learned there are applied through the lens of AIM creating a powerful tool for Continuous Improvement.

AIM has two primary cycles, the Continuous Improvement Cycle and the PDSA Cycle. The Continuous Improvement Cycle ensures that process improvements are focused on desired outcomes and the background research is conducted prior to making changes. It breaks the improvements into measurable, incremental steps which are accomplished through the PDSA Cycle.