Oracle AIM and ABF Methodology

Traditional AIM methodology is known as Ask and Do as it is requirements driven and

solution is derived based on the requirements during the project. It is more or less based on the
traditional Waterfall Approach, prescribes a way to do the fit gap analysis and assists you to
define customizations where standard Oracle functionality does not meet the business
requirements. The approach is taken on a modular basis.

AIM For Business Flows (ABF) also called as Show and Tell is solution driven and Solution
Flow is defined before the start of project. It is based on iterative approach based where
multiple runs of CRPs are done. In the essence it aims at avoiding customizations and prioritizes
all changes. There is a strong emphasis on integrated view and focus is on cross module process
flows. Some of the advantages of ABF are:

 ABF is most recommended approach for green-field projects where there are no legacy
systems in place and the customer is willing adopt to the standard processes prescribed
by the Oracle ERP.
 More rigor to use the standard business processes defined by Oracle
 Minimize numbers of Customizations (extensions)
 Reduced cycle time
 CRP’s in ABF

CRP (Conference Room Piloting) in terms of ABF is a series of workshops where “Flow
Teams” assigned to the implementation project go through the business flows iteratively during
the project. The flows in a Flow Family are grouped into logical “Flow Batches” that can be
refined and tested in a series of workshops conducted during a given CRP cycle. The Flow
Families being implemented are also tested in parallel by separate Flow Teams during the CRP.
Composition of a Flow Team will generally include at-least one consultant, Business Process
Owner, and some super or key users or SME’s. The main objectives of the CRP are
Familiarization, Initial mapping, Refine Mapping, Validate COA, Multi-Org and TCA, Scope
Freezing, and Business System Test.

Key Deliverables in ABF

 BT.070 Project Management Framework

 BF.090 Application Architecture
 BF.015 Future Process Model
 BF.040 Change Catalog
 BF.045 High Level Solution document
  BF.016 Application Setup Documents
 BF.080 Reporting Requirements Listing
 BF.170 Security Profiles
 BF.100 Phase end review
 BF.035 CRP1 Strategy Plan
 TE.065 CRP2 Strategy Plan
 MD.050 Application Extensions Functional Design
 MD.070 Application Extension Technical Design
 TE.040 System Test Script
 DO.070 User Guide
 CV.040 Conversion Data Mapping
 MD.120 Installation Instructions
 TA.030 Preliminary Conceptual Architecture
 TA.150 System Management Procedures

Oracle has announced retirement dates for AIM and ABF of January 2011 and all of Oracle’s
existing methods are being replaced by the Oracle Unified Method (OUM) aligning to their long
term strategy post- acquisition of PeopleSoft, Siebel, BEA and other solutions.