APSE is an aid to conceiving, developing, operating and sustaining better systems. Integrally including human requirements, along with hardware and software requirements, results in improved performance, lower ownership costs, and products that aren't rejected by end users.  Thirty-five most significant deliverables show the five stakeholder groups how to work together to achieve these results.

APSE is also a planning tool. Explanations are given for seven life-cycle phases each containing five deliverables. On the APSE home page, deliverables are summarized. Key tasks, man-hour estimates, methods and procedures and software aids are identified for each of the stakeholder groups.

Deliverables pages provide more detail such as input and output criteria, and additional tasks and methods. There are also supplementary references and resources and templates for saving time.