The 4P Concept has been developed to better focus on what is really needed to support the Management of Complex Engineering Programs.

To this end, the 4P Concept consists of four Focus Groups, namely:

• Products
• Programs
• People
• Policies.

Each Focus Groups covers a number of Themes. In total, there are 25 Themes proposed, see picture on the left. They are regarded as key when it comes to supporting the Management of Complex Engineering Programs.

Some of the Themes are specific, while others are transverse.

Each of these Themes is build around the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) approach introduced by W. Edwards Deming.

Since its introduction, the PDCA-approach has proven to be fundamental to all kinds of processes and topics, which is why it also applies to the Themes discussed here.

• For example:                                                                               The planning-execution-monitoring-control process, which is very well known in project management, is based on the PDCA-approach.