An Assessment Technique for Sustainability: Applying the IMAGINE Approach to Software Systems

Sustainability is a concept for which exist many definitions, but most of them are either vague or too limited; no consensus has been achieved. One pragmatic solution is to provide an implicit definition by setting up a standard with criteria that have to be fulfilled, e.g., by a company in order to reach their self-set sustainability goals. The problem is that even with a defined goal or strategy for sustainability, practitioners lack of reference frameworks to align to and from there to derive concrete objectives and activities. Consequently, it is hard to implement such goals or strategies through the use of IT. This paper presents the application of the IMAGINE approach [5], for analyzing and assessing sustainability, on a system supported by IT and software systems. The approach was implemented and its applicability assessed in an industrial case study in a Master student’s research project. The approach provides project managers, business analysts, and requirements engineers with the capability to devise a specific strategy for particular contexts and sustainability goals. I. INTRO: CONTEXT & PROBLEM Sustainability standards are used to assess companies interested in validating and certifying their products, projects, or development and management practices. They consist of norms and reference criteria related to ideas that pursue sustainability, and the assessment is usually performed by a third party. Several standards that are currently available focus on sustainable development [1], [2], but we can also find standards for sustainability reporting [9], [10], or sustainable design [7], [3], among others. Furthermore these standards can be segmented in the industry-specific sectors, like those listed by the Industry Classification Benchmark [8], for instance food, oil and gas producers, mining, transportation, healthcare, and telecommunications.