A Reference Process to Design Information Systems for Sustainable Design Based on LCA, PSS, Social and Economic Aspects

The purpose of Sustainable Design, SD, is to satisfy customer needs while reducing environmental impacts. The main challenge is to integrate Life Cycle Assessment, Product Service Systems, social and economic aspects while considering the tensions and trade-offs of each activity in depth. SD requires data from many sources in addition to many software tools to perform each analysis. In order to provide information systems for SD, the adoption of a Service-Oriented Architecture, SOA, is appropriate because of its integration requirements. SOA best practices recommend the design of a reference process prior to architectural definitions, so as to identify the complexities and provide a comprehensive solution to the problem. A reference process is presented here as the first step for building information systems for SD. In addition, the reference process presents a list of activities to be performed during the design stage and is very helpful as a guide for SD beginners.