Assessing the Sustainability Performance of Sustainability Management Software
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In: Technologies, Vol. 6, No. 3, 88, 19.09.2018.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing the Sustainability Performance of Sustainability Management Software
AU - Kern, Eva
AU - Silva, Samanthi Luisa
AU - Guldner, Achim
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 by the authors.
PY - 2018/9/19
Y1 - 2018/9/19
N2 - Companies have made considerable progress in assessing the sustainability of their processes and products, including the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. However, it is surprising that little attention has been given to the sustainability performance of software products. For this article, we chose a case study approach to explore the extent, to which software manufacturers have considered sustainability criteria for their products. We selected a manufacturer of sustainability management software on the assumption that they would be more likely to integrate elements of sustainability performance in their products. In the case study, we applied a previously developed set of criteria for sustainable software (SCSS) using a questionnaire and experiments, to assess a web-based sustainability management software product regarding its sustainability performance. The assessment finds that despite a sustainability conscious manufacturer, a systematic assessment of sustainability regarding software products is missing in the case study. This implies that sustainability assessment for software products is still novel, corresponding knowledge is missing and suitable tools are not yet being widely applied in the industry. The SCSS presents a suitable approach to close this gap, but it does require further refinement, for example regarding its applicability to web-based software on external servers.
AB - Companies have made considerable progress in assessing the sustainability of their processes and products, including the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. However, it is surprising that little attention has been given to the sustainability performance of software products. For this article, we chose a case study approach to explore the extent, to which software manufacturers have considered sustainability criteria for their products. We selected a manufacturer of sustainability management software on the assumption that they would be more likely to integrate elements of sustainability performance in their products. In the case study, we applied a previously developed set of criteria for sustainable software (SCSS) using a questionnaire and experiments, to assess a web-based sustainability management software product regarding its sustainability performance. The assessment finds that despite a sustainability conscious manufacturer, a systematic assessment of sustainability regarding software products is missing in the case study. This implies that sustainability assessment for software products is still novel, corresponding knowledge is missing and suitable tools are not yet being widely applied in the industry. The SCSS presents a suitable approach to close this gap, but it does require further refinement, for example regarding its applicability to web-based software on external servers.
KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics
KW - sustainability management
KW - sustainable software
KW - software energy measurements
KW - sustainability criteria
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163093172&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/technologies6030088
DO - 10.3390/technologies6030088
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 6
JO - Technologies
JF - Technologies
SN - 2227-7080
IS - 3
M1 - 88
ER -