Software Engineering for Sustainability

Sustainability can only be evaluated with an exact reference to what is to be sustained, for whom, for how long, and at what cost. For analyzing a software system, two analysis scopes may be chosen: domain-dependent and domain-independent.
Domain-dependent scope: The Sustainability of a Software System in its Surrounding Application Context is characterized by the domain experts. This scoping considers the software system in its application context, under consideration of the purpose of the software system. It includes an analysis of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability on a higher level. This part of the analysis is largely within the responsibility of business analysts and domain experts. Requirements engineers can translate those requirements into constraints for the software system.
Domain-independent scope: The Sustainability of a Software System is its capacity to endure, i.e. its energy efficiency, its maintainability over a long period of time, and its adherence to standards and laws. This scoping considers the artifacts and implementation of a software system, without any consideration of the purpose of the software system. It focuses on the technical characteristics of the system and its operational environment. All domain-relevant information has already been refined into domain-independent constraints for a technical solution by business analysts. This is the responsibility of the software engineers.

Software Engineering for Sustainability (SE4S) denotes the concept of applying software engineering techniques to facilitate the refinement of higher level sustainability concerns as defined in the domain into lower level, technical requirements for the design and implementation of the system. This means the translation and refinement from domain-dependent to domain-independent sustainability.
We have developed reference models and methods for incorporating sustainability into requirements engineering. This includes a sustainability goal reference model, a sustainability stakeholder reference model, and a set of requirements artifacts with guidance on how to develop them.
This website provides information on those concepts and models and illustrative excerpts from studies we conducted.