IWSM2014 MEGSUS14 - A general overview of software sustainability measurement (Coral Calero)

A general overview of Software Sustainability

Measurement

Coral CaleroGrupo Alarcos

Escuela Superior de InformáticaUniversidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Rotterdam, October 6th, 2014

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Introduction to Software Sustainability

From Software Sustainability to Software Greenability

Software Sustainability Measurement overview

Conclusions and future work

Agenda

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Introduction to Software Sustainability

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roIntroduction to Software Sustainability

Sustainability

The ability to be maintained at a steady

level without exhausting natural resources or

causing severe ecological damage

Of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that

the resource is not depleted or permanently

damaged

Sustainable development is the

ability to meet the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs

A sustainable world is one in which humans can survive without

jeopardizing the continued survival of future generations of humans in a healthy

environment

Sustainability is the capacity to endure and,

for humans, the potential for long-term

maintenance

Sustainability can be viewed as one more

central quality attribute in a row with the standard quality

attributes of correctness, efficiency, and so forth

Sustainability can be discussed with reference

to a concrete system and implies the capacity for endurance given the

functioning of this system.

The Collins dictionary

The Merriam-Webster dictionary

Brown et al., 1987

Penzedstadler et al., 2014

Penzestadler and Fleischmann, 2011

UN Brutland Report, 1987Penzestadler and Fleischmann, 2011

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Although there is a general assumption that relates sustainability to the “capacity of something to last a long

time”, this is a restrictive interpretation, since two fundamental pillars related to it

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Information Systems (IS) SustainablityInformation Systems (IS) Sustainablity

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sustainability

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sustainability

Information Technology (IT) SustainabilityInformation Technology (IT) Sustainability

Software (Sw) SustainabilitySoftware (Sw) Sustainability

Software Engineering (SE) Sustainability

Software Engineering (SE) Sustainability

If we apply the concept of sustainability to the software arena, it may have an influence at several “levels”

A complete compilation of these definitions can be found in Calero and Piattini (2014)

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From Software Sustainability to Software Greenability

Software Sustainability

Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability

SoftwareEnvironmental Sustainability

(Software Greenability)

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roFrom Software Sustainability to Software Greenability

Software Sustainability

Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability

SoftwareEnvironmental Sustainability

(Software Greenability)

Related to software use (by whom, how and under what circumstances software may be used)

Related to aspects of the software

business, but not to its development

Deals with technical aspects of software development.

The UN identifies three dimensions for sustainable development. We have related them to software as follows:

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Green IT

Green ITGreen IN IT

Green IN Software

Green BY IT

Green Hw

Green Hw

Green Sw

Green Sw

Green BY Software

Green IN Hardware

Green BY Hardware

Several concepts related to Green Software can be found (green software, green through software, green in

software, etc). For us:

When the IT is the tool used to support sustainability goals

When the green is related to the IT, software or hardware in themselves

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Software Sustainability Measurement

Software

Social Sustainability

Software Greenability

Green BY

Software

Green IN Software

Software Engineering (process, product, ...)


Software sustainability areas in which measurement can be applied.

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roSoftware Sustainability Measurement


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability


Software GreenabilityGreen BY Software

Green IN Software

Green IN SoftwareSoftware Engineering (process, product, ...)

Other aspects (Business process, Governance, ...)

There are some groups are working on Software Social Sustainability and Software Greenability.

Few efforts as regards the economic dimension. More work on Social Greenability measurement is needed without forgetting the economic dimension

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In Johann and Maalej (2013) the authors discuss the importance of social sustainable software.

They do not propose any measures, but propose a complete reflection on aspects that must be taken into account and the need for a quality model for social sustainable software is included.

Social Sustainability Measurement


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



A very good starting point on how to measure the social sustainability software.

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roSocial Sustainability Measurement


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



In Al Hinai and Chitchyan (2014), the results of an initial review of social sustainability indicators are shown.

They identify twelve categories of social sustainability indicators (employment, health, equity, education, security, services and facilities, resilience, human rights, social acceptance of technology, social cohesion, cultural and political).

They have recovered more than 600 indicators of software sustainabiltiy

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The GREENSOFT Model (Naumann et al., 2011)is a complete model that contains four parts: The life cycle of a software product, Some criteria and metrics that

represent sustainability aspects that are directly and indirectly related to the software product,

Procedure models for the different phases, and

Some recommendations for action, in addition to tools.

Software Greenability Measurement

A complete model that can be used from several perspectives


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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Albertao et al (2010) present a set of software engineering measures that can be used to assess the sustainability of software projects, showing how to use them.


They propose measures and how to apply them


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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With regard to software systems, several papers present measures:Shridaran et al. (2013) propose some

measures related to the energy consumption in Joules, and the efficiency of the system

Wassman et al (2013) propose the total power consumption of a computer system based on the consumption of the CPU, the HDD and the idle part, along with the consumption of some other components.

Guimbetreiere et al. (2014) present a measure for the system energy consumption


Specific measures for

software systems


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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There are not very many works related to the measurement of software process greenability.

We only can mention that of Lami et al (2013) in which three process measures are proposed.

Software Process Greenability Measurement


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



More work on software process greenability measurement is needed

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This is perhaps the area in which most work can be found.

There is a tendency in the software engineering community to apply the fundamentals of software measurement to software product greenability.

Software Product Greenability measurement

It is possible to find several perspectives on how to measure product greenability


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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In Kern et al (2013), the authors use the GREENSOFT model as a basis to describe a model with which to measure the energy efficiency of software, in addition to presenting an example of how to apply the measurements.


Uses as basis the GREENSOFT model


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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Bozzelli et al (2013) is a SLR on green metrics is presented. As a result the authors obtain 96

measures The eventual conclusion is that most of

the efforts are related to energy consumption and saving dimensions.

This corroborates the results obtained in Calero et al. (2012), another SLR resulting in 61 measures, most of which focused on power consumption.


Two SLR that are a very good starting point in order to explore the software product greenability measurement


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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In Akini et al (2014) a set of measures related to the software quality product are presented together with software quality criteria. They apply Analytical Network

Process (ANP) to determine the relationships among quality and environmental attributes and the relative priorities of attributes.


The identification of relationships and priorities is fundamental in measurement


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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Penzenstadler (2014) presents a checklist and guide word based approach concerning how to include the objective of environmental sustainability from the very early steps by finding the stakeholders and analyzing the domain for the definition of a usage model and specific requirements.


Although does not present measures, the elements in the checklist can be interpreted as measures.


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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There is some efforts related to green BPM.

Zeise et al (2012) present criteria derived from common performance measurement systems that are suitable for measuring the performance of companies as regards sustainability.

Other Software Aspects Measurement

We refer any interested readers to the book ‘Green Business Process Management’ (vom Brocke et al, 2012).


Software Social

Sustainability

Software Economic

Sustainability



Green IN Software



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Conclusions and Future work

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Software sustainability is a very important research topic (and it will be more).

It is necessary to eliminate confusions and misunderstandings on concepts and terms used.

There are different levels and perspectives of software sustainability measurement.

Much more work is needed

We must raise awareness on the part of all those involved with software: companies that develop software, buyers and users.

Conclusions and Future work

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A general overview of Software Sustainability Measurement

Coral [email protected]

Details on references can be found in the paper

mailto:[email protected]