{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:54:18Z","timestamp":1760144058635,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":71,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,13]],"date-time":"2024-03-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1710288000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Software"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Architecture principles affect a software system holistically. Given their alignment with a business strategy, they should be incorporated within the validation process covering aspects of sustainability. However, current research discusses the influence of architecture principles on sustainability in a limited context. Our objective was to introduce a reusable process for monitoring and evaluating the impact of architecture principles on sustainability from a software architecture perspective. We sought to demonstrate the application of such a process in professional practice. A qualitative case study was conducted in the context of a Dutch airport management company. Data collection involved a case analysis and the execution of two rounds of expert interviews. We (i) identified a set of case-related key performance indicators, (ii) utilized commonly accepted measurement tools, and (iii) employed graphical representations in the form of spider charts to monitor the sustainability impacts. The real-world observations were evaluated through a concluding focus group. Our findings indicated that architecture principles were a feasible mechanism with which to address sustainability across all different architecture layers within the enterprise. The experts considered the sustainability analysis valuable in guiding the software architecture process towards sustainability. With the emphasis on principles, we facilitate industry adoption by embedding sustainability in existing mechanisms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/software3010006","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,13]],"date-time":"2024-03-13T13:23:11Z","timestamp":1710336191000},"page":"107-145","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A Process for Monitoring the Impact of Architecture Principles on Sustainability: An Industrial Case Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"3","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2302-2555","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Markus","family":"Funke","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2234-0845","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patricia","family":"Lago","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9206-6637","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberto","family":"Verdecchia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Information Engineering, Univerisity of Florence, 50121 Florence, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4182-3404","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roel","family":"Donker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Schiphol Group, 1118 CP Schiphol, The Netherlands"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"European Union Aviation Safety Agency (2024, January 30). European Aviation Environmental Report 2019; Publications Office. Available online: https:\/\/www.easa.europa.eu\/eco\/sites\/default\/files\/2021-09\/219473_EASA_EAER_2019_WEB_HI-RES_190311.pdf."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Royal Schiphol Group (2024, January 30). Annual Report 2020. Available online: https:\/\/www.schiphol.nl\/en\/schiphol-group\/page\/archive-annual-reports\/."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"World Commission on Environment and Development (2024, January 30). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future; United Nations. Available online: https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/content\/documents\/5987our-common-future.pdf."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"134","DOI":"10.1080\/00207233.2021.1911101","article-title":"Industry Approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals","volume":"79","author":"Wynn","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. J. Environ. Stud."},{"key":"#cr-split#-ref_5.1","unstructured":"European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (2024, January 30). Directive (EU) 2022\/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council"},{"key":"#cr-split#-ref_5.2","unstructured":"Technical Report Directive (EU) 2022\/2464. Available online: https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%3A32022L2464."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zipse, O., Hornegger, J., Becker, T., Beckmann, M., Bengsch, M., Feige, I., and Schober, M. (2023). Road to Net Zero: Strategic Pathways for Sustainability-Driven Business Transformation, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-42224-9"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"S\u00fcr\u00fcc\u00fc, C., Song, B., Kr\u00fcger, J., Saake, G., and Leich, T. (2020, January 8\u201313). Establishing key performance indicators for measuring software-development processes at a large organization. Proceedings of the Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, Virtual.","DOI":"10.1145\/3368089.3417057"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"1","article-title":"The new thinking on key performance indicators","volume":"133","author":"Parmenter","year":"2006","journal-title":"Financ. Manag. Mag."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2006.59","article-title":"The Past, Present, and Future for Software Architecture","volume":"23","author":"Kruchten","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Softw."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Bass, L., Clements, P., and Kazman, R. (2013). Software Architecture in Practice, Addison-Wesley. [3rd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"The Open Group Architecture Forum (2024, January 30). The TOGAF\u00ae Standard, Version 9.2; The Open Group. Available online: https:\/\/pubs.opengroup.org\/architecture\/togaf9-doc\/arch\/."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Greefhorst, D., and Proper, E. (2011). Architecture Principles: The Cornerstones of Enterprise Architecture, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-20279-7"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1145\/2714560","article-title":"Framing sustainability as a property of software quality","volume":"58","author":"Lago","year":"2015","journal-title":"Commun. ACM"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Koziolek, H. (2011, January 20\u201324). Sustainability evaluation of software architectures: A systematic review. Proceedings of the Joint ACM SIGSOFT Conference on Quality of Software Architectures (QoSA) and Architecting Critical Systems (ISARCS), Boulder, CO, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2000259.2000263"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Durdik, Z., Klatt, B., Koziolek, H., Krogmann, K., Stammel, J., and Weiss, R. (2012, January 23\u201328). Sustainability guidelines for long-living software systems. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM), Trento, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSM.2012.6405316"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Kern, E., Dick, M., Naumann, S., Guldner, A., and Johann, T. (2013, January 14\u201316). Green Software and Green Software Engineering\u2014 Definitions, Measurements, and Quality Aspects. Proceedings of the International Conference of ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S), Zurich, Switzerland."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gupta, S., Lago, P., and Donker, R. (2021, January 22\u201326). A Framework of Software Architecture Principles for Sustainability-driven Design and Measurement. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C), Stuttgart, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSA-C52384.2021.00012"},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"35","article-title":"There\u2019s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management\u2019s goals and objectives","volume":"70","author":"Doran","year":"1981","journal-title":"Manag. Rev."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Condori-Fernandez, N., Lago, P., Luaces, M.R., and Places, \u00c1.S. (2020). An Action Research for Improving the Sustainability Assessment Framework Instruments. Sustainability, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/su12041682"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jss.2017.12.005","article-title":"Characterizing the contribution of quality requirements to software sustainability","volume":"137","author":"Lago","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Syst. Softw."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Lago, P., and Condori-Fernandez, N. (2024, January 30). The Sustainability Assessment Framework (SAF) Toolkit: Instruments to Help Sustainability-Driven Software Architecture Design Decision Making. Available online: https:\/\/github.com\/S2-group\/SAF-Toolkit."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ishak, Z., Fong, S.L., and Shin, S.C. (2019, January 7). SMART KPI Management System Framework. Proceedings of the International Conference on System Engineering and Technology (ICSET), Shah Alam, Malaysia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSEngT.2019.8906478"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Parmenter, D. (2015). Key Performance Indicators: Developing, Implementing, and Using Winning KPIs, Wiley. [3rd ed.].","DOI":"10.1002\/9781119019855"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Penzenstadler, B. (2013, January 18\u201322). Towards a definition of sustainability in and for software engineering. Proceedings of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC), Coimbra, Portugal."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jss.2017.12.026","article-title":"Software sustainability: Research and practice from a software architecture viewpoint","volume":"138","author":"Venters","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Syst. Softw."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"International Organization for Standardization [ISO] (2011). Systems and Software Engineering\u2014Systems and Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SQuaRE)\u2014System and Software Quality Models, ISO\/IEC. Technical Report ISO\/IEC 25010:2011."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lago, P. (2019, January 25\u201331). Architecture Design Decision Maps for Software Sustainability. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Society (ICSE-SEIS), Montreal, QC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSE-SEIS.2019.00015"},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Chaffey, D. (2024, January 30). OGSM Model: A Strategic Framework for Top-Down Vision Realization. Available online: https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/marketing-planning\/marketing-models\/ogsm-model-framework\/."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2575.1998.00040.x","article-title":"Successfully Completing Case Study Research: Combining Rigour, Relevance and Pragmatism","volume":"8","author":"Darke","year":"1998","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. J."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"131","DOI":"10.1007\/s10664-008-9102-8","article-title":"Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering","volume":"14","author":"Runeson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Empir. Softw. Eng. Int. J."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brereton, P., Kitchenham, B., Budgen, D., and Li, Z.H. (2008, January 26\u201327). Using a Protocol Template for Case Study Planning. Proceedings of the International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE), Bari, Italy. Available online: https:\/\/www.scienceopen.com\/hosted-document?doi=10.14236\/ewic\/EASE2008.5.","DOI":"10.14236\/ewic\/EASE2008.5"},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Brown, S. (2021, July 08). The C4 Model for Software Architecture. Available online: https:\/\/c4model.com."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"M\u00fcller, J.K. (2003). The Building Block Method: Component-Based Architectural Design for Large Software-Intensive Product Families. [Ph.D. Thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam]."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shull, F., Singer, J., and Sj\u00f8berg, D.I.K. (2008). Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-84800-044-5"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Felderer, M., and Travassos, G.H. (2020). Contemporary Empirical Methods in Software Engineering, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-32489-6"},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"Boehm, J., Curcio, N., Merrath, P., Shenton, L., and St\u00e4hle, T. (2020). The Risk-Based Approach to Cybersecurity, McKinsey & Company."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"(2024, January 30). Splunk Inc. Available online: https:\/\/www.splunk.com."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"IBM Maximo IT (2024, January 30). Available online: https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/products\/maximo\/it-asset-management."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Atlassian (2024, January 30). Jira\u2014Issue & Project Tracking Software. Available online: https:\/\/www.atlassian.com\/software\/jira."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Red Hat Inc. (2024, January 30). Official Red Hat OpenShift Documentation. Available online: https:\/\/docs.openshift.com."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Qualys (2024, January 30). IT Security and Compliance Platform. Available online: https:\/\/www.qualys.com."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Andersen, B. (2007). Business Process Improvement Toolbox, ASQ Quality Press. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1177\/1469787407086743","article-title":"Using radar charts with qualitative evaluation: Techniques to assess change in blended learning","volume":"9","author":"Kaczynski","year":"2008","journal-title":"Act. Learn. High. Educ."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.17148\/IARJSET.2015.2305","article-title":"Normalization: A Preprocessing Stage","volume":"2","author":"Patro","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. Adv. Res. J. Sci. Eng. Technol."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boudon, R. (1991). What Middle-Range Theories Are, American Sociological Association, Sage Publications, Inc.","DOI":"10.2307\/2071781"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., H\u00f6st, M., Ohlsson, M.C., Regnell, B., and Wessl\u00e9n, A. (2012). Experimentation in Software Engineering, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-29044-2"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hristov, I., and Chirico, A. (2019). The Role of Sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Implementing Sustainable Strategies. Sustainability, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/su11205742"},{"key":"ref_48","unstructured":"Kaplan, R.S., and Norton, D.P. (1992). The Balanced Scorecard-Measures That Drive Performance. Harv. Bus. Rev., 71\u201379."},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"Kaplan, R.S., and Norton, D.P. (1996). Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System. Harv. Bus. Rev., 35\u201348."},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Chai, N. (2009). Sustainability Performance Evaluation System in Government: A Balanced Scorecard Approach Towards Sustainable Development, Springer."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2021.3102254","article-title":"Green IT and Green Software","volume":"38","author":"Verdecchia","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Softw."},{"key":"ref_52","first-page":"7","article-title":"Software sustainability: The modern tower of babel","volume":"Volume 1216","author":"Venters","year":"2014","journal-title":"CEUR Workshop Proceedings"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Venters, C.C., Kocak, S.A., Betz, S., Brooks, I., Capilla, R., Chitchyan, R., Duboc, L., Heldal, R., Moreira, A., and Oyedeji, S. (2021, January 22\u201330). Software Sustainability: Beyond the Tower of Babel. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Body of Knowledge for Software Sustainability (BoKSS), Virtual.","DOI":"10.1109\/BoKSS52540.2021.00009"},{"key":"ref_54","unstructured":"Groher, I., and Weinreich, R. (September, January 30). An Interview Study on Sustainability Concerns in Software Development Projects. Proceedings of the Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), Vienna, Austria."},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2013.101","article-title":"Measuring Architecture Sustainability","volume":"30","author":"Koziolek","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE Softw."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2017.54","article-title":"Toward Architecture Knowledge Sustainability: Extending System Longevity","volume":"34","author":"Capilla","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Softw."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ojameruaye, B., Bahsoon, R., and Duboc, L. (2016, January 14\u201322). Sustainability debt: A portfolio-based approach for evaluating sustainability requirements in architectures. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering Companion, Austin, TX, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2889160.2889218"},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"294","DOI":"10.1016\/j.suscom.2011.06.004","article-title":"The GREENSOFT Model: A reference model for green and sustainable software and its engineering","volume":"1","author":"Naumann","year":"2011","journal-title":"Sustain. Comput. Informatics Syst."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kalaitzoglou, G., Bruntink, M., and Visser, J. (2014, January 24\u201327). A Practical Model for Evaluating the Energy Efficiency of Software Applications. Proceedings of the International Conference on ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S), Stockholm, Sweden.","DOI":"10.2991\/ict4s-14.2014.9"},{"key":"ref_60","unstructured":"Ko\u00e7ak, S.A., Alptekin, G.I., and Bener, A.B. (2014, January 26). Evaluation of Software Product Quality Attributes and Environmental Attributes using ANP Decision Framework. Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Requirements Engineering for Sustainability Systems, Karlskrona, Sweden."},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Manotas, I., Bird, C., Zhang, R., Shepherd, D., Jaspan, C., Sadowski, C., Pollock, L., and Clause, J. (2016, January 14\u201322). An empirical study of practitioners\u2019 perspectives on green software engineering. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering, Austin, TX, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2884781.2884810"},{"key":"ref_62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-73203-5_3","article-title":"Software Sustainability in the Age of Everything as a Service","volume":"Volume 12521","author":"Aiello","year":"2021","journal-title":"Next-Gen Digital Services. A Retrospective and Roadmap for Service Computing of the Future"},{"key":"ref_63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1142\/S0218194020500047","article-title":"Software Analysis Method for Assessing Software Sustainability","volume":"30","author":"Saputri","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Softw. Eng. Knowl. Eng."},{"key":"ref_64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2014.22","article-title":"Safety, Security, Now Sustainability: The Nonfunctional Requirement for the 21st Century","volume":"31","author":"Penzenstadler","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Softw."},{"key":"ref_65","first-page":"20","article-title":"A Green Model for Sustainable Software Engineering","volume":"7","author":"Mahmoud","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Softw. Eng. Its Appl."},{"key":"ref_66","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Verdecchia, R., Lago, P., Malavolta, I., and Ozkaya, I. (2020, January 5\u20136). ATDx: Building an Architectural Technical Debt Index. Proceedings of the International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering (ENASE), Prague, Czech Republic.","DOI":"10.5220\/0009577805310539"},{"key":"ref_67","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sehestedt, S., Cheng, C.H., and Bouwers, E. (2014, January 7). Towards quantitative metrics for architecture models. Proceedings of the WICSA 2014 Companion Volume, Sydney, Australia.","DOI":"10.1145\/2578128.2578226"},{"key":"ref_68","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110925","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jss.2021.110925","article-title":"Building and evaluating a theory of architectural technical debt in software-intensive systems","volume":"176","author":"Verdecchia","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Syst. Softw."},{"key":"ref_69","unstructured":"International Organization for Standardization [ISO] (2019). Systems and Software Engineering\u2014Systems and Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SQuaRE)\u2014Quality Measurement Framework, International Organization for Standardization [ISO]. Technical Report ISO\/IEC 25020:2019."},{"key":"ref_70","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3613","DOI":"10.3923\/jas.2014.3613.3619","article-title":"SaaS Quality of Service Attributes","volume":"14","author":"Khanjani","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Appl. Sci."}],"container-title":["Software"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2674-113X\/3\/1\/6\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T14:13:09Z","timestamp":1760105589000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2674-113X\/3\/1\/6"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,13]]},"references-count":71,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3]]}},"alternative-id":["software3010006"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/software3010006","relation":{},"ISSN":["2674-113X"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2674-113X"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,13]]}}}