Quality in Use and Software Greenability

Software sustainability has recently begun to gain importance. However, although proposals concerning what it is and how to achieve it are starting to appear, until now, there have been very few proposals on how to model it. Sustainable development consists of three dimensions: Social sustainability, Economic sustainability and Environmental sustainability; the latter being more closely related to technical aspects. There are also three environmental impact levels for ICTs: direct environmental effects of production and use of ICTs, indirect environmental impacts related to the effects of ICTs and indirect effects on the environment. In this paper, we focus on environmental sustainability and the first environmental impact level, and more concretely, on the direct environmental effect of software use. We specifically propose a greenability in use characteristic to be considered as part of the quality in use model proposed by the ISO 25010 standard. This model can be used using measures, indicators, or even Bayesian Networks in order to link it with product quality. We therefore present an example of a Bayesian Network that links product quality to greenability in use. Our eventual goal is to provide developers with indicators and guidelines on how to develop an environmentally friendly software product.