On the JI-RADAR: Uncovering Sustainability Tool Support for Requirements Engineering

Abstract

Context: Software-intensive systems are integral to nearly all facets of modern society [1]. Consequently, both their sustainability and their role in facilitating sustainable processes must be established by design [2], [3]. Software sustainability is defined as "the preservation of the long-term and beneficial use of software, and its appropriate evolution, in a context that continuously changes" [2]. RE Problem & Motivation: Regulatory initiatives increasingly require (software) organizations to integrate sustainability into their day-to-day business and operational processes. The United Nations 2030 Agenda formulated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [6], while the EU passed the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies to publish and audit sustainability-related information [7]. Regulations and laws require organizations in the software development sector to disclose both qualitative and quantitative sustainability metrics, among other obligations [1]. Consequently, integrating sustainability reporting processes into the software development life cycle becomes increasingly important. RE processes often lack systematic methods to elicit, analyze, and prioritize sustainability requirements alongside functional and non-functional requirements, and studies indicate that tool support for this integration remains limited [4]. To address this gap, we introduce JI-RADAR, which supports stakeholders involved in system design (e.g., developers, requirements engineers, project managers, and usability engineers) [5] by providing practical tools to integrate sustainability into the RE process. We extend the widely used Atlassian Jira platform [8] by implementing a ready-to-use plugin that can be directly adopted in industrial practice.