Replace underlying resources with eco-friendly alternatives
How can we reduce the environmental impact of a process without altering the original process structure?
Nowak, A., Leymann, F., Schleicher, D., Schumm, D., & Wagner, S. (2011, October 21). Green business process patterns. Proceedings of the 18th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs. PLoP 11: Pattern Languages of Programs Conference 2011.
Organizations are using a multitude of resources for the operation of their business and the corresponding business processes. These resources need to be selected based on both the strategic business and ecological objectives the organization wants to achieve.
A resource is usually chosen by its functional capabilities. Selecting resources based on their environmental impact, however, can significantly influence the corresponding result. Additionally, proper metrics need to be defined and set-up in order to determine the different metric values of each resource.
Exchange the underlying resources of certain activities
Organizations will decrease their environmental impact by exchanging resources used by certain activities. The exchange of underlying resources usually does not affect the process structure. Thus, the process is performed as before, however, possibly with ecological-positive side-effects.
Resources are used or consumed in many cases. A company could, for example, decide to use green electricity instead of a conventional one. They may also decide to use different raw materials like non-plastic packaging for packaging their goods. Another example would be the use of cloud computing. This decreases the number of machines that an organization needs to hold available (e.g. for rare peak situations) and allows a demand-dependent use of these resources. Variations: Some resources display a different ecological impact based on other environmental factors, such as the form of available energy. A supplier of electric energy, for example, may provide greener electricity the windier it is at the location of his wind energy plant. This type of resource does not have to be exchanged but it is merely ensured that the same resource is used during certain time-slots in which its environmental impact is reduced.
Depending on the type of business process it may also be feasible to use Green Features. This pattern, however, may focus more on the appearance of a service or product rather than on an in-depth green process optimization.
Foundational free Patterns
Reduce the number of contacts with customers and third parties
Elevate physical constraints by applying new technology
Establish standardized interfaces
Consider a standardized interface with customers and partners
Order knock-outs by least effort and highest termination probability first.
Minimize numerical involvement
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Consider to deepen or broaden the skills of resources
Offer customers the possibility to choose among privacy settings
Explore whether a process can easily be used for additional products or services
Workload-based task assignment
Allocate tasks based on individuals' incomplete workload
Let products appear greener
Execute tasks when the grid is powered by renewable energy
Consider whether it is eco-friendly to let humans work over machines