DEIN-Pro: Digital decision support to integrate sustainability at the process level

Name of participant: Charlotte Bahr

Project’s name: Digitale Entscheidungsunterstützung zur Integration von Nachhaltigkeit auf Prozessebene (DEIN-Pro)

Project description:

Many companies today are pursuing ambitious sustainability goals, for example in regard to climate neutrality, the circular economy or social responsibility. The key challenge, however, lies in translating these strategic goals into operational processes. Although companies already have numerous IT systems in place, such as process management platforms, ERP systems or compliance tools, these primarily support reporting and monitoring – but not the structured decision-making needed to integrate sustainability requirements into existing business processes.

This is exactly where DEIN-Pro comes in. The project is developing a digital decision-support tool to help companies systematically integrate sustainability requirements into their existing process architectures. The aim is to support process managers in identifying business processes relevant to sustainability, assessing the extent to which they have been implemented, and systematically mapping new sustainability requirements to existing processes or deriving new processes from them.

From a scientific perspective, the project contributes three key elements: Firstly, a classification taxonomy for business processes relevant to sustainability is being developed. Secondly, a methodological decision-making framework is being designed to enable sustainability requirements to be operationalised in a transparent and structured manner at the process level. Thirdly, this approach is being empirically evaluated in collaboration with Robert Bosch GmbH within the context of the automotive supply industry.

The project operates at the intersection of decision support, business process management, digital information systems and sustainability management. Unlike many existing sustainability solutions, which focus primarily on reporting or environmental indicators, DEIN-Pro takes a process-oriented approach to sustainability within organisations. In doing so, the project helps to bridge the existing gap between strategic sustainability goals and their practical implementation in business processes.

Software Campus Partner: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg und Robert Bosch GmbH

Implementation period: 01.05.2026 – 30.04.2028