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Towards a reference architecture for fuel-based carbon management systems in the logistics industry

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Abstract

The current practice in the logistics industry is to calculate the carbon footprint of transportation activities based on the distance covered, using long-term fuel consumption averages per kilometer. However, fuel consumption may actually vary over time, because of differences in road characteristics, traffic situations, driving behavior, etc. Therefore, distance-based emission calculations are not accurate. Our approach is fuel-based and it calculates transport greenhouse gas emissions by obtaining the actual fuel consumption during trips via board computers installed in vehicles. Thus, we propose an architecture for a fuel-based Logistics Carbon Management System (LCMS) that monitors and collects real-time data about the fuel consumption during trips, and, consequently, calculates detailed and accurate carbon footprints of transportation services. Furthermore, this system is integrated with the logistics service provider’s business processes and with typical software applications (e.g., Transport Management Systems and Board Computers). We validate and implement the proposed architecture by means of a prototype.

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Notes

  1. This study contains numerous acronyms. To improve the readability of the manuscript we have included in Appendix B a table of all the acronyms for quick reference.

  2. Cape Groep is a software company active in the logistics sector that participated in this research.

  3. In the remainder of this section the words written in italics designate relationships between architecture elements from Figure 3.

  4. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).

  5. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard.

  6. www.scrum.org, http://www.scrum.org/Portals/0/Documents/Scrum%20Guides/Scrum_Guide.pdf

  7. Unified Modeling Language (UML), www.uml.org.

  8. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), www.bpmn.org.

  9. XML Schema Definition (XSD), http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema.html.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Telematics and Information Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands

    M. E. Iacob & M. J. van Sinderen

  2. University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands

    M. Steenwijk

  3. Cape Groep, Transportcentrum 14, 7547 RW, Enschede, The Netherlands

    P. Verkroost

Authors
  1. M. E. Iacob
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  2. M. J. van Sinderen
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  3. M. Steenwijk
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  4. P. Verkroost
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. E. Iacob.

Appendices

Appendix A

The CMS packages have been compared on several criteria that include all carbon footprint aspects discussed in this study and other offered functionality and technological aspects of the solutions. Concerning the functionality the comparison criteria are:

  • Approach: does the vendor calculate footprints according to a certain protocol and emission factors, or are various ones supported? Is the IS restricted to GHG emissions, or can it also manage other polluting emissions? Does the package only provide functionality on GHG topics, or are other environmental management functions included, or at least available in external modules?

  • Footprint calculation: can the CMS calculate both CCFs and PCFs, and are more specified footprints available?

  • Monitoring: how are the footprints calculated and presented real-time?

  • Reporting: what kind of reports can be produced? Does the CMS allow for auditing of the process?

  • Acting: besides monitoring and reporting, it is valuable to act upon the footprint data. How is the data being analysed and what tools are available to the user to support reduction initiatives. How thoroughly are these actions planned and does the CMS keep track of the progress?

  • Accounting: does the CMS offer functionality for accounting of energy and carbon offsets, and allowances trading?

Concerning the implementation, the CMS packages have been compared on:

  • User management: can user roles or workflows be specified?

  • Data entry: how can emission data be collected and entered into the IS?

  • Integration: is the CMS able to communicate with other ISs and is integration with supply chain partners possible?

  • Deployment: is the IS deployed locally, web-based or provided as a SaaS solution?

The table below shows an overview of the functionality and implementations characteristics of all surveyed packages (Table 2).

Table 2 Overview of CMS functionality
Full size table

Appendix B

Acronym

Complete name

ABC

Activity Based Costing

AIS

Accounting Information System

APS

Advanced Planning System

BC

Board Computers

BPMN

Business Process Modeling Notation (www.bpmn.org)

CANbus

Controlled Area Network bus

CCF

Corporate Carbon footprint

CMS

Carbon Management Systems

DBMS

Data Base Management System

FMS

Fleet Management System

GHG

Greenhouse Gases

GPRS

General packet radio service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Packet_Radio_Service)

GPS

Global Positioning System

GSM

Global System for Mobile Communications (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM)

IS

Information systems

LCMS

Logistics Carbon Management System

LSP

Logistic Service Providers

OES

Order Entry System

PCF

Product Carbon Footprint

SMS

Short Message Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Message_Service Message Service)

TMS

Transport Management Systems

TOGAF

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF 2009)

UML

Unified Modeling Language (www.uml.org)

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_mobile_telecommunications_system)

WMS

Warehouse Management System

XML

Extensible Markup Language (http://www.w3.org/XML/)

XSD

XML Schema Definition (http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema.html)

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Iacob, M.E., van Sinderen, M.J., Steenwijk, M. et al. Towards a reference architecture for fuel-based carbon management systems in the logistics industry. Inf Syst Front 15, 725–745 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-013-9416-y

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