Hildesheimer Denkwerk

Hildesheimer Denkwerk: Creating Sustainable Business Processes

Pupils are introduced to scientific work

Is it possible to design schools, universities, and companies in a social and eco-friendly as well as an economic way at the same time? Pupils, teachers, and academics deal with this question in a cooperation which tries to build a regional network with schools and universities. The cooperation is called “Denkwerk”, runs from 2014 to 2017 and is supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Pupils from four different Hildesheimer schools (class level 11 and 12) and scientists from the University of Hildesheim try to consider the visualization of sustainability in business process models to design them more future-oriented.

According to Prof. Dr. Ralf Knackstedt (project manager), “The involved pupils are introduced to scientific work during the cooperation and work with academics. Furthermore, they get some insights of the multi-perspective analysis of business processes.”

Consideration of social, environmental and economic sustainability 

The pupils – among other things – deal with the question of how the preparation of meals in cafeterias and big kitchens can be made more sustainable. For example, using more regional food. In addition, administration processes of the university and schools, production processes of the industry and distributions process of cooperating organizations were analyzed by the project teams. The Denkwerk tries to create new approaches which could be integrated into the school curricula as well as the future-oriented business.

What has happened so far?

In the first half-year the pupils learned basics of the business process management and got some insights in the wide field of sustainability. Furthermore, they trained their presentation- and interview-skills. The learned basics and the trained skills could be applied in the context of some excursions such as to the cafeteria of the University of Hildesheim. They interviewed different employees who give information about receiving of goods, buying of goods, checking the quality and cooking the meals. On base of these statements the pupils, first, created business process models and second, analyzed them regarding sustainable aspects and improvements.

In the next half-year the focus was on the modeling notation itself. In little teams they tried to create concepts and approaches which could be integrated into the modeling notation to support the further consideration of sustainability. This part requires a lot of modeling knowledge as well as creativeness. 

Contact Person: Prof. Dr. Ralf Knackstedt