← VCE Software Development U3O2

Economic constraints

A limit on money that restricts a solution, such as a fixed development budget, software licence fees, or the ongoing costs of hardware, hosting and staff.

Part of: VCE Software Development - U3O2 - Analysis and Design — Module 32, QCE Digital Solutions Unit 1 — Understanding Digital Problems — Module 33, QCE Digital Solutions Unit 3 — Real-World Problems and Solution Requirements — Module 10, QCE Digital Solutions Unit 4 — Complex Digital Data Exchange Problems and Solution Requirements — Module 7

Understanding Economic constraints in VCE Software Development U3O2

What it does: Hosting and staff are costs that repeat after the solution is delivered, so they form an economic constraint on the solution. A maximum amount the client can spend is a limit on money, which is the core idea of an economic constraint. Money limits affect what a team can build and use. Laws are covered by legal constraints. Cutting features to stay within the available funds shows the development budget acting as an economic constraint. Licence fees are a money limit on a solution, so a team may have to choose cheaper or free software.

Common mistakes: The over-budget message should show when the money remaining is below zero. The line should be IF remaining < 0 THEN, because the development budget has been exceeded only when spending is more than the budget. Software licence costs are charged per licence, so the total must be licences * fee. Adding them gives a meaningless number.

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Learning
Duo
A school can spend only $5,000 on a new app. What type of constraint is this?
Legal constraint (a fixed development budget)Economic constraint (a fixed development budget)
Matches
Constraint: the app must load in under 2 seconds (economic)
↓
This is a technical or performance constraint, not an economic one, because it limits speed rather than money.
Applying
Meanings
Term
economic constraint
Meaning
A limit on money that restricts a solution, such as a fixed development budget, software licence fees, or the ongoing costs of hardware, hosting and staff.
Practice
Economic constraints:
Testing
Gaps
← 20000
Check Answer
Spots
3remaining ← budget - spent
4IF remaining > 0 THEN

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Quick Questions

1. A school can spend only $5,000 on a new app. What type of constraint is this?
A. Legal constraint (a fixed development budget)
B. Economic constraint (a fixed development budget) ✓
A limit on how much money can be spent is an economic constraint. Legal constraints come from laws such as the Privacy Act.
2. Which is an example of an economic constraint?
A. The client cannot afford a yearly licence fee for a paid database tool ✓
B. The app must comply with the Privacy Act 1988
Licence fees are a money limit, so they are economic. Complying with the Privacy Act is a legal constraint.
3. A team picks free, open-source software instead of paid software because the budget is small. What are they responding to?
A. An economic constraint on software licences ✓
B. A social constraint on user attitudes
Choosing a free tool to save money is a direct response to an economic constraint on licence costs.
4. Which cost is a running cost that could limit a solution?
A. Monthly web hosting fees paid after the software is released ✓
B. The deadline date written in the Gantt chart
Running costs are ongoing money costs such as hosting, support staff and hardware upkeep. A deadline is a time limit, not a money limit.
5. True or false: an economic constraint only applies to the money spent before the software is finished.
A. True: it only covers the build stage
B. False: it also covers ongoing costs such as hosting and staff ✓
Economic constraints include development costs and the ongoing costs of running and maintaining the solution.

Match the Pairs

Budget: $15,000 maximum for development → A fixed development budget that limits how much can be spent on building the solution
Licence: $50 per user per month → A software licence fee that adds to the cost and limits which tools can be used
Running costs are ongoing expenses after release, such as hosting and support staff, and they limit what a client can afford → Hosting: $200/month + 1 support staff
An economic constraint limits a solution because the client has only a set amount of money to spend → Client can spend no more than $8,000
Constraint: the app must load in under 2 seconds (economic) → This is a technical or performance constraint, not an economic one, because it limits speed rather than money.
Economic constraint: only the one-off development cost matters → This ignores running costs such as hosting, licences and staff, which also limit what the client can afford over time.

Key Term

economic constraint
A limit on money that restricts a solution, such as a fixed development budget, software licence fees, or the ongoing costs of hardware, hosting and staff.

Fill in the Blanks

1. budget ← 20000
Hint: Type the variable name for the fixed amount of money available to build the solution.
2. IF totalCost > budget THEN DISPLAY "Over budget" END IF
Hint: Type the comparison operator that checks whether the cost is more than the money available.
3. annualLicence ← licenceFee * numUsers
Hint: Type the arithmetic operator that multiplies a per-user licence fee by the number of users.
4. runningCosts ← hosting + staff + support
Hint: Type the variable for the ongoing wages cost that is added to hosting and support.
5. totalCost ← devCost + runningCosts
Hint: Type the variable for ongoing costs after launch, such as hardware, hosting and staff.

Spot the Error

Question 1
A budget ← 20000
B spent ← 12500
C remaining ← budget - spent
D IF remaining > 0 THEN
E DISPLAY "Over budget"
Line D — The over-budget message should show when the money remaining is below zero. The line should be IF remaining < 0 THEN, because the development budget has been exceeded only when spending is more than the budget.
Question 2
A licences ← 5
B fee ← 80
C total ← licences + fee
D DISPLAY total
Line C — Software licence costs are charged per licence, so the total must be licences * fee. Adding them gives a meaningless number.
Question 3
A CONST LICENCE_FEE ← -120
B users ← 10
C cost ← users * LICENCE_FEE
D DISPLAY cost
Line A — A licence fee is a cost, so it must be a positive amount. A negative fee would make the total licence cost negative. It should be CONST LICENCE_FEE ← 120.
Question 4
A weeks ← 10
B staffCost ← 2 * 1500 + weeks
C hardware ← 3000
D total ← staffCost + hardware
Line B — Staff cost is the number of staff times the weekly wage times the number of weeks. The last operator must be *, not +, so it should be 2 * 1500 * weeks.
Question 5
A budget ← 10000
B quote ← 12000
C IF quote >= budget THEN
D DISPLAY "Affordable"
E ELSE
F DISPLAY "Too expensive"
Line C — A quote is affordable only when it is less than or equal to the budget. The comparison should be <=, otherwise the economic constraint is checked backwards.

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