Economic constraints

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Date:

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Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

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)

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

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

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

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

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1Budget: $15,000 maximum for development		AA fixed development budget that limits how much can be spent on building the solution
2Licence: $50 per user per month		BThis is a technical or performance constraint, not an economic one, because it limits speed rather than money.
3Running costs are ongoing expenses after release, such as hosting and support staff, and they limit what a client can afford		CThis ignores running costs such as hosting, licences and staff, which also limit what the client can afford over time.
4An economic constraint limits a solution because the client has only a set amount of money to spend		DA software licence fee that adds to the cost and limits which tools can be used
5Constraint: the app must load in under 2 seconds (economic)		EClient can spend no more than $8,000
6Economic constraint: only the one-off development cost matters		FHosting: $200/month + 1 support staff

Definitions

economic constraint

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

______ ← 20000

IF totalCost _ budget THEN DISPLAY "Over budget" END IF

annualLicence ← licenceFee _ numUsers

runningCosts ← hosting + _____ + support

totalCost ← devCost + ____________

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A budget ← 20000

B spent ← 12500

C remaining ← budget - spent

D IF remaining > 0 THEN

E DISPLAY "Over budget"

Question 2

A licences ← 5

B fee ← 80

C total ← licences + fee

D DISPLAY total

Question 3

A CONST LICENCE_FEE ← -120

B users ← 10

C cost ← users * LICENCE_FEE

D DISPLAY cost

Question 4

A weeks ← 10

B staffCost ← 2 * 1500 + weeks

C hardware ← 3000

D total ← staffCost + hardware

Question 5

A budget ← 10000

B quote ← 12000

C IF quote >= budget THEN

D DISPLAY "Affordable"

E ELSE

F DISPLAY "Too expensive"

Answer Key

Economic constraints

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Economic constraint (a fixed development budget)

A — The client cannot afford a yearly licence fee for a paid database tool

A — An economic constraint on software licences

A — Monthly web hosting fees paid after the software is released

B — False: it also covers ongoing costs such as hosting and staff

Section B: 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.

Section C: Definitions

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.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

budget ← 20000

IF totalCost > budget THEN
    DISPLAY "Over budget"
END IF

annualLicence ← licenceFee * numUsers

runningCosts ← hosting + staff + support

totalCost ← devCost + runningCosts

Section E: Spot the Error

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.

C — Software licence costs are charged per licence, so the total must be licences * fee. Adding them gives a meaningless number.

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.

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.

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.