Question

In the payroll process, the transactions for the pay period are gathered and sorted by employee ID prior to the prepartion of checks. The performance of the gathering and sorting of transaction steps indicates a certain kind of computer processing system. what type of processing is this? and List all the reasons for processing payroll that way, as opposed to the altermative form of processing. what is the name of the alternative form of computer processing?

Answer 1

A Transaction Processing System is software that keeps track of transactions by processing the data in an online recording system. There are several ways in which a computer, under the influences of an operating system is designed to process data.

Examples of processing modes are:

1. online processing
2. real time processing
3. distributed processing
4. Time sharing
5. Batch processing
6. multiprocessing
7. multitasking
8. interactive processing

Out of these the two popular methods are Real time processing and Batch processing.

1. Batch processing

Data is accumulated as a group (batch) over a specified period of time e.g. daily, weekly or monthly. The batch is then processed at once. This method, although designed to be efficient for breaking down bulky series of programs, has a drawback as there is a delay in the transaction result.

For example in payroll processing system, employees details concerning the number of hours worked, rate of pay, and other details are collected for a period of time say, one month. These details are then used to process the payment for the duration worked. Most printing systems use the batch processing to print documents.

2. Real-time Processing

Real-time processing carries out its transactions exclusively; this method ensures a swift reply on the condition of the transaction result. This means as and when transaction occurs. It is an ideal technique for dealing with singular transactions.

Conclusion:

In the given question in the payroll process, the transactions for the pay period are gathered and sorted by employee ID prior to the preparation of checks. The performance of the gathering and sorting of transaction steps indicates a certain kind of computer processing system that is batch processing. The transactions for the pay period are gathered and sorted by employee ID prior because the two employees may have same name but employee ID will be different and then they are processed using batch processing.

List all the reasons for processing payroll that way, as opposed to the alternative form of processing.

• The processing of a group of transactions uniquely differentiates the batch processing from the real-time processing that only runs exclusive transactions.
• Batch processing is extremely valuable for reducing costs for large organizations that deal with high data traffic. All of this is very different from real-time processing that is efficient in less complex situations.
• In payroll system as the transaction are similar in type and are in volume that is why batch processing works effectively over here rather the real time.
• The real-time processing offers timely results on each processed transaction that makes it more applicable for smaller enterprises, unlike the batch processing that is time-consuming.
• In batch processing, user interaction is not required as soon as the transaction begins, however, the real-time processing needs user interface to process each transaction completely.