Chapter 2 - Overview of Transaction Processing and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Question 1

What is the data processing cycle?

Answer 1

The four operations performed on data to generate meaningful and relevant information?

Question 2

What are the four operations of the data processing cycle?

Answer 2

Data input, data storage, data processing, and information output.

Question 3

What are source documents?

Answer 3

Documents used to capture transaction data at its source - when the transaction takes place (ex. sales orders, purchase orders, and time cards).

Question 4

What are turnaround documents?

Answer 4

Records of company data sent to an external party and then return to the system as input. They are sent in machine-readable form to facilitate their subsequent processing as input records (ex. utility bill).

Question 5

What is source data automation?

Answer 5

The collection of transaction data in machine-readable form at the time and place of origin (ex. POS terminals and ATM machines).

Question 6

What is a general ledger?

Answer 6

A ledger that contains summary-level data for every asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expense account of the organization.

Question 7

What is a subsidiary ledger?

Answer 7

A ledger used to record detailed data for a general ledger account with many individual subaccounts, such as accounts receivable, inventory, and accounts payable.

Question 8

What is a control account?

Answer 8

A title given to a general ledger account that summarizes the total amounts recorded in a subsidiary ledger.

Question 9

What is coding?

Answer 9

The systematic assignment of numbers or letters to items to classify and organize them.

Question 10

What are sequence codes?

Answer 10

Codes assigned in a way that items are numbered consecutively so that gaps in the sequence code indicate missing items that should be investigated.

Question 11

What is block code?

Answer 11

Blocks of numbers reserved for specific categories of data, thereby helping to organize the data (ex. chart of accounts).

Question 12

What are group codes?

Answer 12

Two or more subgroups of digits used to code an item. Often used in conjunction with a block code.

Question 13

What is a mnemonic code?

Answer 13

Letters and numbers interspersed to identify an item. Usually derived from the description of the item and easy to memorize.

Question 14

What is the chart of accounts?

Answer 14

A listing of all the numbers assigned to balance sheet and income statement accounts. The account numbers allow transaction data to be coded, classified, and entered into the proper accounts.

Question 15

What is the general journal?

Answer 15

A journal used to record infrequent or nonroutine transactions.

Question 16

What is a specialized journal?

Answer 16

A journal used to record a large number of repetitive transactions.

Question 17

What is an audit trail?

Answer 17

A path that allows a transaction to be traced through a data processing system from point of origin to output or backwards from output to point of origin. Used to check the accuracy and validity of ledger postings and to trace changes in general ledger accounts from their beginning balance to their ending balance.

Question 18

What is an attribute?

Answer 18

The properties, identifying numbers, and characteristics of interest of an entity stored in a database (ex. employee number, pay rate, name).

Question 19

What is a field?

Answer 19

The portion of a data record where the data value for a particular attribute is stored (ex. cell in a spreadsheet).

Question 20

What is a record?

Answer 20

A set of fields whose values describe specific attributes of an entity (ex. row in a spreadsheet).

Question 21

What is a data value?

Answer 21

The actual value stored in a field describing a particular attribute of an entity (ex. text stored inside a cell in a spreadsheet).

Question 22

What is a file?

Answer 22

A group of related records.

Question 23

What is a master file?

Answer 23

A permanent file of records that stores cumulative data about an organization. Similar to a ledger.

Question 24

What is a transaction file?

Answer 24

A file that contains records of individual business transaction that occur during a specific time. Similar to a journal.

Question 25

What is a database?

Answer 25

A set of interrelated, centrally coordinated files.

Question 26

What are the four different types of data processing activities?

Answer 26

CRUD - Creating, reading, updating, and deleting.

Question 27

What is batch processing?

Answer 27

Accumulating transaction records into groups or batches for processing at regular intervals.

Question 28

What is real-time processing?

Answer 28

The computer system processes data immediately after capture and provides updated information to users on a timely basis.

Question 29

What are documents?

Answer 29

Records of transactions or other company data (ex. checks, invoices, receiving reports).

Question 30

What are reports?

Answer 30

System output organized in a meaningful fashion and used to control operational activities, make decisions and design strategies, and to understand a company’s business activities.

Question 31

What is a query?

Answer 31

A request for the database to provide the information needed to deal with a problem or answer a question.

Question 32

What is a smart contract?

Answer 32

A regular contract with the terms and agreed upon details built into the blockchain.

Question 33

What is an ERP?

Answer 33

A systems that integrates all aspects of an organization’s activities into one system.