Transaction Processing Systems

Question 1

TPS data collection

Answer 1

1. Transaction data is immediately stored into transaction logs and then completed transactions are stored in the master file in the server.
2. Data is collected on:
   - time of transaction
   - price points
   - payment method
   - users data, their name, billing address and credit card details
   - collecting user input such as scanning barcodes

Question 2

Real time vs Batch processing

Answer 2

Similarities
- carry out transactions for the user
- both use collecting and storage

Differences:
- RT —> completes individual transactions immediately after they have been initiated
- BP —> use bulk transactions after data has been collected from the individuals, delay in the transaction (transactions take time to actually be completed)
- RT —> can do face to face
- BP —> can not do face to face
- RT —> can handle errors immediately during transactions

Question 3

Real Time transactions steps

Answer 3

1. Data collection is split into a sequence of forms
2. Raw data collection
3. Preparation
4. Sorting
5. Processing Analysis
6. Output
7. Storage

Question 4

Storing and Retrieving in TPS

Answer 4

• records of the collected user transaction details are stored in the transaction file
• processed transactions are stored in the master file containing all committed transactions

Question 5

OLAP

Answer 5

Online Analytical Processing,

analyses data in a multi-dimensional view

e.g. information from different locations can be compared

Question 6

Storage media to backup systems

Answer 6

• external hard drives
• tape drives

Question 7

RFID tags

Answer 7

RFID –> radio frequency identification
- Uses radio waves to identify people or objects

Question 8

Tape drives

Answer 8

• Can store more data than external hard drives
• Can be stored onsite or offsite
• Very economical as compared to external hard drives

Question 9

External Hard Drives

Answer 9

• Easy to use
• Easily transportable
• Can be stored onsite or offsite
• Secure and do not rely on cloud storage which can go offline

Question 10

Full backups

Answer 10

• copy of ALL data within the system
  can be a complete image of the entire hard disk
• most businesses perform full backups of all their data files on a regular basis

Question 11

Advantages of Full Backups

Answer 11

Not a complicated process, very simple to perform

Question 12

Disadvantages of Full Backups

Answer 12

Copying all files takes a large amount of storage
Copying all files takes a long time

Question 13

Archive Bits

Answer 13

file component that indicates when new changes have been made to files and when new files are created

Question 14

Checkpoints (in backups)

Answer 14

checkpoint record in the recovery process contains information necessary to restart the system

Question 15

Grandfather Father Son Backup method

Answer 15

uses three generations of backup master files to back up the master files in a transaction processing system

son - daily (at the end of each day)
father - weekly (at the end of each week)
grandfather - monthly (at the end of each month)

Question 16

Onsite storage

Answer 16

Immediate access to data

Question 17

Offsite storage

Answer 17

Provides access to data in any location

Question 18

Why systems would require real-time processing

Answer 18

if concurrency is required in the system

Question 19

Why systems would require batch processing

Answer 19

if transactions are issued/committed periodically and it is impractical to commit transactions individually

Question 20

List the characteristics of a TPS

Answer 20

1. Rapid Response
2. Reliability
3. Inflexibility
4. Controlled processing

Question 21

Requests in a TPS

Answer 21

where a question or trigger to the transaction is initiated, e.g. swiping an ATM card to start a transaction

Question 22

Importance of data warehouses for TPS

Answer 22

a resource that can be accessed by analysis tools to analyse its transaction data

allows data from TPS to be analysed in isolation to minimise impact on the TPS

Question 23

Partial backups

Answer 23

stores only new or recently changed files

Question 24

Advantages of partial backups

Answer 24

• space saving
• places less demand on network bandwidth
• scheduling of backups is more flexible

Question 25

Disadvantages of partial backups

Answer 25

• may need higher processing overheads as each source file needs to be compared to previously stored files to determine if the data is new or changed

Question 26

Non-web based TPS

Answer 26

• not connected to the internet and does not use a browser
• e.g. POS in a shop or checking into a flight

Question 27

Web-based TPS

Answer 27

• is connected to the internet and uses a browser
• uses live, sensitive data
• e.g. checking in online before a flight, financial transactions in online banking