Which of the following is not an example of a companies transaction processing system?

Skip to main content

This browser is no longer supported.

Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.

Transaction Processing

  • Article
  • 09/15/2021
  • 2 minutes to read

In this article

When you purchase a book from an online bookstore, you exchange money (in the form of credit) for a book. If your credit is good, a series of related operations ensures that you get the book and the bookstore gets your money. However, if a single operation in the series fails during the exchange, the entire exchange fails. You do not get the book and the bookstore does not get your money.

The technology responsible for making the exchange balanced and predictable is called transaction processing. Transactions ensure that data-oriented resources are not permanently updated unless all operations within the transactional unit complete successfully. By combining a set of related operations into a unit that either completely succeeds or completely fails, you can simplify error recovery and make your application more reliable.

Transaction processing systems consist of computer hardware and software hosting a transaction-oriented application that performs the routine transactions necessary to conduct business. Examples include systems that manage sales order entry, airline reservations, payroll, employee records, manufacturing, and shipping.

This section provides both general information on transaction processing, and specific information on how to write transactional applications and resource managers using the Microsoft .NET Framework.

In This Section

Transaction Fundamentals
Introduces basic transaction processing terms and concepts.

Features Provided by System.Transactions
Discusses how you can use features in System.Transactions to write your own transactional application.

Reference

System.Transactions
Provides classes that allow your code to participate in transactions. The classes support transactions with multiple distributed participants, multiple phase notifications, and durable enlistments.

Feedback

Submit and view feedback for

As the business landscape continues to evolve, companies are becoming increasingly more reliant on their data. However, before you can utilize any data for the benefit of your company, you must first process both the structured and unstructured data that you collect.

While the simplest and most well-known form of data processing is data visualization, there are several different data processing methods that are commonly used to interact with data. 

Read on to learn more about the five types of data processing and how they differ in terms of availability, atomicity, concurrency,  and other factors.

Table of Contents 

  • Why Does the Data Processing Method Matter?
  • Transaction Processing 
  • Distributed Processing 
  • Real-time Processing 
  • Batch Processing 
  • Multiprocessing 
  • Preparing Your Data for Processing 
  • How Integrate.io Can Help

Why Does the Data Processing Method Matter?

The method of data processing you employ will determine the response time to a query and how reliable the output is. Thus, the method needs to be chosen carefully. For instance, in a situation where availability is crucial, such as a stock exchange portal, transaction processing should be the preferred method.

It is important to note the difference between data processing and a data processing system. Data processing is the rules by which data is converted into useful information. A data processing system is an application that is optimized for a certain type of data processing. For instance, a timesharing system is designed to run timesharing processing optimally. It can be used to run batch processing, too. However, it won't scale very well for the job.

In that sense, when we talk about choosing the right data processing type for your needs, we are referring to choosing the right system. The following are the most common types of data processing and their applications.

Related Reading: Data Engineering: What is a Data Engineer and How Do I Become One?

1. Transaction Processing

Transaction processing is deployed in mission-critical situations. These are situations, which, if disrupted, will adversely affect business operations. For example, processing stock exchange transactions, as mentioned earlier. In transaction processing, availability is the most important factor. Availability can be influenced by factors such as:

  • Hardware: A transaction processing system should have redundant hardware. Hardware redundancy allows for partial failures, since redundant components can be automated to take over and keep the system running.
  • Software: The software of a transaction processing system should be designed to recover quickly from a failure. Typically, transaction processing systems use transaction abstraction to achieve this. Simply put, in case of a failure, uncommitted transactions are aborted. This allows the system to reboot quickly.

2. Distributed Processing

Very often, datasets are too big to fit on one machine. Distributed data processing breaks down these large datasets and stores them across multiple machines or servers. It rests on Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). A distributed data processing system has a high fault tolerance. If one server in the network fails, the data processing tasks can be reallocated to other available servers.

Distributed processing can also be immensely cost-saving. Businesses don't need to build expensive mainframe computers anymore and invest in their upkeep and maintenance.

Stream processing and batch processing are common examples of distributed processing, both of which are discussed below.

Get deep industry insights in your inbox once a month

Get exclusive tips and tricks, industry best practices, and insights from thought leaders every month!

Monthly Newsletter

Woman

Woman

3. Real-time Processing

Real-time processing is similar to transaction processing, in that it is used in situations where output is expected in real-time. However, the two differ in terms of how they handle data loss. Real-time processing computes incoming data as quickly as possible. If it encounters an error in incoming data, it ignores the error and moves to the next chunk of data coming in. GPS-tracking applications are the most common example of real-time data processing.

Contrast this with transaction processing. In case of an error, such as a system failure, transaction processing aborts ongoing processing and reinitializes. Real-time processing is preferred over transaction processing in cases where approximate answers suffice.

In the world of data analytics, stream processing is a common application of real-time data processing. First popularized by Apache Storm, stream processing analyzes data as it comes in. Think data from IoT sensors, or tracking consumer activity in real-time. Google BigQuery and Snowflake are examples of cloud data platforms that employ real-time processing.

Related Reading: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Data Pipeline 

4. Batch Processing

As the name suggests, batch processing is when chunks of data, stored over a period of time, are analyzed together, or in batches. Batch processing is required when a large volume of data needs to be analyzed for detailed insights. For example, sales figures of a company over a period of time will typically undergo batch processing. Since there is a large volume of data involved, the system will take time to process it. By processing the data in batches, it saves on computational resources.

Batch processing is preferred over real-time processing when accuracy is more important than speed. Additionally, the efficiency of batch processing is also measured in terms of throughput. Throughput is the amount of data processed per unit time.

5. Multiprocessing

Multiprocessing is the method of data processing where two or more than two processors work on the same dataset. It might sound exactly like distributed processing, but there is a difference. In multiprocessing, different processors reside within the same system. Thus, they are present in the same geographical location. If there is a component failure, it can reduce the speed of the system.

Distributed processing, on the other hand, uses servers that are independent of each other and can be present in different geographical locations. Since almost all systems today come with the ability to process data in parallel, almost every data processing system uses multiprocessing.

However, in the context of this article, multiprocessing can be seen as having an on-premise data processing system. Typically, companies that handle very sensitive information might choose on-premise data processing as opposed to distributed processing. For example, pharmaceutical companies or businesses working in the oil and gas extraction industry.

The most obvious downside of this kind of data processing is cost. Building and maintaining in-house servers is very expensive.

The New Data Warehouse Stack for Tomorrow’s Leaders

Low-code data warehouse tools & hundreds of connectors to unify your data & reporting

Woman

Woman

Preparing your Data for Data Processing

Before data can be processed and analyzed, it needs to be prepared, so it can be read by algorithms. Raw data needs to undergo ETL - extract, transform, load - to get to your data warehouse for processing. Integrate.io simplifies the task of preparing your data for analysis. With our cloud platform, you can build ETL data pipelines within minutes. The simple graphical interface does away with the need to write complex code. There is integration support right out of the box for more than 100 popular data warehouses and SaaS applications. And you can use APIs for quick customizations and flexibility.

With Integrate.io, you can spend less time processing your data, so you have more time for analyzing it. Learn more by scheduling a demo and experiencing our low-code platform for yourself.

Related Reading: Why ETL Data Modeling is Critical in 2021

How Integrate.io Can Help

If you’re looking for the right tools to easily extract, transform, and load data in order for it to then be processed and analyzed, Integrate.io can help. With Integrate.io’s ETL pipelines, the task of preparing your data for future analysis is made quite simple. Ultimately, with a complete toolkit for easily and efficiently building ETL data pipelines, Integrate.io will be there to help with all of your data processing needs. 

Are you ready to discover more about the many benefits the Integrate.io platform can provide to your company?  Contact our team today to schedule a 14-day demo or pilot and see how we can help you reach your goals.

You might also like our other posts...


Keeping Data Safe

-

The Complete Guide to Data Security

Keeping Data Safe: The Complete Guide to Data Security

Get free ebook

Avoiding Data Integration

Which of the following is not considered part of a transaction processing system?

Which of the following is not associated with Transaction Processing System? Explanation: Triggering a response is not associated with Transaction Processing System.

Which of the following enables a companies business processes to be a source of competitive strength?

A company's business processes can be a source of competitive strength if they enable the company to innovate better or to execute better than its rivals. Business processes can also be liabilities if they are based on outdated ways of working that impede organizational responsiveness and efficiency.

When a company's information systems support the business processes that are needed to achieve the company's goals this is known as quizlet?

when the output from an information system is exactly what is needed to help a company achieve its strategic goals, the two are said to be in alignment.

How do information systems improve business processes?

Business Information System, eases the process of decision making and simplifies the process of delivering the required information and hence assists in taking better decisions instantly. Business Information System can be effectively implemented to help communication better between the employers and the employees.