OVERVIEW OF TRANSACTION PROCESSING
AND ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS
SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
2.1 Table 2-1 lists some of the documents used in the revenue, expenditure, and human
resources cycle. What kinds of input or output documents or forms would you find in
the production (also referred to as the conversion cycle)?
Students will not know the names of the documents, but they should be able to identify the
tasks about which information needs to be gathered. Here are some of those tasks
Requests for items to be produced
Documents to plan production
Schedule of items to be produced
List of items produced, including quantity and quality
Form to allocate costs to products
Form to collect time spent on production jobs
Form requesting raw materials for production process
Documents showing how much raw materials are on hand
Documents showing how much raw materials went into production
List of production processes
List of items needed to produce each product
Documents to control movement of goods from one location to another
2-1
Copyright (c) 2021 Pearson Education, Inc.
,Ch. 2: Overview of Transaction Processing and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
2.2 With respect to the data processing cycle, explain the phrase “garbage in, garbage
out.” How can you prevent this from happening?
When garbage, defined as errors, is allowed into a system that error is processed and the
resultant data stored. The stored data at some point will become output. Thus, the phrase
garbage in, garbage out. Data errors are even more problematic in ERP systems because the
error can affect many more applications than an error in a non-integrated database.
Companies go to great lengths to make sure that errors are not entered into a system. To
prevent data input errors:
Data captured on source documents and keyed into the system are edited by the
computer to detect and correct errors and critical data is sometimes double keyed.
Companies use turnaround documents to avoid the keying process.
Companies use source data automation devices to capture data electronically to avoid
the keying and some of the editing process.
Well-designed documents and screens improve accuracy and completeness by
providing instructions or prompts about what data to collect, grouping logically related
pieces of information close together, using check off boxes or pull-down menus to
present the available options, and using appropriate shading and borders to clearly
separate data items.
Data input screens are preformatted to list all the data the user needs to enter.
Prenumbered source documents are used or the system automatically assigns a
sequential number to each new transaction. This simplifies verifying that all
transactions have been recorded and that none of the documents has been misplaced.
The system is programmed to make sure company policies are followed, such as
approving or verifying a transaction. For example, the system can be programmed to
check a customer’s credit limit and payment history, as well as inventory status, before
confirming a sale to a customer.
2-2
Copyright (c) 2021 Pearson Education, Inc.
, Accounting Information Systems
2.3 What kinds of documents are most likely to be turnaround documents? Do an
Internet search to find the answer and example turnaround documents.
Documents that are commonly used as turnaround documents include the following:
Utility bills
Meter cards for collecting readings from gas meters, photocopiers, water meters etc
Subscription renewal notices
Inventory stock cards
Invoices
Checks (banks encode account info on the bottom of checks)
Annual emissions inventory forms
(http://www.deq.state.ok.us/aqdnew/Emissions/TurnAroundDocs.htm)
Students will find many other turnaround documents.
Here are some URLs for turnaround document definitions and examples:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnaround_document
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=turnaround+document&i=53248,00.a
sp
http://www.answers.com/topic/turnaround-document-1
Here are some turnaround document images (1 long URL):
http://images.google.com/images?q=turnaround+document&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-
8&ei=N7yBSpbAF4KiswO39JnwCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
2-3
Copyright (c) 2021 Pearson Education, Inc.
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