A transactional system is a type of information system designed to collect, store, modify, and retrieve all kinds of information that is generated by transactions in an organization.
A transaction is an event or process that generates or modifies the information that is eventually stored in an information system.
From English: transactional system or transaction processing system.
Examples of concrete functions of a transactional system
* A transactional system must control the transactions to maintain the security and consistency of the data involved. For example, a client transfers money from one account to another account within the same bank; the amount of money that is deducted from the sending account must be equal to the amount that is added to the receiving account. Otherwise, the action (transaction) is not performed.
* A transactional system must be able to correct any error that occurred during a transaction, being able to undo the operations carried out, keeping the data as it was before the error.
* You must also be able to control and manage multiple transactions, determining priorities among them. For example, a customer is reserving a seat on a flight, that seat must be temporarily blocked until the transaction is completed, because another customer might be wanting to reserve the same seat at the same time.
Properties of transactional systems
* Automate operational tasks in an organization, allowing savings in personnel.
* They are usually directed especially to the area of sales, finance, marketing, administration and human resources.
* They are usually the first information systems that are implemented in an organization.
* Its calculations and processes are usually simple.
* They are often used to load large databases.
* The benefits of this type of systems in an organization are quickly visible.
* These systems are optimized to store large volumes of data, but not to analyze them.
Expected characteristics of a transactional system
* For a computer system to be considered a transactional system, it must pass the ACID test.
* Speed: they must be able to respond quickly, in general the response should not be longer than a couple of seconds.
* Reliability: they must be highly reliable, otherwise it could affect customers, the business, the reputation of the organization, etc. In case of failures, it must have data backup and recovery mechanisms.
* Inflexibility: they cannot accept information other than what is established. For example, an airline’s transactional system must accept reservations from multiple travel agencies. Each reservation must contain the same mandatory data, with certain characteristics.
related terminology
information system
ACID
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