Billing Systems

Question 1

Utility bills are sent to customers on a…

Answer 1

quarterly basis

Question 2

Producing utility bills for a large population requires what?

Answer 2

A large computer system and batch processing

Question 3

What is meant by batch processing?

Answer 3

The collecting of groups of similar data over a period of time and inputting it into a computer system.

The data is then processed collectively at the same time, usually at night.

Question 4

Name the two files used in batch processing.

Answer 4

1. Transaction file

2. Master file

Question 5

The transaction file stores current data like the…

Answer 5

metre reading

Question 6

The transaction file contains the customer…

Answer 6

account number

Question 7

The customer account number in the transaction file is used to link to the…

Answer 7

master file

Question 8

The transaction file is used to…

Answer 8

update the master file

Question 9

The master file stores information that…

Answer 9

does not change (e.g. Name)

Question 10

The master file is updated using the …. at the end of the batch process

Answer 10

transaction file

Question 11

Explain how electricity bills are produced.

Meters, batches, data, valid data, merged, updated, sent

Answer 11

1. Meter data is read and recorded onto the customer data collection forms and placed together in batches
2. The batches are entered into a computer system
3. The data is checked using verification and validation
4. Valid data is used to create the transaction file, which is sorted in the same order as the master file using a key field
5. Master files and transaction files are merged to create and print bills
6. The updated transaction file is saved as the new master file
7. Customers are sent their bills