The advanced information processing system must still provide for processing of transactions. In fact, the processing of transactions provides input for the data base that is vital to advanced system is toward online data collection and online inquiry. The updating of files may also be performded immediately, although other approaches are also used.
The online inquiry capability is very significant in operational support. It means that any authorized employee may obtain immediate response to an inquirysuch as the current balance in a customer account or the inventory on hand for an item.
