3.

4 Billing Systems

Overview
Demonstrate and apply knowledge and
understanding of how utility bills are
produced from a batch processing
system employing master and
transaction files.

Examples of Utility Bills

Electric bill
Gas bill
Water rates
Heating bills

Electric meter

How the bill is calculated

Every 3 months
A person reads the present household
readings by visiting and recording the
information on a special data capture
form
Back at the head office the past reading is
subtracted from this present reading and
the number of units used calculated
The bill = the number of units used * unit
charge

Batch processing
Collecting batches of data to be processed
Processing a batch usually at a time when
the processor is less in demand (at night)
No human intervention is required
Suitable for applications that need a high
volume of data processed
Not suitable for applications requiring
immediate feedback

Billing process flowchart

Meter reading
forms

Error
report

Cards batched
Transaction
file

Cards sorted

Sorted
Transaction
file

Customer
bills

Master file
Bill calculated

Error
report

Updated
Master file

Definitions
Master file

The main file to store all

the data in a computer
system. This is merged
with the transaction file to
update the information.

Transaction file

A file which stores the new

data to be merged or
updated into the computer
system.

Batch processing system

Collecting data over a

period of time and then
processing it all in a batch
that is convenient in terms
of time and processing
available.