TPS reports

TPS reports- 

 

 

     Ah, the pop-culturally famous TPS report.  Who among us that has seen Office Space can escape immediately going there mentally at the mention of these? Though it has been years since I have seen that movie, the link is strong.  Up until this point I had no idea what the letters TPS stood for, only that they should be seen with dread.  Printed versions do make good fish cleaning mats though apparently.




     Seriously though, TPS stands for Transaction Processing System and is a tool for a business to keep track of all transactions made within or by the business.  This is the lowest level of three, the others being MIS or managerial information systems, and ESS or Executive Support Systems.  All data aquired by these systems must be stored and organized to make it useful to those who make decisions about the company.

     Still confused about what that means?
I was up until this point.  The best I understand it, a transaction processing system could be as simple as a pad next to the cash box at a vegetable cart.  Every time an item is sold, it gets recorded.  Every time new inventory is purchased, it gets recorded.  It is the method of recording the path of the money and inventory so that a business knows what and how much it has, and a clue if Cousin Floyd pocketed the cash for selling those cucumbers last week.