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Conducting Transactions
A transaction is an individual act of business that needs to be recorded. 

Examples of transactions:

  • buying an item in a shop
  • paying a bill
  • renting a video
  • enrolling in a course
  • withdrawing cash from an ATM
  • applying for a driving licence

Businesses and organisations nowadays perform most transactions using ICT. Many companies deal with thousands of transactions daily. 

Many transactions involve the transfer of data. 

 

Advantages of using ICT methods for conducting transactions:
  • transactions can be completed quickly
  • fewer errors are made as rigorous checks, such as data validation can be carried out on data.
  • transactions are automatically recorded for later analysis.
  • transaction data can be easily transferred to other programs (such as spreadsheets) for analysis.
EFT (Electronic Funds transfer) is the automatic transfer of money from one account to another. Many payments are made using EFT as it does not involve the use of cash.

When a payment is made using a credit card, the amount of money is transferred from the buyer's account to the credit card company's account.

When a debit card is used, money is transferred from the buyer's account to the seller's account.

 

 EFTPOS is EFT carried out at a POS (Point of Sale) terminal... Eg. Using a credit card to buy goods in a supermarket.
Many transactions can be automatically carried out by customers on the Internet. Companies allow customers to buy goods or services on their web sites. Payment is made using credit or debit cards.