The process begins with the arrival of batches of shipping notices from the shipping
department. These documents are copies of the sales orders that contain accurate information
about the number of units shipped and information about the carrier. The data
processing (DP) clerk converts the shipping notices to magnetic media to produce a
transaction file of sales orders. Typically, this process is continual. Throughout the day,
the DP clerks receive and convert batches of shipping notices to magnetic media. The
resulting transaction file will thus contain many separate batches of sales orders. Batch
control totals are calculated for each batch on the file