EXPANDED DATA PROCESSING CYCLE

Frequently, three more steps are added to the basic data processing cycle to obtain the expanded data processing cycle.

1. Origination. Origination is a step which refers to the process of collecting the original data, An original recording of the data is called a source document.

2. DISTRIBUTION. This step which refers to the distribution of the output data. Recordings of the output data are often called report documents.

3. STORAGE. Storage is crucial in many data processing procedures. Data processing results are frequently placed in storage to be used as input data for further processing at a later date. The two flow lines between the processing box and the storage box indicate the interaction of these two steps. A unified set of data in storage is called a file. Usually a file consist of a collection of records, where each record contains similar data items, and a collection of related files called a data base.