OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) is a form of transaction processing conducted via computer network. Some applications of OLTP include electronic banking, order processing, employee time clock systems, and e-commerce.

In large applications, efficient OLTP may depend on sophisticated transaction management software (such as CICS) and/or database optimization tactics to facilitate the processing of large numbers of concurrent updates to an OLTP-oriented database.

For even more demanding decentralized database systems, OLTP brokering programs can distribute transaction processing among multiple computers on a network. OLTP is often integrated into service-oriented architecture and Web services.

The term Online Transaction Processing is somewhat ambiguous: some understand "transaction" as a reference to computer or database transactions, while others (such as the Transaction Processing Perfomance Council) define it in terms of business or commercial transactions.

See also:

• Data mart
• Data warehouse
• OLAP

External links

• Transaction Processing Perfomance Council