IMPLEMENTATION OF A TRANSACTIONAL SYSTEM INVOLVES IDENTIFYING AND DEFINING RELEVANT DATA ELEMENTS, DESIGNING A SYSTEM FOR DATA ACQUISITION, STORAGE, AND RETRIEVAL, TRAINING CONTRIBUTOR AGENCIES TO SUBMIT INFORMATION TO THE SYSTEM, CONDUCTING PILOT STUDIES, AND IMPLEMENTING THE SYSTEM. THE OFFENDER-BASED TRANSACTION STATISTICS (OBTS) DATA BASE IS USED IN MANY STATES TO SUPPORT AN OPERATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES BOTH OFFENDER-BASED TRANSACTIONAL STATISTICS AND COMPUTERIZED CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS OF INDIVIDUAL OFFENDERS. THE OBTS-CCH (CRIMINAL COMPUTERIZED HISTORIES) OPERATING PROCEDURES VARY. IN NEW JERSEY, EACH CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCY FORWARDS TRANSACTIONAL DATA ON OFFENDERS TO THE BUREAU OF IDENTIFICATION WHICH AUTOMATICALLY NOTIFIES THE NEXT CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCY OF THE ADVENT OF THE OFFENDER. THIS MAKES IT RELATIVELY EASY BOTH TO LOCATE AN OFFENDER WITHIN THE SYSTEM AT ANY TIME, AND TO TRACK ANY AGENCY IN PROCESSING THE OFFENDER. THE TRANSACTIONAL DATA GATHERED BY THE SYSTEM CAN THEN BE AGGREGATED TO PRODUCE THE STATES' STATISTICAL DATA BASE FOR PLANNING ACTIVITIES, PROGRAM EVALUATION, AND CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED AND OBTS-CCH ELEMENTS ARE APPENDED. (DAG)