What is the role of the 'load and dispatch' phase in batch processing?

• A. Trigger inbound endpoint
• B. Loading data into the batch and dispatching processing (implicit)
• C. Processing the items
• D. Completing the batch

Answer: (B)

In batch processing, the load and dispatch phase is where the batch job first comes to life: it gathers the input data, loads it into the batch, and hands off (dispatches) those items to be processed by the batch engine. This step creates the batch items and assigns them to workers, often enabling parallel execution so multiple items can be processed at once. The actual work on each item happens in the subsequent processing phase, while finalization and summary happen in the completion phase. The note about dispatch being implicit means the framework handles distributing items automatically—you don’t need to manually kick off work for each item.