Which process does a DBMS use to assess transaction outcomes against serial execution?

The process of assessing transaction outcomes against serial execution is known as serializability. This concept is crucial in the context of database management systems (DBMS), as it ensures that the concurrent execution of transactions yields the same results as if the transactions had been executed in a serial order, one after the other.

Serializability acts as a standard for correctness when multiple transactions are processed simultaneously. A DBMS uses techniques such as locking, timestamp ordering, or multiversion concurrency control to ensure that transactions are serializable. If a set of transactions is serializable, it means their concurrent execution doesn't lead to anomalies such as dirty reads or lost updates, which could compromise data integrity.

While validation, rollforward, and normalization are important processes in database management, they do not directly relate to the evaluation of transaction outcomes against serial execution. Validation involves checking data integrity rules, rollforward pertains to data recovery processes, and normalization is focused on organizing data to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity. Thus, serializability stands out as the correct answer for this question.