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CIS210: Systems Analysis & Design
Week 6/Assignment 2: ATM Use Case
November 15, 2015

The use case in this narrative describes the process and flow of data when a bank customer uses their debit or credit card when withdrawing funds from their account. The use case actors in this scenario are the bank itself and the customer. As a pre-verified condition, the following has already been introduced or pre-existing already within the bank location: a network connection within the bank and to the ATM, an ATM on-site and cash available for withdrawals from the ATM. * In this use case, the ATM withdrawal is consistent with that of data flow and customer selected options, similar to the process of a flow chart. This particular use case scenario, the following events are completed to withdraw funds from an ATM account: (Step 1) The use case begins when a customer inserts their debit/credit card into the ATM. (Step 2) After use case is initialized, the ATM network must validate the customer by requesting for card PIN. (Step 3) Various options are presented for the customer including balance, transfer, withdrawal, fast cash, etc. As part of this use case scenario, the customer wants a withdrawal transaction from the ATM. (Step 4) Customer selects “Withdrawal” from the available accounts shown on ATM display. (Step 7) ATM displays the amount a customer may withdraw with pre-determined amounts ($10, $20, $30, etc.) or “Other” option for customer to request a specific amount not displayed on screen. (Step 8) Debit/Credit card number, customer account, card PIN, selected cash amount and selected bank account type information are sent to bank requesting for approval. (Step 9) The Bank organization determines if the submitted credentials are verified within its system. (Step 10) After approval, cash funds are dispensed from the ATM. (Step 11) In some instances, cards need to be returned to customer (other ATM’s only require a customer to swipe their card). (Step 12) Transaction receipt is printed detailing the amount withdrawn, account balance, transaction number, ATM location, etc. (Step 13) The ATM finalizes the transaction and resets to the main welcome screen. This use case scenario has been completed successfully. * Alternative courses can occur as well. Alternative courses in this use case will be determined if the transaction does not complete successfully but rather is cancelled due to incorrect information or manual termination by customer. Some examples of these of these occurrences might include if a customer inputs an unreadable card, submits wrong credentials (PIN or zip code), an unavailable account, insufficient funds from account or ATM, a network timeout, amount exceeds withdrawal limit or exceeds daily limit. An unreadable card meaning the card’s magstripe (thick black line on rear of card) has damage or card was reported stolen or lost. Invalid credentials were to happen if a customer submits the incorrect PIN number or zip code on to the ATM terminal. Insufficient funds from either the customer’s account or the ATM itself refers to the amount of funds/cash available. Unavailable account refers to the available accounts a customer may withdraw from. If the customer only has a savings account, they may not request funds from a checking account. If the requested amount if higher than the available balance, the customer must select another amount or redo the whole process again with a selected lower cash amount. A timeout occurs if the transaction request sent to the bank institution takes too long, the ATM will terminate the transaction and notify the customer, to then return back to the welcome screen. Exceeding a limit can be determined if the selected amount a customer selects to withdraw from the ATM is either exceeding their own daily withdrawal limit (set forth by bank institution) or the maximum amount of funds a person can take out (set forth by the bank or ATM distributor) at a single time. * A successful ATM transaction is if the customer has received their selected funds and the bank institutions have updated their system as well. If no funds were received by customer, the transaction has not been completed successfully.

A deposit ATM transaction is initiated when the customer selects this as an option, part of the available types of transaction on the display screen. After authorizing their credentials, the customer must select the type of transaction they wish to complete; in this instance would be deposit. After this, the customer must select to which account (account availability as said above) they will like to deposit their funds to (ex. Savings). As technology is more advanced nowadays, an ATM can now determine a check amount or cash bill through its sensors without input from the customer. The ATM system will send this information to the bank institution for verification. If cash bills were deposited, then most likely the funds are automatically added to the customer’s account without the need of verification from a bank personnel (unless $1,000 or above). After the transaction is completed, a receipt will be printed displaying if the transaction was pending, completed or failed. Bank personnel are notified when deposits are made by cash and check. For check deposits, bank personnel must verify and approve the information is correct to then disperse the funds to the customer’s account. Some ATM’s require a customer to submit their check deposit in an envelope, to be later manually entered into the system, verified and approve the check.

A transfer transaction from within an ATM is initiated when the customer selects this as an option, part of the available types of transaction on the display screen. After authorizing their credentials, the customer must select the type of transaction they wish to complete; in this instance would be transfer. After this, the customer must select which account they would like to transfer from and which account to transfer to. Upon choosing which account to transfer fram and to, the amount wanting to transfer is inputted by the customer. The ATM system will send this information to the bank institution for verification. If small a small amount of transfer has been submitted, likely the funds are automatically transferred to the other account without the need of verification from bank personnel (unless amount is over $20,000). After the transaction is completed, a receipt will be printed displaying if the transaction was pending, completed or failed. Bank personnel are notified when large transfer requests are pending. Bank personnel must verify and approve the transfer request to then update the customer’s account balances.

As far as ethical issues regarding an ATM system and its drawbacks, the major issue is fraud. Most ATM systems nowadays have an integrated video or camera security system to capture customers for anti-criminal purposes. An ATM does not the same as a bank teller when a customer is withdrawing/depositing/transferring funds to and from their accounts. A bank teller will verify a customer’s identity through physical facial features (most banking institutions upload the customer’s ID card to their servers), social security number, account number, etc. However, an ATM does not do this. A person may request to withdraw funds through an ATM even though this may not be their own account/card. This is what’s referred to as theft and fraud. An ATM might get the perpetrator’s picture, but cannot do anything else if the person has the right PIN number to the card. Also, if the perpetrator is wearing some type of hooded jacket or covers their face, the ATM surveillance system means little to no value to the police at this point. In conclusion, this use case defines the process of a traditional ATM withdrawal, deposit and transfer along with a single but important ethical issue. By customer’s using an ATM compared to standing in lines inside the bank itself, saves some time. Also, the popularity of ATM systems is more in abundance then bank locations, as well as operating hours are available after-hours.

References

Rosenblatt, H. (2014). Object Modeling. In Systems analysis and design (Tenth ed., pp. 235-238). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Swanson, J. (2010, March 7). Working of Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.circuitstoday.com/working-of-automatic-teller-machine-atm
Totty, P. (2015, October 1). Modern ATM Technology 'Has Exploded’. Credit Union Magazine, 42-45.