From: Frank Swarbrick on
For what it's worth (nothing), here is how the ATMs that I work with on a
daily basis function...

From the time you enter your card until the time you complete entering your
request information (PIN, function, amount, etc.) there is no "external"
interaction until after that final keypress where the terminal goes in to
it's "please wait" state. At that time all of the information, including
the magnetic stripe data and the PIN, is gathered together into a single
request message that is sent to the host system that the ATM is connected
to. The host forwards the request to wherever it needs to go to be
authorized. When that response is received it is passed back to the ATM.
Then ATM then sends a "confirmation" back to the host once the money is
dispensed. That is the end of a "normal" ATM transaction.

Now of course the ATM does a lot of things interally every time you press a
key. I have no idea if anything on the ATM itself is written in Cobol,
though my guess is it is not.

Anyway, I wouldn't consider those six steps you refer to as distinct
transactions. But that's just me.

Interestingly (to me, anyway!) much of the above changes in the "GUI ATM"
world. We don't have any of these machines, but apparently they do some
"server interaction" as you press various buttons. For instance, from what
I recall when we were looking in to going this direction, when you enter (or
swipe) your card the ATM does indeed query a server, specifying your card
information. This allows the ATM to customize your session based on
personal information stored at the host. It may even be possible for it to
greet you by name, though I have never seen this.
--

Frank Swarbrick
Applications Architect - Mainframe Applications Development
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO USA
P: 303-235-1403


n 9/24/2009 at 7:06 PM, in message <h9h51o$3ot$1(a)reader1.panix.com>,
<docdwarf(a)panix.com> wrote:
> In article
<f0b9fcdf-3854-41d5-af61-d4bde30b8fbf(a)d34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
> robertwessel2(a)yahoo.com <robertwessel2(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>>Of course the real question is why one would compare numbers of
>>financial transactions to numbers of Google searches.
>
> Really? Being a bit of the Technical Type I got caught up with the
> definition of 'transaction'; for me it had the same kind of slipperiness
>
> as LUW... errrrrr, Logical Unit of Work, the signal for a CICS
> SYNCPOINT,
> for those who understand such things.
>
> A person puts a card in a machine, deposits money, withdraws money,
> checks
> a balance, receives an NSF or NOAUTH response to a request and walks
> away... this is a transaction, right? Or...
>
> A card is inserted into the machine. The machine verifies *at the
> machine
> interface* that the card's mag strip is valid. This is a transaction.
>
> The machine, having recognised a valid mag strip, requests a PIN. This
> is
> a transaction.
>
> The user hits the keys... assuming that each key is not verified at the
> pressing the user hits 'all done' and the PIN is captured and formatted
> by
> the machine. This is a transaction.
>
> The machine sends the PIN to whatever 'source of good PINs' exists (some
>
> verify against the card, some elsewhere). This is a transaction.
>
> The verification comes back as 'good' or 'no good'. This is a
> transaction.
>
> ... and so on. I'm sure I'm missing a few steps here and there but...
> once it gets to the bank level I can think of, for a withdrawal, six
> COBOL transactions used for a single withdrawal:
>
> 1) Open/verify the account.
> 2) Verify the account is not frozen.
> 3) Verify that subtracting the amount requested will not violate
> (rules).
> 4) Send a 'disburse (amount of currency) signal to the ATM.
> 5) Decrement the amount remaining in the account.
> 6) Send an 'all done' signal to wherever it is needed.
>
> So... how are 'transactions' being counted, anyhow?
>
> DD
From: Anonymous on
In article <4AC2464E.6F0F.0085.0(a)efirstbank.com>,
Frank Swarbrick <Frank.Swarbrick(a)efirstbank.com> wrote:

[snip]

>Anyway, I wouldn't consider those six steps you refer to as distinct
>transactions. But that's just me.

[snip]

>> ... and so on. I'm sure I'm missing a few steps here and there but...
>> once it gets to the bank level I can think of, for a withdrawal, six
>> COBOL transactions used for a single withdrawal:
>>
>> 1) Open/verify the account.
>> 2) Verify the account is not frozen.
>> 3) Verify that subtracting the amount requested will not violate
>> (rules).
>> 4) Send a 'disburse (amount of currency) signal to the ATM.
>> 5) Decrement the amount remaining in the account.
>> 6) Send an 'all done' signal to wherever it is needed.
>>
>> So... how are 'transactions' being counted, anyhow?

If your disagreement is with 'distinction' then it seems, Mr Swarbrick,
that it is one you created... I didn't use that word. Just for laffs,
though, and so that more might be learned... what are your reason(s) for
not considering these activities to be transactions?

DD