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| Name: | Description: |
|---|---|
| Account |
Account: a single bank account that can be involved in various transactions. Accounts may be of different types; at a minimum, we assume there are checking or savings accounts. A customer can hold more than one account. |
| ATM |
ATM: a station that allows customers to enter their own transactions using ATM cards as identification. The ATM interacts with the customer to gather transaction information, then sends this information to the central computer for validation; if the transaction is approved, the ATM dispenses cash to the customer. We assume that an ATM need not operate independently of the network. |
| ATM_card |
ATM card: a card assigned to a bank customer to provide him or her access to account(s) via ATM machines. Each card contains a bank code and a card number, most likely coded in accordance with national standards for credit cards and cash cards. The bank code uniquely identifies the bank within the consortium. The card number determines the accounts that the card can access. A card does not necessarily access all of a customer's accounts. Each ATM card is owned by a single customer, but multiple copies of it may exist; thus, the possibility of simultaneous use of the same card at different machines must be considered. |
| Bank |
Bank: a financial institution that holds accounts for customers and issues ATM cards authorizing access to accounts over the ATM network. |
| Bank_computer |
Bank computer: a bank-owned computer that interfaces with the ATM network and the bank's own cashier stations. A bank may maintain an internal network of computers to process accounts, but we are concerned only with the computer that "talks" to the network. |
| Cashier |
Cashier: a bank employee who is authorized to enter transactions at cashier stations and accept cash/checks from customers and dispense cash to customers . Transactions, cash and checks handled by each cashier must be logged and properly accounted for. |
| Cashier_station |
Cashier station: a station at which cashiers enter transactions for customers. Cashiers accept cash and checks and dispense cash; the station prints receipts. The cashier station communicates with the bank computer to validate and process transactions. |
| Central_computer |
Central computer: a computer operated by the consortium for the dispatch of transactions between ATMs and bank computers. The central computer validates bank codes but does not process transactions directly. |
| Consortium |
Consortium: an organization of banks that commissions and operates the ATM network. The network handles transactions only for the consortium's member banks. |
| Customer |
Customer: the holder of one or more accounts at a bank. A customer can consist of one or more persons or corporations; this factor is not relevant to the problem at hand. The same person holding an account at a different bank is considered a different customer. |
| Transaction |
Transaction: a single, integral request for operation(s) on the account(s) of a single customer. We only specified that ATMs must dispense cash, but we should not preclude the possibility of printing checks or accepting cash or checks. We also may want to provide the flexibility to perform a single transaction on accounts of different customers, although it is not required yet. The various operations must balance properly. |