Disaster-Ready ATM Design: Keeping Cash Access Available in a Crisis

Design an ATM system that people can still rely on when a natural disaster strikes their area. Decide what staying operational should mean and how the system makes it happen. ```hint Follow one withdrawal List everything a single cash withdrawal depends on, from electricity to the notes inside the machine, and ask which of those a storm, flood or earthquake takes away first. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Are we building for a bank that runs its own machines, an independent ATM network, or a manufacturer that sells the hardware? - Which disasters and regions should we design for first: storms and floods that arrive with warning, earthquakes that arrive without it, or all of them? - Does staying operational mean dispensing cash only, or also deposits, balance checks and transfers? - How much fraud or loss is acceptable in exchange for serving people when the machine cannot reach the card's bank? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A definition of what "operational" means during a disaster, and which users the design serves first - The dependencies behind a withdrawal and how each phase of a disaster breaks them - Solutions across the machine, power, connectivity, cash supply and site access, prioritized against cost - What happens when the machine cannot confirm a withdrawal with the card's bank, and the fraud trade-off involved - Success metrics with guardrails, and the main risks ### Follow-up Questions - A hurricane warning is issued for the region. What should the system and the operations team do before landfall? - Thieves learn which machines are running in a degraded mode. How do you protect cash and accounts without switching the machines off? - If the budget covered only one of your features this year, which would you fund, and how would you test it before a real disaster?