Every ATM Call Starts With the Same Three Questions You Shouldn't Have to Answer Twice

Branch calls in with a cash error. You open a ticket. The escalation team needs the ATM ID, the host IP, and the remote port before they can even start the remote session. You're calling the branch to ask for the serial number off the back of the machine, because the asset register in the helpdesk system doesn't have it. The branch contact doesn't know what a serial number is. You're now twenty minutes into a call that should have been resolved in five.

This database is the answer you should have had before the phone rang.

Serial Number, Lock S/N, and the Security Credentials Nobody Writes Down Right

ATM ID ties the machine to the bank's asset management system. Serial Number is the manufacturer's identifier — what you give NCR or Diebold when you log the fault. Lock S/N is the combination safe serial that determines which locksmith can service the vault without voiding the bank's insurance. Alarm Code and Security Door Code are site-entry credentials that the field engineer needs before they can even get to the machine.

These four numbers live in different places in most organisations. ATM ID is in the helpdesk system. Serial number is on a sticker inside the lid. Lock S/N is in a spreadsheet managed by the physical security team. Alarm code is on a laminated card in the branch manager's drawer — sometimes. When a field engineer shows up at a branch after hours for a jam clearance and the branch manager isn't answering their phone, those numbers need to be on the engineer's device, not buried in a ticketing system they can't access from the branch car park.

The Network Layer: Four Fields That Define the Machine's Connectivity

IP Address. Gateway. Subnet Mask. Host IP. Host Remote Port. Five fields that completely describe the ATM's network configuration. When a machine drops off the host monitoring system and the network team needs to verify routing, they need to know whether the ATM is on a 10.x.x.x private range or a direct leased-line address, what the gateway is, and what port the host application is listening on for XFS communication.

Most field teams carry this information in a notes field in the ticketing system, updated inconsistently. When the machine gets reconfig'd after a network change at the branch and nobody updates the record, the next engineer spends forty minutes with the host team figuring out why the new IP isn't hitting the port. The Host Remote Port field is the one that catches this — it's the field nobody thinks to check, and it's the one that's wrong after half of branch network migrations.

Site Code as the Routing Key

Site Code is the field that ties everything together for dispatch. When a fault comes in, dispatch routes by site code — it determines which third-party cash-in-transit company services the cassettes, which alarm company holds the response contract, and which field engineer zone covers the location. The Branch Contact and Phone Number fields close the loop: when the engineer is standing outside a locked branch at 6 AM, that's the number they call.

One database entry per ATM. Scan it before you drive. Arrive with everything you need.