Print management solution help!

[themightymrp]

I'm hoping somebody could suggest a print management solution that will do what I want it to do. I have tested both Papercut and PCounter and each does one thing that the other can't but neither can do all my specific requirements.

 

This is what I want:

 

1) Set up department accounts for billing i.e. Maths, ICT, English etc

2) For printers located in specific department IT suites (such as English) students should be able to print without any popup/user interaction. The printer should be linked directly to a billing account and all jobs are automatically billed against that account

3) General access printers (and colour printers) should pause all jobs sent to them. Students should get no popup or need to do anything. Staff should be able to resume the jobs and select which account should be billed for it from a popup list

4) Rules should be set on every printer with regards max number of pages in a document, restricted size of paper and max number of copies allowed (ideally 1).

5) Students should be allocated a starting balance at the start of every month, staff can be set to unlimited.

 

So far I can do (1) using both Papercut and PCounter. I can do (2) with Papercut. I can't to (3) with either program! I can do all of (4) with PCounter but the max copy count doesn't work correctly with Papercut. I can do (5) with both programs.

 

Does anybody know of a way to satisfy all requirements? Whether it be a different program or a funky way of making it work with either of the other 2?

 

Any help is appreciated!

[LukeC]

This is also what im looking for in particular Point 3. I spoke with papercut yesterday and they seemed to imply it could be done. I have been playing with the trail but no sucess at the moment.

[Millgate]

Hi guys,

 

We do managed print solutions. If you email/PM me your details etc, I'll arrange a conf call for you

 

Luke

[themightymrp]

This is also what im looking for in particular Point 3. I spoke with papercut yesterday and they seemed to imply it could be done. I have been playing with the trail but no sucess at the moment.

 

This particular point is the one I most want to work. When I spoke to Papercut they said I couldn't do it because the selection of account had to be done at the point of printing i.e. when the students click print. Just resuming jobs doesn't give that option.

 

However if you find out otherwise PLEASE tell me how!

[themightymrp]

Thanks @Millgate , however it's not a full managed print solution I want. We want to continue with the printers/toner suppliers we currently use. I just want software that satisfies the requirements I put above, if they can't all be covered then not interested.

[nadeem]

I use Equitrac Express, and although I don't have in configured in the way that you require, I'm am fairly sure it will do everything you require.

[themightymrp]

I will email their support and ask if it does what I want - thanks! Never come across this one before

[nadeem]

IF you want I can put you in touch with our reseller - we use ours to manage a whole bunch of Ricoh kit with Mifare based follow you printing/copying/scanning, though to be fair they are now a part of Sharp!

[wescoll]

Big massive vote here for PaperCut.

If it doesn't meet one of your requirements now, you can request it for future releases, and/or work with the developers. There is a bit of a time difference here in the UK with the development team and 2nd line support in Australia, but I can live with it due to the sheer quality of the product and support.

Also, the price and ongoing support is excellent.

[Marshall_IT]

Papercut can do 4 with scripts. I have limited the number of pages people can print based on printer and ad group.

 

You are right in thinking you have to choose an account before printing with Papercut.

 

However, I haven't found it to be a issue.

 

Staff get used to having to make the decision first, and if mistakes are made you can manually move the balance around. It does occur very often for us.

[Big_Ted]

3. General access printers (and colour printers) should pause all jobs sent to them. Students should get no popup or need to do anything. Staff should be able to resume the jobs and select which account should be billed for it from a popup list.

 

Ok you can't do it but you can get close.

 

setup the print queue with hold/release enabled.

setup all students to override the printer settings so their jobs will not be held. (use bulk actions to make changes to all students at once)

setup staff to require popup when they print and use shared accounts.

 

The only difference here is instead of confirming where they want the job to be charged to at release they do it when they print. In theory that makes more sense as it may be 7 days before a user picks up a job and they will be unlikely to remember where to charge to. If they select where to charge to at time of print its fresh in their minds.

Once that job has been told to print there is not a lot papercut can do with it.

 

As for #4 the max copies filter in any software is a waste of time. in my experience users soon learn to send it in batches of X amount. You are much better of ignoring this option and choosing one of the many other ways to restrict printing

Edited February 21, 2013 by Big_Ted

[MarshDog]

Using Pcounter you can achieve 3 - they have a how to guide on their website which tells you how to do it - Called Teacher Release

[clockend25]

I'm hoping somebody could suggest a print management solution that will do what I want it to do. I have tested both Papercut and PCounter and each does one thing that the other can't but neither can do all my specific requirements.

 

This is what I want:

 

1) Set up department accounts for billing i.e. Maths, ICT, English etc

2) For printers located in specific department IT suites (such as English) students should be able to print without any popup/user interaction. The printer should be linked directly to a billing account and all jobs are automatically billed against that account

3) General access printers (and colour printers) should pause all jobs sent to them. Students should get no popup or need to do anything. Staff should be able to resume the jobs and select which account should be billed for it from a popup list

4) Rules should be set on every printer with regards max number of pages in a document, restricted size of paper and max number of copies allowed (ideally 1).

5) Students should be allocated a starting balance at the start of every month, staff can be set to unlimited.

!

 

We have all of those implemented here using Papercut. If you want any more info then feel free to PM.

[themightymrp]

The main feature of my above list that I REALLY REALLY want is number 3.

 

I know that with most of the software mentioned i.e. PCounter, Papercut etc that you can send jobs to a paused queue. These can then be released by staff.

 

What I need to know how to do is make it so that the member of staff who releases the job, picks the department to bill AT THE POINT OF RELEASE! I need to remove any account selection process from students as they would be prone to abuse the system and pick any old account.

 

If anyone can outline how to do this exact feature then I think I am sorted.

 

Many thanks for responses so far

[MichaelTech]

The main feature of my above list that I REALLY REALLY want is number 3.

 

I know that with most of the software mentioned i.e. PCounter, Papercut etc that you can send jobs to a paused queue. These can then be released by staff.

 

What I need to know how to do is make it so that the member of staff who releases the job, picks the department to bill AT THE POINT OF RELEASE! I need to remove any account selection process from students as they would be prone to abuse the system and pick any old account.

 

If anyone can outline how to do this exact feature then I think I am sorted.

 

Many thanks for responses so far

 

 

If you require staff member to pick the department billing code at the point of release, it may require the staff member a lot of time. Normally the billing code is picked by the user who prints. By the way CZ Print Job Tracker allow you to change the jobs' owner to the department billing code manually before or after the jobs are released. Like I said, this may not be productive for staff to pick the department code for every job. CZ Print Job Tracker provides this feature mainly for admin to correct the job information, but this may be what you need.

[deanallen]

Hey there, I am a newbie to this forum. Even I had some requirements wherein I wanted the control of printing to a specific person in charge and not to everyone. Please help me find a solution which is effective. Thanks, in advance.

[mrbios]

Have a look at uniflow, quite complex to setup the workflows but their tech guys seem to be able to make it do everything except make the tea!

[deanallen]

Hey guys, I was searching for the solutions and I came to know about a print management software, known as Print Audit. One of my friends uses it for his company. He said it works fine and also performs print tracking and secure print release, as well. Also, you can release the print from anywhere with your Smartphone, laptop or PC. I found its features helpful. What do you think about it..........