Print Quotas

[yeoman]

Just wondering what, if any, sort of print quotas you set for pupils. We are using PMP and want to start setting a monthly limit to the number of pages pupils can print.

[Gatt]

i use PMP too - set them a term balance of £5 - each page costing 5p

Though considering 2p for monochrome jobs and 5p for colour jobs

 

Also restrict them to 5 pages at a time

 

though this does have an odd side effect.. the ICT teachers are setup to use the same printers, but gave them unlimited accounts in PMP - however they can only print 1 copy at a time - even though they specify, say, 10 copies...

[webman]

We run an RM CC3 network which has a print quota system and works on a system of printer credits. Students are reset to 50 each week, staff to 100. Colour printers are charged at 5 credits per page (except our big A3 which is 10) and mono printers are charged at 2 per page.

[pmassingham]

We use PCONTROL and PADMIN by Altman. We have the same issue with printer defined policies. They override policies allocated to individuals in terms of number of copies and number of pages.

[kevinmcaleer]

We went down the printer quota route. The end result was that it really annoyed people as it was very difficult to implement a good policy that was both fair and reduce the amount of printing.

 

The question I always ask is 'why'? If pupils are printing more its probably because they prefer this method than reading on screen. If staff are printing more, it may be because this is faster/easier/better quality than photocopying etc.

 

When pupils print out ridiculous amounts of stuff, its usually easy to track this down using normal methods. Who police's this is another matter.

 

I think its probably a good idea to have quota software installed, but not to restrict, simply to measure and monitor. That way you can plan for capacity and availablility better. You can also monitor strange patterns of behaviour that may otherwise be hidden.

 

-Kev

[Simcfc73]

I downloaded a print quota software trial from the people who brought you Mastereye and I got an email within 3 hours asking me if I enjoyed the trial and would I like to buy it. This wasn't automated, just a very keen salesperson.