Controlling the Cost of Computer Printing

PCOUNTERCost Recovery for Network Printing

Print Auditing, User Accounting & Printer Management

PPrintrint AAccountingccounting

1. Explosive network growthGreater access for all network computer users

2. Lack of AccountabilityUsers rarely have to justify resource usage

3. Low cost of printer hardwareTotal cost of ownership not budgeted for

Why is there a need ?Why is there a need ?

0

20

40

60

80

100

Hardware

ServiceSupplies

The Need forThe Need for P Printrint AAccountingccountingThe True Cost of OwnershipThe True Cost of Ownership

(Source: IBM)(Source: IBM)

Consumables!Hardware - 11%

Service - 3%

Supplies - 86%

The Need forThe Need for P Printrint AAccountingccounting

Two main reasons why people are often unaware of the print cost problem?

• They have no idea what the cost is, usually because they have no means of accounting for it.

• They have no responsibility for the budget, which pays for the consumable items.

PPCOUNTERCOUNTERFeature ListFeature List

• Totally automated Totally automated centralisedcentralised tracking, control and tracking, control and accounting of all users’ printingaccounting of all users’ printing

• Audit trail of print jobs showing who printed what, where, when and how much

• Accounting on a cost and page count basis for any PCL, Postscript, Epson ESC/P or ESC/P2 device - HPGL devices costed by area used

• Accounting by user (anyone with a network login) on a cost and page count basis

• Optional assignment of print quotas (ideal for students in education)

PPCOUNTERCOUNTERFeature ListFeature List

• Charge-back facilities to allow any user to cross charge to departments, bill to clients or allocate costs to projects

• Re-direction or restriction of print jobs based on the page count or job size

• Automatic rejection of unsupported job types and incorrect paper sizes

• Optional workstation/parallel printer accounting for local devices on NT based networks

PPCOUNTERCOUNTERFeature ListFeature List

• Supported on all versions of NetWare (including NDPS), NT server and Windows 2000

• Accounts for printing from any network PC

• Easy implementation - no changes required to server, workstation or user configurations

• No requirement for additional server or workstation resources

• Discrete tracking: users need not be aware that their printing is being counted

PPCOUNTERCOUNTERNetwork Print AccountingSet-up and administration

• No user set up is required - users are automatically and discretely tracked by their network login.

• Default queue/device settings can be defined to avoid repetitive set-ups of similar print devices.

• Print credits can easily and quickly be assigned to individuals or groups of users

• “Zero Administration” option is available by linking to a money loader machine which accepts coins/notes and updates students’ Pcounter quota balance automatically.

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Printer/Queue ConfigurationPrinter/Queue Configuration

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - ‘Rules’ based control‘Rules’ based control

Pcounter allows “Rules” to be defined, based on page count and job size with the following options:-- Delete the job- Put the job to the back of the print queue- Re-direct the job to another print queue- Put job on hold

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - “Charge back” accounting“Charge back” accounting

Pcounter provides a number of configuration options to facilitate chargeback accounting. 1 or 2 level charge codes Force selection from a list of pre-defined codes Associate selected codes with specific users Exclude specified users from accounting

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Centralised Queue ManagementCentralised Queue Management

Viewing & modification of all print jobs. Modification of Windows NT printer properties, Novell NetWare (Bindery & NDS) queue properties: Users, Operators. Create/rename/delete printer queues. Pause/resume/purge/restart/delete printers, queues & print jobs. Cut & paste/view print documents, move jobs between printers and queues - even between Novell queues and Windows printers. Drag & drop files onto printers/queues and drag documents from one printer/queue to another.

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - User Account BalancesUser Account Balances

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - User Account BalancesUser Account Balances

When used for quota management, users can check their own Pcounter account balance at any time from any network PC.

Pcounter Print HistoryAll print jobs are logged showing document name, printer, date/time, workstation, Client code/sub-code, Paper size, features, size (Mb), page count, cost and balance.History can be displayed per user from Pcounter Administrator or per device from within Pcontrol.

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Extensive ReportingExtensive Reporting

Pcounter provides a number of reporting options - by User, Printer, Client codes, Groups and Deposits and relevant sub totalling.Reports can be output can be to screen, printer, text file, HTML file or email.

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Extensive ReportingExtensive Reporting

Preferences can be set for style and reporting viewing (default Pcounter Padmin, Web browser or Excel, CSV)

Multiple logs can be selected and processed into single reports

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Extensive ReportingExtensive Reporting

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Extensive ReportingExtensive Reporting

Reports can be generated and displayed on screen, sent to a printer, saved as text or HTML, or emailed. Examples are shown here as screen output:-- by user, showing jobs, pages and cost- by device showing jobs, pages and cost

PPCOUNTERCOUNTER - - Extensive ReportingExtensive Reporting

This example shows print page count totals per printer, broken down by day over a selected week

Foresight Software SolutionsA division of Foresight MarketingPrivate LtdPrivate Ltd

Phone : 23367679 Fax : 23449935Phone : 23367679 Fax : 23449935

Email: Email: sales@foresightho.com

URL: URL: www.foresightho.com

Bangalore: Mumbai: DelhiBangalore: Mumbai: Delhi

For any queries please contactFor any queries please contact