| "... printing costs can
quickly spiral out of control. With Print
Manager Plus, we have been able to curb
our
over- zealous users with a simple,
cross-platform solution."
|
Control
Spiraling Print Costs —
Quota Your Students, Track
and Restrict Irresponsible
Printing
|
Do
you know how much you're spending on
printing?
How
many printers does your school own?
How many students and how many pages
are printed each day? Do you have
students using those expensive color
printers for everything they print?
Try to add up the paper, toner, ink
cartridges, the maintenance, wear
and tear on the equipment, and you
begin to get the picture!
Despite
this huge expense and its impact on
the budget, most schools just view
it as "the cost of doing
business" since it's impossible
to control without the right
information and tools.
There
is an easy solution to these "hidden"
printing expenses. They can be
easily managed!
Print
Manager Plus is superior print
management software that allows you
to quota and track user and printer
usage for a complete print
management solution. This print
tracking and control system gives
you control over these valuable
resources, namely printers, paper
and toner. No more wasted budget
resulting from uncontrolled and
irresponsible printing. You'll be
amazed how much you can save by just
tracking this outflow.
School
Success:
Print
Manager Plus is a "perfect
fit" with our NT Domain
structure. I manage a departmental
teaching lab with 30 NT workstations
& 2 NT Servers. At the
University department level we
constantly struggle with the desire
to provide "print - on - demand"
services to our students while at
the same time controlling costs for
paper, toner and maintenance. PMP
2.0 allows effective print quota
metering, along with the messaging I
need to keep my users informed as to
their "declining balance".
I expect the payback period to be
less than one year, making PMP 2.0
an extremely cost - effective
addition to our NT domain.
Mark C. Pitman
State University of New York
University at Buffalo
Print
Manager Plus was written from the
ground up as a native 32-bit
application and service. It allows
quota and tracking of all printing
activity on a Windows NT/2000/2003
Network. It will track pages being
printed from the following clients:
Windows 2003/2000/NT 4.0, 3.51,
Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows 95,
Windows 3.1, DOS, Macintosh, UNIX
(all flavors), and OS/2.
Print
Manager Plus installs in seconds on
any Windows NT/2000/2003 print
server and is so cost-effective it
often pays for itself within 10 days.
If you run on budgets and especially
if you are responsible for printing,
you need Print Manager Plus.
Print
Manager Plus provides you with the
following features:
 |
Tracks,
Controls and Reports
Printing Usage and Costs
Across Networks |
|
Budget
or Restrict users by $
Amount, # of Pages per
job, Job Size and File Type. |
|
Restrict
printers by #
of Pages per Job, Job Size
and File Type. |
|
Complete
Cost and Usage Accounting |
|
Complete
Reporting |
|
Client
Billing |
The
overall functions that a print
tracking and control system should
perform can be broken down into
three areas - Tracking, Control,
and Reporting.
|
|
| |
Tracking |
| |
|
|
Review
the number of pages and
copies printed by printer,
user or group. |
|
Track
printing to specific
printers (such as more
costly color printers). |
|
Track
Large Format Printers by
linear inch. |
|
Keep
history records for print
traffic by user, by printer,
by group (for determining
heavy usage periods), by
date and by document title. |
|
|
Show
operating costs by printer
and by user. |
| |
|
| |
Control |
| |
|
|
Set
user quotas by dollar
(supports any currency)
value. |
|
Deny
service when this quota is
exceeded by a user. |
|
Set
different "per page
values" for each
printer. |
|
Deny
service on jobs which are
printed from specific
applications or which have
designated key words in the
document title.. |
|
Notifies
user (through pop-up
messages) when their print
job has been denied. |
|
Warns
user (before quota reached)
when quota is getting low. |
|
Delete,
pause or leave a job when a
restriction has been
activated or quota exceeded. |
|
Optionally
pause all jobs that enter a
specific printer queue from
a specific user(s). |
|
Handles
orphaned users and groups. |
|
Can
optionally use default user
settings for new users added
to the domain . |
|
|
Can
optionally use default
printer settings for new
printers added to the domain. |
|
Each
individual printer can have
its own restrictions which
can override user quotas or
restrictions. |
| |
| |
Reports
and Graphs |
| |
|
|
Generate
reports based on printing by
user or by printer. These
reports are typically used
to charge back departments
for printing costs. Reports
generated include user name,
document name, date, time,
number of pages, job cost
and printer used. |
|
Spot
gross offenders by sorting a
list of users by pages
printed. |
|
|
Pre-made
reports and graphs include:
|
| |
| |
|
| |
Detailed
History by
Workstation
Detailed History by
Printer
Detailed History by
Plotter
Detailed History by
User
Detailed History for
all Workstations
Detailed History for
all Printers
Detailed History for
all Plotters
Detailed History for
all Users
Detailed History of
Denied Jobs for all
Users
Graph - Daily
Printing
Graph - Monthly
Printing
Graph - Most Active
Printers
Graph - Most Active
Users
Graph - Weekly
Printing
Summary for all
Denied Jobs
Summary for all
Workstations
Summary for all
Plotters
Summary for all
Printers
Summary for all
Users by Printer
Summary for all
Users |
|
| |
|
|
|
Customized
reports are available for
customers under maintenance
agreement. |
| |
|
|
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Data can be exported as:
|
| |
| |
| PDF |
| Character-separated
values |
| Comma-separated
values |
| Crystal
Reports |
| Data
Interchange
Format |
| Excel
5,7,7E,8,8E) |
| HTML
3.2 |
| HTML
4.0
(DHTML) |
| Lotus
1-2-3
(WK1,2,3) |
| System
DSN ODBC
connection |
| Paginated
text |
| Record
style (columns
no spaces) |
| Record
style (columns
with
spaces) |
| Report
definition |
| Rich
Text
(Exact)
Format |
| Tab-separated
text |
| Tab-separated
values |
| Text |
| Word
for
Windows
document |
| XML |
Destination
File
| Application |
| Disk
file |
| Exchange
Folder |
| Lotus
Domino |
| Microsoft
Mail
(MAPI) |
|
|
| |
|
| |
Print
Accounting Functions |
| |
| |
Print
Manager Plus takes print
management to a new level
with robust accounting
functions. |
| |
|
|
Add
a balance to a user. This
balance is the users account
or "Quota" As the
user prints, the value for
that printer is deducted
from his or her balance. |
|
User
Group Defaults allow you to
add a balance to many users
in a group at one time. |
|
Adjust
the user's account balance
without resetting the # of
pages printed. |
|
Add
more value (credit) to the
balance of the account. |
|
Reset
the pages printed to 0
without resetting the
account balance. |
|
Automatically
reset or increase balances
by a specified amount for
all users, a specific user
or groups of users. |
|
|
Data
and time scheduling can be
used to reset users' quotas
or to automatically add
credits to quotas. |
|
|
Handles
any currency. |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
|
|
Each
printer can be assigned a
"cost per page"
value. These values will be
tracked as number of pages
printed as well as total
value of pages printed. |
|
|
Set
the per page value of each
printer using fractions of a
cent down to one tenth of a
cent. |
|
|
Each
plotter can be assigned a
"cost per inch"
value. These values will be
tracked as number of inches
printed as well as total
value of inches printed. |
|
|
Store
Job History for each print
job. This information will
be picked up in your
reports. The data stored is
Username, Printer Name,
Document Title, Date and
Time Printed, # of Pages, #
of Inches. |
|
|
Handles
any currency. |
| |
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| |
 |
| |
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| |
Messaging
|
| |
|
|
Pop-Up
messaging for Windows
95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP/2003. |
|
Pop-Up
messaging when user exceeds
a specified account
threshold. |
|
Pop-Up
messaging when user hits a
specified account balance. |
|
Pop-Up
messaging when user hits a
specified restriction, such
as # of pages per job, job
size and file type. |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
| |
Database
and Connectivity |
| |
|
Supports
Microsoft 7.0 and 2000 SQL
Server. |
|
Supports
Microsoft Access. |
|
Enhanced
database connectivity and
monitoring for SQL. |
|
Remote
Administrator's console that
runs on Windows NT/2000/XP/2003
Workstation or Server. |
|
The
Print Servers tab shows you
all servers running Print
Manager Plus and connected
to your database. With this
console, you can remotely
start or stop the Print
Manager Plus service on any
of the print servers shown.
You can also designate the
master server and slaves
directly from the Admin
Console. |
| |
| |
Security |
| |
|
Print
Manager Plus service
installs as Domain Admin but
can run under Local System
Account. |
|
Deny
print jobs that are printed
by unrecognized Windows User
Accounts. |
|
Automatically
delete or pause print jobs
that are unrecognized
Windows User Accounts. |
|
Automatically
delete or pause print jobs
that exceed user account
balance. |
|
Automatically
delete or pause print jobs
that are restricted by # of
pages per job, job size, or
file type. |
| |
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 |
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| |
End
User Communications |
| |
|
|
End
User Inquiry Tool that runs
on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
Workstation. This allows
each user to review his or
her account balance or
quota. It also sits in the
User's tray during his
session. |
| |
 |
| |
|
|
Web
based End User Inquiry Tool.
This allows each user to
review his or her account
balance or quota. The user
can also see available
printers and per page cost
per printer. |
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 |
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Client
Billing |
| |
|
|
If
you are interested in our
client billing module please
click here for more
information. |
| |
|
| |
Clients
and Printers Supported |
| |
|
| CLIENTS |
PRINTERS
SUPPORTED |
| Windows
2000/2003 |
All
Printers Supported |
| Windows
NT 3.51/4.0 |
All
Printers Supported |
| Windows
XP |
All
Printers Supported |
Windows
95/98/Me
Windows 3.1x
DOS
OS/2 |
All
Printers Supported |
Macintosh
UNIX |
All
Printers Supported |
|
Customer
Quotes |
| |
|
|
For
some of our printers (the
expensive dye-sublimation
ones, for instance), we
charge for usage.
...(Print Manager Plus) helps
us track usage and generate
billing info. With the
Software Shelf products, I
am extremely satisfied. The
products work as advertised
and get the job done with
little fuss.
James Reaney
Harvard University |
| |
----------------------------
|
|
"Last
spring our board of
education installed
approximately 220 networked
computers and 20 networked
printers in our secondary
school. As very few of our
students have access to
computers or the Internet
outside our school, the
educational possibilities
were wonderful! Certainly
our kids would not be
"information have-nots"!
Many very good things have
happened and continue to
happen in our school as a
result of this rich infusion
of information technology.
But
with over 1600 students and
staff, we knew we had to
find a technological
solution to manage the
potential budget disasters
we faced given minimal
control over printing. While
most students printed just
what they needed for school,
some printed irresponsibly.
Having
learned about Print Manager
Plus after posing a question
to a newsgroup, I
recommended it for testing
in our school. We did just
that in January. Being able
to track users and charge
them before they were able
to print has all but stopped
any irresponsible printing.
In the thousands of student
contacts that we teachers in
our library have, almost
none have complained about
having to pay for their
printing. In fact, many have
said things to me such as,
"Sir, I'm glad we do
this now. It was wrong to
see all that waste."
Our
kids and our staff are happy
that we can are saving money
that was being used to
purchase paper, toner, and
to pay sales taxes to
purchase texts and software.
And, we all feel good about
saving a few trees! Software
Shelf is a remarkable
company. Great service! When
our Systems Engineer called
one morning about a
technical problem we were
experiencing, Bill Feeley
told him, "Give us four
hours." I called Bill
at 2 and he said the new
version was ready. 45
seconds and 3.5 MB later,
our SE installed the new
version. When our free,
trial copy expired one
Friday afternoon about a
month ago, I called with my
credit card number and
purchased the software.
Minutes later, our SE had it
installed. We didn't lose
our database with that
contained all of our
tracking and quotas, either.
Only 3 or 4 people knew what
was going on. Pretty smooth!
PMP
has been a great find. I've
been recommending it to
every one of my colleagues
every chance I get. In fact,
I'll be demonstrating it to
many staff and
administrators in our school
board over the next four
weeks. There's lots of
interest--everyone one of us
is or will face the
educational issues of
responsible use of limited
resources. PMP is one very
good technological helper to
do so."
Brian
Pugh
Westview Centennial
Secondary School
|
| |
---------------------------- |
|
Print
Manager Plus is a "perfect
fit" with our NT Domain
structure. I manage a
departmental teaching lab
with 30 NT workstations
& 2 NT Servers. At the
University department level
we constantly struggle with
the desire to provide
"print - on - demand"
services to our students
while at the same time
controlling costs for paper,
toner and maintenance. PMP
2.0 allows effective print
quota metering, along with
the messaging I need to keep
my users informed as to
their "declining
balance". I expect the
payback period to be less
than one year, making PMP
2.0 an extremely cost -
effective addition to our NT
domain.
Mark C. Pitman
State University of New York
University at Buffalo |
| |
---------------------------- |
|
"In
an open academic environment
printing costs can quickly
spiral out of control. With
Print Manager Plus, we have
been able to curb our over-
zealous users with a simple,
cross-platform
solution."
Bryan Lewis
School of Information
Management and Systems
UC Berkeley |
| |
|
 |
For
the fourth year in a row,
Print Manager Plus wins
the W2Knews Target Award
for the best Print
Management product! |
 |
 |
|
