Print control and printer control in the company for local and network printers. Print control and management

Purposes of creation

Minimize the risk of leakage and data loss when printing and copying confidential documents.
Optimize printing costs and ensure efficient equipment utilization.
Management of printing processes and document flow optimization.

Tasks that the system solves

Secure output of documents for printing and copy control.
Secure storage and processing of all documents sent for printing.
Centralized system administration and print policy management.
Monitor information flows and get detailed statistics about users and devices.

The growing number of different printing devices significantly complicates the processes of providing information security within the organization. Typically, divisions information technologies and security is almost out of control important information during and after printing. Routing errors or loss of documents during printing can adversely affect the security of sensitive data, even if information protection measures are implemented at various levels of the corporate network. It is very important that the printout of the document is received by the employee who sent the print job, and not by someone else.

Hard copies of documents are the simplest and most convenient way obtaining personal data (PD) for the violator. According to the InfoWatch analytical center for 2013, the main channel for PD leaks has been paper documentation for several years now.

The company ELVIS-PLUS offers effective solution problems of control and management of printing. The proposed system is created based on the products of manufacturers - leaders in the segment of control and print management - Ysoft, Ringdale And ARTI.

The proposed solutions for the functions performed can be divided into 3 groups:

copy control system CopySafe(ARTI);
print control and management system Print Control Pro(ARTI);
control and management systems for printing and copying SafeQ(YSoft) and Follow Me Printing(Ringdale).

CopySafe copy control system (ARTI)

The CopySafe system is designed to control access and obtain information about document copying sessions. CopySafe allows you to get an image of the copied document and statistical information about the session with the copy device.

The system is a software and hardware complex. The hardware includes an information retrieval device built into a copier or MFP and a user identification system using a contactless magnetic card. For unauthorized users, the copy function becomes unavailable. When a document is copied, in parallel with reading the original, its digital fingerprint is sent to the archive (database) and / or security specialist, depending on the policies adopted in the organization.

Key features of CopySafe:

Managing access to the function of copying documents;
Formation of an archive of images of copied documents;
The ability to search for documents in the archive for internal investigations and updating the list of confidential information.

Print control and management system Print-Control Pro (ARTI)

The Print-Control Pro software solution contains a set of tools for managing, controlling and ensuring the security of printed workflow. The solution is designed to minimize the risks of information leakage during its printing and optimize the cost of maintaining office equipment.

Key features:

Collection of statistics from local and network printing devices.
Formation of an archive of images sent for printing documents.
Possibility of searching for documents in the archive for carrying out official investigations.
Contextual analysis of the contents of the printed document for the presence of confidential information.
Notification of the security service about the printing of a document containing confidential information by a person who does not have rights to print such information.

Control and management systems for printing and copying SafeQ (YSoft) and FollowMe Printing (Ringdale)

FollowMe Printing and SafeQ are comprehensive software and hardware solutions for managing the printing of documents. The solutions work with printing devices of any manufacturer, and also have versions in the form of terminals - MFPs with built-in software and authentication tools.

Key features:

Print and copy security. The user receives tasks only after authorization on the printing device.
Access to the capabilities of the copier, fax and scanner is also available only to authorized users.
Accounting and quoting. The system allows you to receive detailed reports on printed and copied jobs.
Job routing and printing by rules. The user can receive their jobs on any printer connected to the system, reducing downtime in the event of a hardware failure.

The architecture of the system on the example of the FollowMe Printing solution is shown in the figure:

The printing process does not change for the user when the system is implemented, print jobs are sent from any available applications. The job is sent to the Q-Server virtual print server and stored there until the user logs in to one of the devices using a personal card. Only after authorization, user jobs are printed on the printer.

Username/password in MS Windows AD domain.
PIN codes.
Contactless cards (HID (I, II), EM-Marine, Mifare, iClass, Hitag, Cotag, Legic, Indala, ISO, Deister).
Magnetic cards.
Barcodes (QR).
Fingerprint's scanner.

Benefits of implementing systems:

Enhance data security when printing and copying confidential documents.
Reduce your organization's printing and copying costs and improve equipment utilization.
Improving the efficiency of the company's information security department.

As a rule, very often neither the management of the organization nor the IT service can imagine the amount of printing costs, mistakenly believing that they are not so large as to spend time and effort on calculating and optimizing them.

At the same time, hardly anyone will argue that one properly selected productive printer will cost much less to operate than a dozen personal devices. Maintaining a fleet of printers and MFPs with an unreasonably high cost of ownership is more costly and harder to control for abuse (printing extra copies of files or documents that could be dispensed with, as well as employees using printers for personal purposes).

Print auditing and optimization starts with monitoring printers and analyzing business processes where printing is involved. It is necessary to make sure that the used printing devices correspond to real loads (both daily and peak), take into account the rationality of their placement in the workspace. Then, based on the data obtained, optimization is carried out, which may include:

refusal to print paper documents where electronic documents can be dispensed with
reducing the number of copies of printed documents
replacement of expensive maintenance obsolete equipment
reducing the number of brands and models of printers
limiting the use of color in printing
arrangement of equipment, taking into account the actual volume of printing and the convenience of users

Our statistic, audit, and print control solutions help your organization eliminate issues such as "forgetfulness" of consumables orderers, misuse of irrelevant printouts, or unnecessary use of color printing.

Print Control, Security and Print Authorization Solutions

More and more attention is being paid to information security issues. And if the control of such leakage channels as mobile media, the Internet, Email etc., in many companies it is provided at the proper level, then printing and copying control is still a headache for both administrators and the security service.

A dilemma arises: it is expensive to print a large amount of information on personal printers, and if you do not use systems and programs for secure printing, then ineffective control over network printing devices can lead to a leak both by malicious intent and completely by accident.

On the one hand, a situation often arises when, after sending a document to a network printer located in a public place, after a while you cannot find it on the output tray of the device. On the other hand, users sometimes simply forget about their printed documents. And at the end of the working day, the cleaner collects the accumulated documents, which may contain confidential information. Also, the issue of copy control remains without due attention.

In such cases, an excellent solution is secure printing with authorization, which allows you to restrict employees' access to devices, printed documents and avoid information leakage or elementary confusion. Print control systems are designed to ensure the security of printing and copying processes on devices located in public places.

Print optimization

Used in Preton Ltd. products. Patented Pixel Optimizer™ technology uses state-of-the-art mathematical algorithms to detect and remove excess pixels during printout, saving up to 70% of toner and ink without sacrificing print quality.
Reduce ink and toner costs by up to 50%.
IN modern world companies are constantly looking for ways to optimize their costs, but, as a rule, when reducing costs, companies are forced to make concessions and compromises. With PretonSaver Enterprise™, you can save up to 50% on ink and toner costs with no loss in quality thanks to our patented Pixel Optimizer™ technology.

Main features of PretonSaver Enterprise™:

Reduce ink and toner costs by up to 50%
Ease of installation and administration
Create reports on usage, printing costs, and more.
Installable for printers, individual users, user groups, and applications
usage parameters such as print page quota, color usage
print priorities, duplex mode, prevent image printing, etc.
Support for inkjet and laser, color and monochrome, local and network printers

Automatically displays all printers, users, and applications using printing.

Good day, dear forum users!
The problem of controlling employees in a photo salon is a well-known problem, for sure it has already been discussed here. But I searched the forum and didn't find it. Maybe someone will poke my nose where to look and where to read, well, or share their own experience here.

From my experience, supervising employees:

There is a video surveillance system, but there is little efficiency from it, if you look at it in detail, it takes a lot of time.

At one time I bought the program "Secret Agent" Developer: Leonid Myazin, description of the program "Secret Agent" - a program for monitoring and controlling printing on printers. You will know the actual amount of revenue for the desired period. The cost of services rendered by the operator is calculated automatically, based on the analysis of printed documents using the price list. With the help of "Secret Agent" you can identify self-employed employees and increase revenue by up to 30%.
From the experience of using it, I’ll say that the idea is good, but the program is crude and worked randomly, so I had to abandon its use.
I corresponded with the developer Leonid Myazin, he even tried to fix something, sent updates, but it was of little use, in the end the developer said - take the program as it is (there will be no more improvements) or don't use it.

I contacted the offices selling software, set the task, they also did not offer anything worthwhile.

| Message Sent 09 July 2016 - 11:41 nik_2

To a psychiatrist...

Any printer has a print counter and, in the presence of the brains of labor, there is no way to calculate the state of the cash desk (receipt) + warehouse + prints. Any, even a simple accounting system, warehouse + expense + income (in the very general view) will completely allow you to discipline and prevent unnecessary effects.
Investing in team building in any business pays off with interest from any point of view. To hold an employee for bydlot is to become one himself ... As a rule, quite brainless start-ups with zero prospects for life sin this.
Reasonable people install the system for safety, if necessary (!!!) and not for the control of employees. Feel the difference.
imho

| Message Sent 09 July 2016 - 12:31 SCORPIC

Nik_2 said:

To a psychiatrist...

Now state offices are counting how many have been printed. Then they demand justification from each employee why he printed so much. In general, deer, of course, I completely agree. But there are, of course, users such as eternal correspondence students who abuse - and print quietly after work for 5 thousand pages of kursakov, laboratory and other crap, instead of doing it on a home printer.

| Message Sent 09 July 2016 - 13:48 Vladimir750

nik_2 Thanks for clarifying.
Yes, you can really see the fingerprint counter, but some print cost 10 rubles, and some 100 rubles. so how to count, by 10 or by 100, or, so that no one is offended, we consider everything on average for 50 rubles?
Income, expenses, balances, of course, need to be counted, but the employee does not need a lot of intelligence to beautifully bypass these records and make a beautiful joke.

Nik_2 said:

Investing in team building

Yes, you can carve a person good salary, give attention, encourage, but do you really think that an employee will never be tempted to stab - steal and that he will never use this opportunity?

Nik_2 said:

To hold an employee for bydlot is to become one himself ... As a rule, completely brainless start-ups with zero prospects for life sin this

Do you mean to say those

Nik_2 said:

startups

that no one steals oligarchs, deputies, ministers? and if they steal (which is not uncommon), then they are cattle? Who then are we?
You and I do not live in the Stalinist USSR, where for theft you could get 10 years without the right to correspond ...

If everything is as good in your team as you think, I am sincerely happy for you!

Thanks again for your reply!

SCORPIC said:

Change Vladimir cartridges yourself, and then correlate them with the amount of revenue and it will immediately become clear who steals and who works honestly. Each cartridge is designed for a certain amount of printing. The trained eye will be and there will be no problems at all.
I have an industrial Kyosera laser machine that prints on the floor of a high-rise building from office plankton. There are 4 cartridges for 15 and 20 thousand pages. There are enough cartridges for replacement - 1 time per year. If I change cartridges more often, then the office rat is wound up
It is easy to calculate a rat, because. indicator of toner consumption (standing in the mode of increased ECONOMY) if it quickly runs away, then the job and the owner of the print are stored in the machine's logs for some time. It’s even easier to calculate a rat that copies all sorts of crap, by crookedness and bad karma

SCORPIC Thanks for the recommendation!
But then again, but check out laser printer generally there is no work in printers there is a counter. Yes, and the cost of printing is the same, which is to print 2 lines, that the picture is per sheet, although the consumption of toner and the cost of printing are different.
The problem of printing control of the EPSONY inkjet photo printer of the P50, L800 series with large print volumes, with printing of different sizes and at different prices.
About the replacement of cartridges, then there is a CISS on the inkjet and the replacement takes place as if automatically, so you can say, and if we talk about changing it yourself, and sometimes you would have to do it 2-3 times a day, then control systems are not needed, sit nearby with an employee and wait for the cartridge to run out. Besides. Ink (toner) consumption depends on the print density. Different infills will print a different number of pages.

In any case, thanks for the reply.

| Message Sent 09 July 2016 - 16:39 nik_2

SCORPIC said:

And control the level on the ruler

The waters will bleed through the plume
Brew?
Kick ... at what a paranoid need to be ....

| Message Sent 09 July 2016 - 17:37 Vladimir750

SCORPIC said:

Then everything is much easier. Locks for CISS plugs. And control the level on the ruler

A ruler of ink is an option, somehow I didn’t think about it, thanks! and if you seriously measure the ink with a ruler? , but what about pumping, cleaning to take into account?
For accounting, there was an idea to buy piece scales (it seems that they are called) to weigh paper with an error of 5 grams - a sheet of paper A4 80g / m is better than counting by hand, but then I abandoned this idea, all this is insanity.

Nik_2 said:

Kick ... at what a paranoid need to be ....
I would not even want to go close to such an office - aura ... you understand

Yes, perhaps my desire for accuracy, control, accounting can be called paranoia, and my aura seems to be forging,

Nik_2 said:

I would not even want to go close to such an office

don't like it don't go!
the question is put on the case, poepnul - well done! nik_2
I understand that without trolls on the forums it will be boring ...

| Message Sent 09 July 2016 - 19:59 nik_2

Vladimir750 said:

I understand you are in the status of "specialist", but there are specials for a specialist and cooler.

link

For some, the glass is half full, for some it is half empty .... If you understand what it is about - the mentality.
Stay, follow...
Only for some reason it seems that sl. the question on the forum(s) will be - why staff turnover ...
imho

| Message Sent on 10 July 2016 - 07:18 Vladimir750

I understand that those who took part in this moment in this thread, the problem of dishonest employees has not been touched, and if it has, it’s easier to turn a blind eye to it, so long as they don’t run away ...
Nevertheless, thank you for your opinions.
I would be glad to hear from other forum participants if there is anyone to say, even if it is trolling.

In a dispute, truth is born.

| Message Sent on 10 July 2016 - 09:06 Slava2

Actually, the question is simpler than you yourself imagine it.
Depending on the nomenclature of work, you must build an accounting line, and strictly follow it. These relations between the employer and the employee should not be one-sided, and are based only on fiscal measures. It should be "carrot and stick".
Well the person works - receives encouragement (it should be work on the transaction).
Does not work well - reprimand, warning and further dismissal.
I had to build such relationships with employees and with a very small range of goods. Accounting is maintained by employees-executors and controlled by you personally.
For this, simple spreadsheets in Excel or Excel are enough, whichever is more convenient for you. Further, all this is in the cloud and is constantly controlled by you personally.
The investment is yours and the control should be yours.

Have there been punctures in farming techniques? Yes they were.
And there were layoffs, and grievances.
But in the end, a completely efficient team was selected.
Did you steal? Yes, not without it. But it was not malicious. It was within reason. That's how a person is made. I didn't want to convert everyone. It is important that the development trend of the enterprise is positive.

| Message Sent 10 July 2016 - 09:52 Vladimir750

Did you steal? Yes, not without it. But it was not malicious. It was within reason. That's how a person is made. I didn't want to convert everyone. It is important that the development trend of the enterprise is positive.

I fully agree with this.
In fact, our team is quite well-coordinated, it has been working for more than one year. It's just that the same program "Secret Agent" is periodically recalled. Developer: Leonid Myazin, which he wrote about in the first post.
Such a program, working efficiently and stably, would simplify (speed up the accounting system) the work performed (services rendered).
The system of accounting for income, expenditure, balance of consumables does not always give an accurate result.
Interested in just software capable of maintaining, as it were, an intellectual record of services performed - works, if such exists.
There is a 1C system - a barcode is clicked - submitted - it means at the cash desk of XXX rubles, perhaps there is software printed such and such a size on such and such a device with such and such properties, the software calculated the cost of YYYY rubles + checking (control) employees for honesty.
Well, something like this. that's what you want.

Slava2, thanks for the answer.

For the service of a print service, I received a price list and left for a while. A little later, he returned and said that he calculated the potential costs, and he got it cheaper. That is, he went to Yandex.Market, took prices for office printers, and chose the one he liked. Then I found the service life of the printer - 5 years, or 60 months. Divided the price by months - got the cost of printing per month. The costs, of course, suited him, but our price list was not very good. Has it happened to you?

At the same time, the client did not take into account either the cost of maintaining the printer, or the cost of cartridges, or even the cost of paper. That is, the client has the most superficial idea of \u200b\u200bwhat the price of printing one page in his company consists of. Price expectations are extremely low. And in general - how can printing cost something to a company in the age of the victorious electronic document management?!

Well, firstly, not the winner - and you will be convinced of this. Second, maybe. How else can. Let's count.

Outsourcing of printing services and what it is eaten with

It’s good if your business is a small company in which one printer or even an MFP and documents are printed from time to time, and even then for personal purposes. At the retailers mobile operators, gas stations, state-owned companies, design institutes, wholesalers and many others see this process in a completely different way. They need MPS, aka print service, aka print service outsourcing.

Outsourced Print Services, or MPS (Managed Print Services), - popular service all over the world and in Russia in particular.

There are several definitions of MPS from different analytical companies. One of them is given by Gartner, and its main theses in translation are as follows: Managed Print services - MPS (managed print services) is the optimization and management of document printing processes. This is usually done by an external service provider. He assesses the company's printing needs, selectively or globally changes equipment, maintains equipment, supplies life parts and equipment accessories, monitors how printers and multifunction devices are used, and solves user problems.

In the age of penny printers and growing electronic document management, businesses continue to spend a lot of money on printing documents. Based on my experience at Onlanta, I will tell you what you need to consider in order to achieve the maximum economic effect when transferring support for printing equipment to outsourcing and switching to a per-copy payment model (per number of printed pages). You will see a table for calculating the cost of a print under various conditions of the contract concluded by the customer company with an outsourcing company (service provider), and you will be able to form adequate expectations from the Print Service service.

The cost of office printing consists of the cost of equipment, consumables, paper and repairs. These costs are often dissolved among other expenses of the organization. financial services are not always able to estimate them, despite the fact that the totals can be quite significant, especially in large organizations where printers print a lot. Typical examples of high-load printing are the formation of shipping documentation when loading oil products into tank trucks for delivery to gas stations or issuing documents for payment and warranty for goods in retail stores.

If you transfer the support for the performance of corporate printing equipment to outsourcing and switch to per-copy payment (payment per print), printing costs will become transparent for the accounting department and understandable for management. Savings in this transition can be, according to various estimates, approximately 20-30%.

Print service: pros and cons

In a nutshell, the advantages of outsourcing print services.

Reducing the burden on the company's IT service - it definitely has more important things to do than repair printers. All tasks related to equipment malfunctions and printing problems fall into the outsourcer's tickets and are resolved immediately when contacting the service department.
Printing without failures - in the event of breakdowns, the so-called replacement fund is allocated, and the company does not notice any problems.
Safety. Alas, paper documents are one of the biggest leaks of corporate information (deliberate and accidental). MPS provides control over printouts - printing confidential information in the form of a list of customers with contacts or product specifications will not go unnoticed.
Less paper consumption. A centralized and well-organized printing procedure in the company will save paper, even if the number of contracts, invoices, reports and statements remains the same. It's not magic, it's elemental human factor: When the printer is set up correctly, it does not make bad prints. In addition, when printing is controlled in an organization, employees are more careful about what they send to a shared printer and print less for personal use. So, in one of the big Russian companies sysadmins could make 2-3 thousand prints at a time - instead of buying books, they printed them. For the company, this personal savings cost a pretty penny: 2 thousand prints (mixed printing and color and bw) x 2 rubles. = 4 thousand rubles.
Additional savings: on consumables, service, spare parts and even wages. All this is included in the bill for the services of an outsourcing company, which, due to experience, bulk purchases of consumables (which are cheaper for outsourcing companies) or, for example, a better choice of printing equipment, will help reduce the client's costs.

There are pros and there must be cons. Among the latter - one weighty and two very doubtful for Russian realities.

Weighty - executives do not want to print their documents on public printers and seek privacy. This problem is solved by installing personal printers for employees with special security requirements (but this is not a panacea).
The print service is aimed at creating paper prints and to some extent slows down the development of electronic document management and electronic communication between employees. However, there are processes and instructions that require working with paper media, and they cannot be ignored.
The print service is "not sustainable" - because even the orderly consumption of paper leads to the cutting down of trees and stimulates unsustainable pulp and paper production. For example, in the US, the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper a year. And they panic, draw infographics and generally feel sad. We did not find statistics for Russia: a figure of about 3200 sheets per office worker, but we believe that the numbers are much larger. And we're fine, sorry. By the way, if you think that paper consumption is falling at a frantic pace, alas, this is not so - although there is such a trend, it is still very weak.

Pay attention to details to avoid failure

Some time ago, the media slipped information that a well-known car sharing service in Moscow billed a client for more than half a million for car repairs after an accident due to the fault of the client. This was a complete surprise to the culprit of the accident, who hoped that insurance for such cases was included in the rental price. Unfortunately, his expectations were not met.

Customer frustration is probably the softest word to describe this situation. By the way, the car sharing company subsequently introduced a new, more expensive tariff that takes into account the possibility of an accident and limits the amount that the driver of a rented car must pay in the event of an accident through his own fault.

An analogy can be drawn between the car sharing service and the “Print Service” service provided by IT outsourcing companies: in car sharing, payment per minute, and in print service, as a rule, per print. In both cases, the appeal of transparent and understandable pricing can lead to frustration if the details are not taken into account.

Paying for a print

The cost of one print is the most common indicator of the cost of printing. It gives an integral assessment of all costs, not only direct, but also all kinds of indirect ones, that an enterprise incurs in order to get one sheet of paper from the printer with the right information. It is this indicator that, as a rule, is estimated by real and potential buyers of printing devices and customers of an external printing service. Often, only when switching to per-copy payment, it is possible to find out how much a print actually costs.

Prior to the transition to this model, printing costs, as a rule, are considered in a completely different way - most often by the "boiler" method with the summation of not all, but only the most obvious costs. At the same time, not all IT managers and IT directors know exactly how many printers their company has, how many cartridges they use, how busy these machines are, how often they have to be repaired, etc.

Another advantage of the per-copy form of payment is that it motivates the provider of this service to ensure that the printing technology is as efficient as possible. After all, while the equipment is idle, printing does not go on, therefore, the provider does not earn anything.

Additional opportunities for the customer are given by software tools for monitoring and collecting print statistics, which allow you to automate the accounting of the number of prints and track the loading of printing devices. Based on monitoring data, it is possible to change the operating conditions of equipment and the provision of services in order to reduce the cost of a print. For example, promptly adjust and redistribute the load on printers. In addition, knowing who prints, how much and on what devices, you can allocate printing costs by departments or users - this will allow you to more accurately plan costs and at least partially reduce the amount of unjustified printing.

Another nuance: the per-copy form of payment motivates the enterprise to abandon devices with a high cost of a print (including old ones, often breaking down and not very productive) and switch to economical MFPs.

The final cost of one print with the Print Service service is influenced by several components:

cartridges;
resource details;
replacement fund;
the printing technique itself;
human resources.

Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Cartridges

There are three options here.

A separate point: the use of non-original or refilled cartridges often leads to problems with print quality, and this again extra costs.

When calculating the total cost of a print, do not forget about the amount of text (images) on the page. The cartridge yield specified in the specification is calculated on average based on a page coverage of 5% - for example, as a vacation application. In my practice, the average coverage of printed pages was 7-9%. Obviously, the higher this indicator (for example, when printing contracts, commercial offers, instructions, project documentation etc.), the shorter the life of the cartridge and, accordingly, the higher the cost of the print.

Resource Details: All good things deteriorate over time

Resource parts are parts of printing equipment that have certain resource or life: e.g. fusers, imaging units, paper feed rollers. IN modern devices there are service counters that let you know when a scheduled printer repair or replacement of individual components is needed. Thus, the cost of a print will include the cost of replacement in accordance with the resource of replaceable parts.

The mouse is also broken

Replacement Fund

A replacement fund is equipment provided to the customer for the period of repair or in exchange for failed printing equipment.

As a rule, the replacement fund is approximately 5% of the total number of printing equipment (for a distributed company, this figure is higher, since the operator needs to create a minimum stock of equipment in all cities of the organization's presence). This is enough to ensure the continuity of the print service. More stringent customer requirements for the Service Level Agreement (SLA) may also affect the percentage of equipment for the replacement stock.

The cost of the replacement fund is distributed over the number of prints corresponding to the duration of the contract.

Why should a customer be interested in a replacement fund? Isn't this a headache for the performer? Alas, if the contractor saves on the replacement fund, the customer will receive downtime in the service, which as a result may cost him more than the cost of the replacement fund.

It happens that the customer already has a replacement fund or he buys it on his own. In such cases, the cost of a replacement fund is not included in the price of the print.

The cost of equipment: how to optimize the fleet of printing equipment

The "Print Service" service is often used by customers with a fairly large number of printers from various manufacturers. It happens that printing equipment in offices is not optimally placed and the load is unevenly distributed. The printing infrastructure, which is based on personal printers on employees' desks, is inefficient: they are not used intensively enough, and they require a lot of attention, since all of them need to be maintained in working order, changing cartridges and resource parts on time.

High-performance devices used by a large number of employees turn out to be more efficient and economical in terms of the cost of a print. True, there is a nuance: they must be arranged so that each employee of the company is close to the printer, and the devices themselves do not accumulate a queue. The key requirement is the following: correctly selected and placed printing equipment should contribute to the efficient implementation of business processes (including the low cost of printed documents) and not slow them down in any way.

It is wise to leave personal printers in executive offices and in places where particularly sensitive documents are often printed, such as in the legal department. Whether a desktop printer is needed in accounting is a moot point and depends on the profile of the company.

The optimal choice of equipment and its location in the office is one of the key issues that a print service provider decides during a pre-project study. Before preparing a technical and commercial proposal, the service provider conducts an audit of the printing infrastructure: it collects and analyzes print statistics, identifies irrationally located printing devices and incorrectly organized virtual queues for them.

The subsequent change in the arrangement of printers in the customer's premises and fine-tuning of print queues can significantly reduce the time and cost of printing and, in addition, creates a more comfortable working environment for staff. Accommodation schemes are selected individually. At the same time, several points should be taken into account: technical aspects of placing printing equipment according to the vendor's recommendations (distance from walls, from batteries, etc.); customer wishes (for example, how far the user is willing to go for a printout). It is also not recommended to place equipment in long corridors or in narrow places.

In the next step, the service provider develops detailed plan Print Optimization: It takes into account the results of the audit, the characteristics of the customer's business processes, as well as the load on existing printers, print volumes, and tasks performed by various departments of the organization. Together with the customer, target indicators of efficiency (primarily cost), security and operability of the printing system are determined, and then the optimal layout of printing equipment is developed. At the same time, the fleet of vehicles, as a rule, is reduced to the equipment of one or two manufacturers.

As a result, by optimizing the printing infrastructure:

The number of units of printing equipment in the office is reduced - the working space is freed up, it becomes possible to place more employees on the same rented area;
The number of types of cartridges and other consumables is reduced, and, as a result, logistics costs are reduced, equipment downtime due to the lack of the necessary cartridge is reduced;
The number of required certificates of specialists supporting printing equipment is reduced, this reduces the cost of the service;
Convenience provided warranty service– there is no need to maintain contractual relations and provide appropriate logistics with various service centers.

Print Service Continuity

Losses from forced interruptions in the work of the print service are individual for each company. For some, they are insignificant, while for others they can amount to tens or hundreds of thousands of rubles a day. However, they can be direct or indirect. Direct - this is the actual monetary loss from the downtime of the print service. For example, each order from an online store must be accompanied by a package of documents. In the event of a printer failure, the online store will not be able to print documents and, accordingly, send orders. And this is a lost profit and a possible loss of a client.

Indirect losses manifest themselves rather as the consequences of a discontinuity in the print service.

When the customer independently maintains his equipment, he himself pays for failures. In the case of an outsourcing model, the service provider bears serious financial obligations to the customer under the SLA: firstly, this disciplines the contractor, and secondly, for the customer, this is an opportunity to at least partially compensate for losses associated with downtime.

Equipment rental

The lease of printing equipment by the customer company from the service provider allows, first of all, to avoid significant one-time costs for the purchase of equipment. The cost of renting equipment in this case will be reflected in the cost of the print. I note that with a longer rental period, the total cost of one print is lower, because the monthly rental amount included in its cost is reduced.

As an example, I will give a calculation of the cost of a print for different volumes (figures are taken from a real technical and commercial proposal), for different rental periods of equipment (outsourcing model) and for the customer using their own printers (insourcing model). As can be seen from the tables, the cost of a print and, accordingly, of ownership per year with the outsourcing model is significantly lower than with the insourcing model, and it decreases with an increase in the rental period of equipment.

A little explanation about the cost of printers. Table 1 and Table 2 show calculations for the same type of printers of different models. For obvious reasons, we do not list vendors and printer types. The first two types of default printers cannot give maximum savings. These are small personal printers with a small resource, “liters” consuming consumables. They are ideal for home use and in some cases used in the office. Type 3-5 printers are already serious machines with a large supply of resources.

In table 1 (lease options), we present the calculation for the printers that we offered to supply to the customer in order to optimize the printing fleet.

Table 2 shows the calculation for printers that were at a particular customer (and in our practice, such printers are often found at customers).

In total (if we multiply and add up the cost of printers), it turns out that all equipment is cheaper for the customer, but at the same time, savings on the print service are still achieved in the rental option.

It is unrealistic to rent the same printers that the customer works with, but new ones and at the same time the service is cheaper. If the customer says that I want to rent equipment and receive an effective per-copy service, then, as a rule, we coordinate the vendor of printing equipment. And then we have to pick up the "right" printers in the right places - and only then can we talk about a full-fledged service.

Table 1(clickable)

The table shows that:
With a 1-year contract and 229,000 prints, we benefit per year RUB 670,051.07 in comparison with the insourcing model (when the customer manages his own fleet of printing equipment);
- With a contract term of 2 years and printing 229 thousand prints, we are already benefiting from a year RUB 842,575.47 (for 2 years RUB 1,685,150.94);
- With a contract term of 3 years and 229,000 prints, we benefit per year RUB 900,083.60 (for 3 years RUB 2,700,250.80).
This is due to the fact that replacement and rented equipment is “smeared” for the duration of the contract, and the longer the contract period, the less visible the share of printers in the print (the cost of 1 print decreases).
The most profitable was and remains a long-term contract for a print service with a customer from 3 years.

table 2(clickable)

Leasing also makes it easier to optimize the fleet, as the service provider leases printing devices and it is not profitable for him to use outdated equipment. In turn, the optimization of the fleet and the reduction of the range of equipment used turns out to be more profitable in terms of maintenance. In any case, money and prints must be counted, the conclusions may surprise you unpleasantly.

Human resources

An equally important expense item that the service provider includes in the cost of a print is human resources: specialists are needed to change cartridges, set up and block repairs (that is, to replace resource parts), as well as to control statistics readings.

This item of expenses consists of the cost of a specialist's standard hour and related expenses, such as travel expenses, the cost of which depends on the availability and number of facilities. Customers who service printing equipment in-house bear the costs of training specialists, while staff have to pay for all the time they work in the organization, and not just the standard hours spent on work.

You also need a print service project manager or, if the organization maintains the equipment on its own, a department head or a responsible employee of the IT service who organizes and controls the work of print specialists. In a print service project, it acts as a “single entry point” for the customer, and its work is also taken into account when calculating the cost of a print.

Drawing conclusions

The cost of a print consists of the cost of cartridges, resource parts, rental of printing equipment (if used), replacement fund, human resources(specialists and project manager) and is generally defined as follows:

Listed costs per month / Number of prints per month = Cost per print.

On different types printers, the cost of prints can vary greatly, and therefore it must be calculated separately for each type. Calculating the average cost is about the same as calculating the average temperature in a hospital: this indicator does not say anything specifically and, moreover, is very likely to be misleading. Depending on the printer model, the cost of a print can vary in a wide range: from 0.2 to 4 rubles. The difference is achieved due to the fact that for different printer models the cost of cartridges and resource parts will be different, and their resource can also vary greatly. As you can see, the average cost of a print can give a false impression of the real cost.

You should not be satisfied with approximate estimates of printing costs - they will certainly turn out to be erroneous. To estimate the real costs, it is necessary to carefully consider all the components of the cost of printing. It can be improved by optimizing the fleet and competent placement of printing equipment, as well as using a monitoring and statistics collection system - this will help to achieve real, not illusory savings.

I told you how the cost of the IT outsourcing service "Print Service" is calculated when switching to per-copy payment, and set up reference points, in relation to which it is necessary to build calculations and negotiate with the service provider. As in the case with carsharing described at the very beginning, you need to carefully study all the nuances of calculating the cost of a print offered by the service provider. I hope that my article will help with this.

Printer Control and Print Control needs to be implemented by many large and small companies around the world. Why is it so? Why is it so important to control printers and their usage? Let's say you organize a medium or big company with dozens of computers combined into several local networks. All of these computers can print to local or network printers, and each computer can be used by multiple people. In this case, controlling the operation and use of the printer becomes a very time consuming task. But using printer control software the solution to this problem becomes simple and easy. That's why you should have a program to control printers in your office.

Another major advantage of the Print Monitor program is that with the Printer Monitor program you can determine how efficiently the printers are being used, how many pages are printed on them, what is the cost of printing each month. Our program will allow you to find out which of the employees uses the printer too often, and maybe for their own personal purposes. The program allows you to keep records and generate reports on individual printers and documents printed on them. Monitored printer data is stored in a common database, so you can identify the most frequently printed employee at any time.

What problems can Accurate Printer Monitor solve?

This program can be used in a centralized printer control and cost accounting system for all company printers, as it allows you to control both local and network printers. With this program, you can control printing on your organization's printers more effectively, which will prevent printers from being used for personal purposes and can significantly reduce your printing costs.

Start using Accurate Printer Monitor now!

After installation, run Printer Monitor from the Start - Programs menu. Click on the green plus button and make a list of printers you want to control. Then determine in which database the printer event data should be stored. You can then generate reports on printer usage in your organization.