BRIEFS

By Staff -- Purchasing, 7/13/2000

Software helps track print costs

As networked print volumes begin to equal or exceed copy volumes, the need to manage costs and usage becomes critical.

"Many companies have tens of thousands of dollars in untracked printing expenses," says Sam Errigo, vice president of digital marketing, Danka Office Imaging. "Controllers and other devices that monitor centralized and walk-up copiers have never been appropriate for networked devices like printers, so print volumes have escaped most attempts at management."

Danka Business Systems PLC, headquartered in London, England, and St. Petersburgh, Fla., is a provider of office imaging equipment and related services, parts and supplies.

Small laser printers reside in nearly every workgroup and-in some cases-every desktop at most companies. Purchasing managers can play an important role in helping to trim a company's documentation expenses by managing usage of these devices.

"The purchasing department is in an ideal position to take charge of this rapidly growing expense," says Errigo.

Danka has recently partnered with Network Printing Solutions of London, England, and, as such, now markets the company's suite of software products called JASPrint. JASPrint monitors and reports usage and costs by user, department, or client.

"We help design and implement solutions for customers in the financial, telecommunications, education, and computer and software industries as well as a variety of manufacturers," says Errigo.

JASPrint software has capability to monitor and manage hundreds of printers and dozens of print servers and can support tiered chargebacks or price accounting that includes additional charges for color, finishing options and other features.

"The software, which resides on a Windows NT server, makes it possible to control expenses by limiting the number of sets that are produced on low-volume units, and shifting larger orders to high-speed devices with lower operating expenses," says Errigo. "It also generates detailed activity reports and supports a variety of printers, network connections and page-counting methods."

The JASPrint software suite gives purchasing departments capability to:

• Capture user and print activity,

• Configure specific printers to accept a maximum number of pages in a single file, and

• Create activity and pricing reports based on number of pages produced, finishing options selected and other features. Graphs can be automatically created as part of the report.

These tools give purchasing managers information required to appropriately manage a company's printing resources. "Some print devices may be underutilized, while others are overutilized," says Errigo. "Some workgroups may need three local printers, while others require only one. Some users can justify a personal printer, and others can't."

Errigo adds that volume is not the only consideration for placements. "Some departments may need higher-volume devices to handle weekly or monthly jobs that require rapid turnaround. That often results in excess capacity during non-peak periods. A purchasing manager may be able to lower costs by offering incentives to nearby departments to use this printer during slow periods."

Danka also offers customers access to software modules that track copy usage at networked or standalone copiers.

It works with Network Printing Solutions to customize applications for a specific customer or industry if desired. "Most companies use the software modules 'as is', but we can accommodate companies that want to add functionality and create additional fields for tracking, billing, or usage," says Errigo.

When evaluating print and copy management software, purchasing managers need to pay attention to the handling of site licenses. While Danka bills customers based on the number of devices monitored, other companies charge by the number of users, says Errigo. "Charge-by-user licensing is almost always more expensive than a solution that charges by device."

Lexmark introduces printers

Lexmark International has introduced an array of monochrome laser printers and a multifunction printer.

The new Lexmark 10 page per minute (ppm) Optra E312, the 17 ppm Optra M412 and the 25 ppm Optra T614nl are the latest monochrome business printers to join Lexmark's Optra laser printer line. The new OptraImage T614s multifunction printer serves as a printer, copier, fax and scanner.

Optra E312. The Optra E312 is a 10 ppm printer that offers more features that its predecessor including twice as much memory, two ppm greater engine speed and faster time-to-first-page (the time it takes from initiating the print command to the output of the first complete printed page). The Optra E312 has a 67 MHz processor, is compatible with USB, includes a Macintosh driver, offers standard PostScript compatibility and ships with a one-piece, high-yield cartridge.

• Optra M412. The Optra M412 provides 17 ppm, a 133 MHz processor, and 12 second time-to-first-page.

• Optra T614 and Optra T61nl. The Optra T614nl prints at 25 ppm, offers a nine second time-to-first-page and has a 200 MHz processor. The printer's high-yield print cartridge and 10 toner levels help lower cost of operation. The new Optra T614nl, a network-ready model with built-in Ethernet, provides full datastream support for flexible workgroup printing.

• OptraImage T614s. The OptraImage T614s is a networkable printer/ scanner/facsimile/copier with advanced paper-handling capabilities. It provides low-cost access to key office functions such as "convenience copying" and color document scanning.