Need printer cost accounting solution

  • Thread starter Thread starter jt
  • Start date Start date
J

jt

We hvae a peer network with several flavors of Windows, 98,2K,XP and
we are looking for a utility that will intercept print jobs sent
printers and prompt the user for identifying information, such as
client number before sending the job to the printer. The information
collected would be stored in a central location (a shared directory on
the server would be appropriate). This information would be used to
charge back to clients the cost of producing reports. The ony thing I
can find is Equitrac which is out of our budget, Are thre any other
solutions out there? I've search the archives and the only thing I
find about other products give me links that now lead to equitrac.

TIA
jt
 
Really good solutions are not cheap - When you say out of your range, you
should define what that is -

You might look at http://www.nearstar.com

They have a product called DataServer which can be adapted to do what you
want -

Bob
 
Bob Hosid said:
Really good solutions are not cheap - When you say out of your range, you
should define what that is -
Click to expand...

I'm thinking in the sub $100 per workstation range

jt
 
jt said:
Not sure what that means but I have been able to locate 2 products
WinPT from http://www.infoware.ca/ and Print Audit
http://www.printaudit.com

jt
Click to expand...

I don't know where you are in the world, but you should look at MegaTrack.
US: http://www.capellatech.com/products/print_tracking/megatrack.cfm
Europe: http://www.bluemega-technology.com//siteus/partners.htm

Also there is an accounting module for an excellent print management
solution called SafeCom. Look at:
http://www.safecom.dk/
 
Mushroom said:
I don't know where you are in the world, but you should look at MegaTrack.
US: http://www.capellatech.com/products/print_tracking/megatrack.cfm
Europe: http://www.bluemega-technology.com//siteus/partners.htm

Also there is an accounting module for an excellent print management
solution called SafeCom. Look at:
http://www.safecom.dk/
Click to expand...

If it were left to me, I'd find an old machine, say Pentium II or
worse and install BSD or Linux on it. You could then configure Samba,
which allows printer sharing via Microsoft's Netbios (i.e. File and
Printer Sharing). Each Microsoft client would then authenticate via a
username/password and be billed accordingly.
I think Samba has all sorts of modules which can email you the
accounting statistics and create graphs etc.

I'm not saying this would be easy for a newbie, but if you've used
Linux/Unix before, then it should be plain sailing.

Hope this helps,

James.
 
Mushroom said:
I don't know where you are in the world, but you should look at MegaTrack.
US: http://www.capellatech.com/products/print_tracking/megatrack.cfm
Europe: http://www.bluemega-technology.com//siteus/partners.htm

Also there is an accounting module for an excellent print management
solution called SafeCom. Look at:
http://www.safecom.dk/
Click to expand...


Thanks. The first just seems to be server side capture and reporting,
which is not what I want. It seems geered to optimizing printing
costs. While a good gaol it is not what I want. The clue is that it
sits on the print server and requiers no user intervention. I requier
a solution the will promt a user for a clients account code and
capture that so I can bill the client, 3rd party, for the print job.

The Danish one might work but I dont' want to get into a solution that
doesn't at least have a US phone number

jt
 
jt said:
Thanks. The first just seems to be server side capture and reporting,
which is not what I want. It seems geered to optimizing printing
costs. While a good gaol it is not what I want. The clue is that it
sits on the print server and requiers no user intervention. I requier
a solution the will promt a user for a clients account code and
capture that so I can bill the client, 3rd party, for the print job.

The Danish one might work but I dont' want to get into a solution that
doesn't at least have a US phone number

jt
Click to expand...

Talk to Capella - it will be able to do what you want. If you have
modern HP printers then you can also install a companion piece of
software called SecureJet which does "follow me" or "pull" printing.
Users print to a central server and then go to any printer and log in
through a front panel or through an ID card and teh job goes to that
device. It can tie in to MegaTrack accounting so it only bills them for
what they print. It can even put a stop on an account if they have run
over the budget. Capella can do a WebEx demo over the Net to show you
all the functions you need.

Safe com also does something simliar but event better and more tightly
integrated, but I don't know if they have a US reseller.
 
Dear JT,

Print Audit 4 will do exactly as you describe.
For more information call me at 877-41AUDIT (2-8348 or 403-685-4932
write (e-mail address removed) or visit our website at www.printaudit.com
Support is free during the evaluation stage and for the life of the
software. Full version available for trial run on our website.

Print Audit 4 will track and capture one hundred percent of print/plot
information from all print devices including digital copiers,
plotters, network printers and local printers. User-defined reports
can then be used to accurately bill your clients for out-of-pocket
expenses. Print Audit 4 has AutoCAD and MicroStation plug-ins and is
compatible with virtually all spreadsheets, databases and accounting
programs.

Print Audit 4 includes a silent install tool that allows it to be
easily installed to a large user base via logon scripts. Just the
Print Audit "Client" (which is 2 mb) is installed on user computers.
The architecture of Print Audit was designed with flexibility in mind.
We currently support Microsoft Access, Novel, Microsoft SQL Server and
Oracle databases.
 
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