Intelligent Management of High Volume Print Jobs
By: BOB RUSSELL
Every day, companies are updating their aging network printer fleets with more feature-rich multi-function printer, copier, fax, scanner machines (commonly called MFD’s). With these hardware updates comes the consolidation of devices with the intent of improving business processes.
However, while the MFD's consolidate paper output from a fleet of hundreds of small network printers to less than twenty-five (25) multi-function devices, companies often still experience problems directly related to the reduction in the number of printers on the network.
Initial Print Management Problem(s)
Many of the problems that companies continue to experience after comparable hardware upgrades are directly related to the reduction in the number of available network printers.
Often, companies initially assign users to specific printing devices on the network. Then, once the company consolidates output devices, users are typically grouped together to share print devices. The new problem thus arises wherein the company needs to be sure that print jobs do not get intermingled.
A typical solution to this problem is to implement a supplemental print program that inserts a red “separator page” between print jobs. The separator page easily allows end users to identify and separate print jobs on the output tray. As a result of output device consolidation and the implementation of the "separator page" solution to differentiating print jobs, overall output costs are reduced and processes are improved. At least, those are the initial results.
As time goes by, however, the software implementation that inserts the separator page may fail, causing lock ups and system down time due to the increased volume of print jobs on individual output devices. As these errors increase, the need for http://www.plustechnologies.com/plustech/home.asp”>print management software to provides intelligent failover and print job status notification from the primary printer to a backup printer becomes increasingly necessary. A rudimentary "page inserter" solution cannot handle complex, rules-based failover procedures.
The Solution: Multi- Functional, Third-Party Print Management Software
The solution to this problem is fairly straight forward, and companies can often save significant amounts of money by implementing the http://www.plustechnologies.com/plustech/index.asp?webpageid=%7b154A2FD1-E646-48CF-AD2D-826E4CCD343F%7d”>proper print management software solution at the outset. An example of such a primary software solution is the OM Plus software suite from Plus Technologies. OM Plus's intelligent print job management capability outperforms and can replace cheaper, static print management software such as an aftermarket print management implementation with limited functionality or a native OS print spooler.
OM Plus’s context delivery module can review each print job on the fly, determining the print job's destination printer and final output tray while choosing the appropriate banner/separator page for that job. This advanced print management capacity of OM Plus resolves not only the primary challenge that a company faces when needing to implement print job management in the first place, but it also addresses the issue of online print management during a printer failure (as printers are apt to do from time to time).
To combat the stoppage of business processes due to printer problems, OM Plus (through its bi-directional communications with the printer) is able to determine when a job has not printed successfully due to any condition and takes appropriate remedial action on the print job.
For any type of printer error condition (with the exception of a printer that is out of paper), OM Plus automatically re-routes the print job to an alternate, backup printer. It then notifies the end user of the re-routing so they know where to pick up their print job and keep working productively. (In the case of an empty paper tray, OM Plus does not re-route the job since that condition is easily corrected by the end user when they come to pick up their print job.
Finally, as part of the re-routing process, OM Plus notifies the support staff about the problem with the printer (along with diagnostics information from the printer) so the support staff can quickly resolve the problem and get the printer back into service as soon as possible.
The Result
The most important result of implementing an advanced third-party print management software suite is simple: a company can truly realize the intentions of consolidating hundreds of network printers down to several dozen. Specifically, such a consolidation transforms the cost savings from theorized to actualized.
It is not uncommon for end customers to be faced with print job management challenges when addressing printing costs and processes at the enterprise level. However, appropriate advanced print spooler management software can allow IT professionals to diagnose quickly output problems and to re-architect a solution that solves the initial output problem in a financially sound manner as well.
Plus Technologies
A Division of Digital Controls
444 Alexandersville Road
Miamisburg, OH 45342
937-384-0444
877-899-7587 (toll free)
www.plustechnologies.com
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