Thread View: comp.admin.policy
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Started by Robin Getz
Wed, 28 Oct 1992 17:37
Printing Policies / Systems
Author: Robin Getz
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 17:37
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 17:37
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I am not sure if this message belongs here, but I am unfamilar with these
(comp.*.admin) newsgroups. I will try to keep this short in order to save
bandwidth.
I would like to ask you some questions concerning the policies and procedures
that you may have regarding printing in microcomputer Labs.
This is in regards to a fourth year engineering design project that I am
involved in at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
BackGround:
The College of Engineering Microcomputer Laboratory at the University of
Saskatchewan present has a system in place that requires users to pay for the
use of the laser printer. This is necessary to cover the costs of maintenance
and materials and to prevent it's use by unauthorized people. This lab entail
various Macintosh, Intel (80x86) based, and some workstations. All postscript
printing (which can be done from any machine) is spooled by a SPARCstation.
This spooler manages a database which keeps track of how many pages a user has
purchased, and subtracts the number of pages printed. Print jobs are flushed
if a user does not have any pages in their account. Currently, for a user to
credit their printing account, they must purchase a paper voucher from the
Saskatoon Engineering Student's Society (SESS) Kiosk and take this voucher to
the Lab Manager. As soon as possible, the lab manager will credit the user's
account with the numbers of pages purchased. Problems with this system include
the fact that it is time consuming and inconvenient as it is restricted by the
hours of the SESS Kiosk and the availiblity of the lab manager.
The current Lab manager and the users of the system have voiced dissatisfaction
with the current system and have requested development of a new automated system
that will be easier to use and manage.
Solution:
Based on preliminary investigation, a coin operated laser page credit system
will be designed for use in the lab. The new automated system will accept
payments for laser pages via a coin mechanism and credit the desired account
with the number of pages purchased. This system will be immediate credit, and
will have no middle man or delay. This system will also be availible 24 hours a day.
The coin mechanism will be connected to a dedicated 80086 computer, which will
at as a client for the server process.
The total cost of this system (housing, coin mechanism, but no computer) is
hoped to be kept under $200.
Questions:
1) What type of procedure or process do users go through in order to use laser
printers at your facility?
2) What do you think of the solution?
3) What tips or hints could you think of for this system?
4) Would you be interested in this system for impilmentation at your facility?
If so how much you you pay the a working model? How much would you pay for
plans and software only? (the reason I ask it that we are supposed include
a marketing description in our final report.)
Thanks for you time. Email responses would be appreciated. If anyone would
like to be kept up-to-date on the status of this project, and the completion of
it, please mail me as well.
Robin Getz
4th year Electrical Engineering Student
University of Saskachewan
getz@dvinci.usask.ca
This message has been cross posted in:
% comp.admin.policy
% comp.sys.sun.admin
% comp.sys.next.sysadmin
% comp.unix.admin
Re: Printing Policies / Systems
Author: John Hascall
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 19:46
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 19:46
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getz@dvinci.USask.Ca (Robin Getz) writes: }I would like to ask you some questions concerning the policies and procedures }that you may have regarding printing in microcomputer Labs. [Description of current, pay-in advance, draw-down system omitted] }Solution: }Based on preliminary investigation, a coin operated laser page credit system ... }1) What type of procedure or process do users go through in order to use laser } printers at your facility? Ours users come to the accounting office once, sign a form saying they will be responsible for charges upto some amount either from a Univ departmental fund# or from their personal accounts receivable. The accounting office enters their "funding source" into the system and they are free to print against that as they like. Each month we send the data to our AdminDP shop and it goes in with the rest of the Univ billing transactions (i.e., for students it shows up on their U-Bill). For example I can do: lpr -P lps20 -G subsidy_john ... lpr -P lps20 -G pv_systems ... lpr -P lps20 -G 481-12-3456 ... similar systems are available on the PCs and MACs. }2) What do you think of the solution? We investigated similar comercial systems and found them too expensive (we charge $0.05/image now, we would have to charge $0.15-$0.25 with a commercial card-vendor system). A benefit of our system is not tying up your money in a vend-a-card in advance and/or having to remember to bring cash to the computer lab. }3) What tips or hints could you think of for this system? Whatever system you come up with make it campus-wide. Nothing is worse than having a library copier vend-a-card, an Engr lab print card, an English lab print card, a Math lab... etc... }4) Would you be interested in this system for impilmentation at your facility? } If so how much you you pay the a working model? How much would you pay for } plans and software only? (the reason I ask it that we are supposed include } a marketing description in our final report.) We are happy with what we have, thanks. }This message has been cross posted in: } % comp.admin.policy % comp.sys.sun.admin } % comp.sys.next.sysadmin % comp.unix.admin Actually it appears you posted individual copies to each newsgroup :-( John -- John Hascall ``An ill-chosen word is the fool's messenger.'' Systems Software Engineer Project Vincent Iowa State University Computation Center + Ames, IA 50011 + 515/294-9551
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