Pay for Print vs Print Conservation Its All

Pay for Print vs. Print Conservation: It’s All in How You “Sell” It

Bill Thieke Instructional Technology Consultant Le Moyne College Copyright William Thieke (2006). This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Print Conservation • The Goal • The Solution • Implementation • Statistics • Future Directions • Questions

Le Moyne Demographics • • Liberal arts Jesuit school ~3400 full/part-time students ~1500 residential students ~475 employees 10 computer labs w/laser printing 6 residence halls labs w/laser printing Novell Netware/IP-Based Printing

The Goal- How to make the program work • Campus Awareness – How much were we REALLY printing? Spring 02 Fall 03 Pages 932, 267 825, 805 Reams 1864. 5 1651. 5 Paper cost $ 4, 148. 59 $ 3, 716. 12 Toner Cost* $ 5, 857. 81 $ 5, 247. 16 * Estimate based on previous 14 week study (Spring 2002) which estimated toner costs based on cartridge type and average page count per cartridge. During this study toner costs were found to be approximately 42% more than paper costs over the same time period. – Anecdotal evidence: LOTS of waste paper in public labs • Cost Reduction vs. Cost Recouping • Marketing – – The administration Student Senate Faculty College community in general

GPA as a factor in Print volumes Implementation Details- • In Summer 04 the Academic Technology Advisory committee (ATAC) was examining the soon to be released Print program • Faculty questioned whether we had looked for any relationship between GPA and print volumes • Examined print data from Spring 2004 in relation to GPA for the semester

GPA as a factor in Print volumes Implementation Details- • Findings: – GPA was directly related to print volumes (p<=. 05) for Students with GPA’s of 3. 0 and higher – Based on the significance of this finding, the committee recommended raising the base print allocation from the planned 300 pages to 450 pages so as not to penalize higher achieving students

The Solution- Technical Information • Printing is tracked using Novell P-counter – Use only the accounting function of this software – Capable of full print management – Cost only ~$700 • When students print via Novell I-Print, as soon as the job hits the print queue it is recorded by P-counter (whether the job prints correctly or not) • Print data (flat file) is dumped into the Administrative system Database (Datatel) every night via automated process and merged into a Unidatabase • Print data for all jobs submitted through the previous evening can be viewed by students, and staff via the Campus web portal • Can view data by queue, student, department

Tracking Student Printing Implementation Details- • Every print queue is designated public or private • Public printers: Students printing to these printers will have their accounts debited by the appropriate amount • Private Printers: Students printing to these printers will NOT have their accounts debited. Print job is labeled as “work” on their print accounting • Queue designation can be easily changed via this site located on the campus web portal

Appeal Process Implementation Details- • Students can appeal ANY print job – Access appeal via hyperlink on Print usage page on the campus web portal – Use a simple webbased appeal form

Implementation Details- Appeal Process • Print Administrator accesses appealed job via Campus portal • Appealed jobs are queued by date.

Implementation Details- Appeal Process (cont. ) • Once approved or rejected student is notified via email - Approval Email - Rejection Email

Implementation Details- Printing Extensions • Faculty who require extensive printing by their students can request additional course Print credits • Faculty/Staff using Workstudy/TA’s can request individual extensions • These extensions are almost ALWAYS approved without question

Implementation Details- Printing Extensions (cont. ) • Extension requests are submitted via webform to the College’s “Helpline” Email account • Individual sections are selected via a web page which accesses a listing of all Academic departments and Courses • Page credits are assigned • Once submitted all students enrolled in those classes are credited the appropriate amount • Credits are not processed until after the Add/Drop deadline in order to credit the most complete class roster

Implementation Details- Printing Extensions (cont. )

Statistics- Catch the Wave: Spring 04 – Spring 06

Future Directions- Where do we go from here? • Re-evaluate publicity for the program – After year 1, there was a large increase in print volumes (>100, 000 pages) – After 4 semesters, print volumes are up almost 200, 000 pages over the lowest totals – Possibly due to new students not aware of the program – Larger student enrollment (~ 100 student increase) – Possibly a result of the increased use of course extensions • Re-examine free print levels and print volume relationships to GPA • Add departmental printing to the billing process – Currently Vice Presidents & Department chairs receive Printout of members print volumes) – Senior administrators can access print volumes via Campus portal • Attempt to tune P-counter so that it can distinguish between successful vs. failed print jobs.

Questions? ?

For More Information… Bill Thieke Instructional Technology Consultant Le Moyne College thiekews@lemoyne. edu 315 -445 -4599 http: //www. lemoyne. edu/Information_technology/print. htm