With an increasing desire to reduce waste, recoup costs and provide improved print/copy job access and security, schools and businesses are in need of an accounting and cost recovery system that is easy to use, efficient, and affordable—and that can work in a heterogeneous computing environment. PaperCut MF is a cross-platform solution that facilitates accounting, billing, tracking and charging of copy, print and scan jobs through authentication cards or user login at the device. Those cross-platform abilities, along with the solution’s affordability and ease of use, helped PaperCut MV V11.2 earn a Summer 2011 “Pick” award as “Outstanding Cost-Recovery Solution” from the editors at BLI.
PaperCut MF facilitates tracking and charging for copy, print, scan, and fax jobs through authentication cards, user login or PIN-code access at the device. PaperCut MF has traditionally been aimed at the K-12 and higher-education markets. However, its fastest growing sector is businesses (ranging from five users to over 350,000 users), thanks to the availability of MFP-embedded software that tracks copy, print, scan and fax output.
As a Web-based solution, PaperCut MF is simple to install and gives administrators access from any Web browser on the network. End users benefit from the Web solution, as well, receiving access to a set of online tools that allows them to easily track usage, check their account balances, view transactions, and even transfer credits to fellow users. PaperCut MF has features such as staff billing for both single-user and shared departmental accounts, student quotas and charge-back, plus various methods for users to load funds into their accounts.
The solution also enables secure pull printing (ensuring that print jobs are not released until the user authenticates at the output device) and delivers a handy “Find Me” printing feature, which allows users to retrieve a job on any printer on the network. There’s also a Web Print feature for driver-less printing that allows users to print by uploading documents from a Web browser with no client software or driver installation required.
“In today’s challenging economic environment, containing and recouping costs is more important than ever to educational institutions and general businesses alike” said Jamie Bsales, senior product editor for solutions at BLI. “Thanks to its advanced cost-recovery and print-management features, PaperCut MF lets organizations track and reduce hardcopy expenditures with an easy-to-use and affordable solution.”
In hands-on testing, BLI technicians were especially impressed with PaperCut’s stellar ease of use. The software also offers extensive reporting capabilities and advanced features such as the ability to enforce quotas by user or department, restrict printing from particular applications (such as Web browsers), and to re-route jobs to lower-cost devices. Moreover, it is one of the only cost-recovery solutions BLI has evaluated that supports Windows, Mac, Linux and Novell network operating system environments. In addition, PaperCut MF is compatible with a wide range of embedded software platforms from the major device manufacturers and integrates with a number of third-party campus billing and accounting systems.
For a complete look at PaperCut MF V11.2, be sure to read BLI’s full Solutions Report.