Accounting Codes and Print Tracking

How Can I Track User Prints?

One of the questions we get is “how can I track prints?” This question is normally asked by professionals like attorneys, accountants or shared office space managers who would like to attribute print costs to their clients. Each manufacturer will have a different way to handle this, but there are some ways this can happen which will help make it easier for you.

Here at Copier Lease Center, we have helped companies get copiers for over a decade, and this question about print tracking is a pretty common one. We will go over a few ways to track your prints, and talk about some best practices including job accounting and specialized software.

Job Accounting – Xerox’s Free Accounting System

If you get a Xerox copier, they have a feature that is called job accounting. What happens with Job accounting, is that users can enter in a PIN code for each job they print. Normally, this is to track the user behavior (because the job PIN gets pre-loaded in the driver). However, the requirement can be made the user will enter a code and when they do, that code with be associated with that user or matter ID.

The benefit of job accounting is it is free to use. It simply needs to be set up. The disadvantage is each new client brought on, a user ID would need to be set up before it would track for that user. This can be a pain if there are a lot of continuous clients to keep track of.

Special Software

Next, there are software packages like Papercut which will not only track the prints, but can even help with rules based printing. Special software packages take what job accounting does to another level.

For example, with Papercut, you can decide to default prints from Email and the web as black and white, but prints from Publisher as a color print. It also makes management and limits a little easier than the Job Accounting does.

Another benefit of the special software like Papercut, is it will tell you when you are printing a job where the job would be cheaper elsewhere. Most of these packages can run from a PIN like job accounting does, but can also be card read or have cell app integrations.

You could even set up your clients and then have a dropdown rather than having to memorize the codes or have lists printed and by your desk.

Using job accounting or special software can help you recoup some of your costs for having a copier. Some people decide it isn’t worth it because maybe there is only 15 pages being printed and they don’t feel like sending $1 invoices. This is worth noting as someone will need to bill these pages.

If you would like to get a copier quote or find out more about how to track utilization, we would love to help. Give us a call and let our experienced sales team answer all of your questions, no matter how hard they are. We are here to serve you and your company!