|
|
|
Finding a solution
New era for printing
With about 450 staff and almost 8000 students consuming roughly 5.5 million sheets of paper per year, TAFE NSW - Western Sydney Institute's Mount Druitt College is a demanding user of print. Copiers and printers can be found in every one of the college's 11 buildings, which in turn are spread over 25 hectares ? but regardless of where in the campus each staff member chooses to do their printing and copying, the college still needs to charge every sheet of paper back to their particular teaching section.
Adding to the complexity of this task, there were more than 200 desktop printers spread throughout the college until recently, which were using about 2.5 million sheets of paper each year. It was extremely difficult to keep track of how much paper was used by each desktop printer and charge sections accordingly. Mount Druitt College decided to control these costs, and Canon's NetSpot Accountant was part of the solution.
Finding a solution
"The first thing you have to understand is the complexity of an educational environment," says Facilities and Class Support Team Coordinator, Stephen McLoynes, reflecting on the sprawling campus ? "everyone's wanting access to print technology wherever they are on campus."
For example, when a teacher from the panel-beating teaching section visits the tourism and hospitality wing to use a classroom, or goes to the library to borrow a textbook, he or she needs to be able to print or copy as easily as if they were sitting at their own desk ? and the bill for that paper needs to go to the right teaching section, especially in today's economic environment.
"We have to be more accountable for every dollar," explained Mr McLoynes, describing funding arrangements for higher education in the twenty-first century.
Given the size of the project and importance of allocating printing costs accurately, Mount Druitt College put the entire project out to tender. "Obviously a lot of thought and research went into the process" of selecting the right printing solutions provider for Mount Druitt College, said Mr McLoynes. Canon was successful in winning the tender and puts its success down to its unique NetSpot Accountant software plus its approach to customer service.
New era for printing
With the new Canon printing system in place, every staff member now has a unique ID that's linked to the department that picks up the cost of their printing. Their passwords are stored in Windows so they can print from the desktop with absolute convenience. Staff members can also enter their IDs manually while standing at any of the 29 full-colour multi-function printers from Canon, which are strategically placed throughout the college.
Thanks to Canon's NetSpot Accountant, Computing Systems Operator John Livermore and his team can upload usage figures from each machine, automatically collate them, and bill the appropriate expense to the relevant teaching section. The result is instant and complete accountability.
Mr McLoynes relates the story of a particular teaching section ? one of the college's 29 ? which was using a lot more paper than the teaching section with the second highest printing volume. Before the introduction of NetSpot Accountant, Mr McLoynes would have had little hard data to present to the section to help find a solution. Now, he can even drill down to individual staff members and their usage, to support teaching sections to understand and monitor printing costs.
While Canon's software and its desire for a true partnership with Mount Druitt College have impressed McLoynes and Livermore, it's the Canon imageRUNNER multifunction printers that have benefited teaching and administrative staff.
For example, the electrical engineering teachers used to turn to external print shops to produce their workbooks, as they are full of colour-coded diagrams. Now, they print them in-house, and are thrilled with the results.
According to Mr Livermore, the imageRUNNER multifunction printers have been a time-saver for administrative staff as well. They use this device's personal mailbox feature to store the forms and other paperwork that they use constantly and then run off the exact number of copies they require as they need them.
"There's already been a few comments from other colleges along the lines of 'how are you managing to get replace all your desktop printers?'," McLoynes said. "Well, the bottom line is it's happening ? and we're pleased with the change."
|
|
 |
|
