Accounting

Overview

Accounting collects information about all print jobs in the environment using multiple options. Print jobs can travel from a workstation to a printer directly (via the serial or parallel ports of a computer) where Dispatcher Paragon can track the accounting information. For network printers and print servers, where a print job travels through Dispatcher Paragon, additional capabilities are available beyond common print tracking. All gathered job information, including accounting, is then used for usage and cost reports.

Dispatcher Paragon uses print tracking to collect:

  • information for each job, device, and user

  • detailed information for each job: the number of pages per paper size (in two sizes: large and normal), the number of color/middle color (if supported by the device)/monochrome pages, duplex usage, job title, and originating computer

  • coverage information for each job: the coverage percent of the page (non-white area/total page area), estimated usage of CMYK toner cartridges

Not all information may be available with every print job or deployment scenario. Dispatcher Paragon is typically able to address about 95-98% of tracked pages to individual users or departments. This is most commonly caused by various maintenance print jobs, system status print jobs, direct IP printing, server reboots, and the limitations of the page meter tracking (vendor-specific limitations).