Offline Accounting Overview

  • Monitors every print routed from a workstation to a networked printer via a Dispatcher Paragon server in real-time, before printing.
  • The Dispatcher Paragon license must include the offline accounting option. If the license does not include offline accounting, it is not possible to select the offline accounting method for a device and all devices configured for offline accounting will be switched to no accounting as soon as the expiration of the license is detected.
  • Available for any LPR capable system.
  • Uses PCL [Konica Minolta] and/or PostScript [GhostScript] data analyzers.
  • Tracks the number of A4/letter BW/color pages, A3/legal/tabloid BW/color pages, and duplex usage for all pages sent to print for any PCL5+, PostScript, and HPGL2 print jobs.
  • Optionally tracks per-page print area coverage and estimated usage of CMYK toner cartridges (based on job analysis).
  • Monitors printed pages, especially their quality and color use. May slightly differ from the current output and information accounted by the printer because printers can use different processing algorithms. The print job is always accounted completely, even if only part of it has been printed (for example, if the user aborts the printing on the MFD panel).
  • Offline accounting currently does not work in conjunction with the Payment System.
  • Offline accounting only reports print jobs routed via a Dispatcher Paragon server.
  • This method will not provide a fully accurate report about all printed pages due to technology limitations and it only measures pages that have been released from a particular workstation. It also does not take into account the status of the device, its real output, or other un-monitored prints. Example: A color page printed on a BW printer is printed as BW but accounted for as a color page.

Performance impact:

The environment:

  • 4 CPU, 16 GB RAM, 1 server deployment
  • 30 jobs per minute, in average 4.3 pages per job
  • PCL [Konica Minolta] parser

The result compared to printing with no accounting:

  • CPU usage in environment increased from 13% to 26%
  • RAM was not affected significantly