Print Audit alternatives...

January 30, 2007 10:21 AM

Alternatives to Print Audit?

I've recently taken over a print lab at the school where I teach. I've inherited Print Audit as tracking software. Unfortunately I am having a lot of trouble with phantom prints being charged to student accounts i.e. they send a print, it craps out for one reason or another and they are charged the full amount for the plot. Needless to say, this is causeing un-necessary headaches. I'm not in the lab all the time, so having a better alternative seems necessary. Any help appreciated, both commercial apps and open source.

posted by grimley to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Well, the industry giant is Pharos, but depending on budget it could be cost-prohibitive (it's expensive). It might be a lot more powerful than what you're looking for as well.

I've attended some conferences and have heard generally positive reviews on PCounter but my own experience with it was just awful (about 8 years ago, so it is probably not relevant at this point).

There's Print Manager Plus which boasts some nice features and is far more affordable than Pharos. No experience with it personally (I wish they had participated in an RFP process I went through several years ago but they did not respond) but I receive regular email updates on product and direction and it looks pretty decent.

Pykota is open source and very powerful. However, depending on your expectations, configuration could be somewhat difficult (and experience with Linux/CUPS etc. is definitely required).

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.
posted by purephase at 12:49 PM on January 30, 2007

Response by poster: thanks pure phase - i'll look into all of these.
posted by grimley at 5:21 PM on January 30, 2007

I've heard a lot about Papercut for tracking print usage in schools.
posted by nerosfiddle at 6:33 PM on January 31, 2007