You can use two tools to manage PAS. The first tool is a PAS Control Panel applet, which lets you handle operations such as printer configuration, printer notification pages, scheduling, Web server configuration, and printer billing support. The other tool is the PAS management application, which lets you set up billing groups and billing codes, and handle user management, reporting, and accounting control.
To use PAS, you must first set up the PAS billing groups. Each user must be a member of one billing group. Billing groups let you easily manipulate customer accounts and select reporting information.
You have the option to set up billing codes, which are short alphanumeric strings that PAS saves with each print session record. You can base billing reports on billing codes. Users can set one active billing code per print job. You can select billing codes for more than one billing group, so billing codes are one way to track printer usage across billing groups. You can use billing codes for tracking printing for clients and for project-oriented record keeping. PAS managers can add and delete billing groups and billing codes at any time.
PAS bases usage limits on user settings, but you can bypass the limits using NT domain user groups. For example, most network administrators would not want to lose a report in mid-printing because their PAS printing account ran out of electronic money. You select NT groups from the PAS Control Panel applet, and you can set any NT group to Disabled, No Charge, or No Limit. Users in a Disabled group can't use PAS-managed printers, and PAS doesn't track usage for users in a No Charge group. PAS tracks usage for users in the No Limit group but it doesn't prevent these users from printing because they lack PAS electronic money.
To test the usage limits, I set the main NT Domain Admins group to No Limit. I then set up PAS users by importing them from my existing NT user list. The import facility lets you select an NT domain and a domain group. PAS adds all the users in this group to its user list. No direct synchronization occurs between the NT domain list and the PAS list, so you must manually add new NT users to the PAS user list. PAS assigns imported users a billing group and an initial electronic money balance, but does not set billing codes.
Next, I used the PAS Control Panel applet to put printers under PAS control and set billing rates. PAS does not provide a list of printers to choose from, so you must type the name of your printer. Each PAS-assigned printer has initial and subsequent page costs. Costs are arbitrary but usually based on the kind of printer, paper costs, and printer-supply costs. Monochrome laser printers can cost a few cents per page, while color printers will have higher print costs. Unfortunately, you can't determine page coverage, which is important for color printers that print full-page images.
You are now ready to set up the accounting system. The client software provides access to billing codes and printer billing accounts. Users can transfer electronic money from one printing account to another, but only PAS administrators can use the PAS administration program to change any printing account.
At this point, you can perform additional administrative tasks. Unfortunately, you can't change user ID's--you can only add and delete them. You can add billing groups and billing codes and enable error-reporting features. PAS can reject a print job if a user's printing account does not contain enough electronic money. When this error occurs, PAS can print a page that indicates the cause of the problem. PAS lets you specify five lines of information, which is usually sufficient for a contact name and an email address or a telephone number.
Although you must manually request reports, PAS can automatically schedule and perform account updates. For example, you can specify a minimum amount of money for a group printing account at the start of each week. PAS bases scheduling according to NT user groups, not billing groups, which might be a good reason to mimic the two groups. You can schedule account adjustments (e.g., change a fixed amount, add more money, or set the minimum amount) daily, weekly, or monthly. PAS applies the scheduled operations to only PAS users.
The PAS management application handles user maintenance and reporting. PAS supports various predefined reports. You can list users by billing group, name, and their current electronic money balance. You can even have PAS list only overdrawn accounts. PAS also maintains an inactive account list. You can generate summary reports according to user, billing group, billing code, and printer. You can generate detailed reports on system-created accounts, account balance and activity, and activities according to user or printer.
If your system supports MAPI mail, you can mail reports in Microsoft Word or text file format. Unfortunately, PAS can't schedule this method automatically. PAS presents the email option only after you select a report.
The PAS documentation is informative and easy to use. It covers the client interface and Web support, but most users will not need this information because client interaction is minimal. PAS technical support is available via a toll number or the Internet.
PAS is overkill for most small networks. However, it can be useful in environments that regularly perform a lot of printing for clients.
Register
