ABSTRACT

 

At a period when all entry in the budget is under intense scrutiny, Organiza-tions searches for a strategy to minimize cost. This necessitates Contact solu-tion limited to actively give consideration to office printing as a significant opportunity. Advancement in technology and compliance to meet information security challenges in printing, faxing, email, scanning and device integrity drives the company to centralize, scrutinize and standardize office output.

 

The aim of this project is to design and implement a central printing man-agement system (CPMS) for Contact Solution Limited in Nigeria, using window 2012 R2 server and uniFLOW server as an addendum to the print service, to drastically reduce the cost of running printing operations, improve workflow, rationalize print device and avoid unauthorized access to office print devices. This thesis report documents the practical and theoretical approach to re-search and deployment of the CPMS.

 

Keywords: Central printing management system, Information security, print server, scan, E-mail, windows server, uniFLOW software, Cost.

1    Introduction

 

The IT investment is primarily driven by cost reduction and the current eco-nomic climate. The research conducted by the loud house, 2011 tagged “re-thinking printing research” on behalf of Kyocera, provides a view of the cur-rent printing behaviour and the ways organisations are responding to the de-velopment. The Figure 1 below illustrates the key statistics summary of the research. However, the prevalence of “green” idea policy within the organisa-tion is not wholly sustainable because 25% of the organisation has formally written print policy (Kyocera 2011). Moreover, activities such as printing the wrong documents, forgetting to pick up printout from printers, multiple print-ing of a specific document, choosing to read on paper rather than on screen and printing documents single sided than double sided are characteristics of print wastage within the organisation. Furthermore, the attitude of employ-ees printing personal documents is relatively high. Research has it that 73% of employees’ cartel away with personal printed documents (Kyocera 2011) thereby inflicting the cost on the organisation. However, this burden might be shifted towards a more centrally driven approach. That is; Implementation of a central- print management system (CPMS) to achieve a greener printing fu-ture and cost reduction. Organisation saves up to 30% of their total print cost if their printing devices are vigorously administered (Gartner 2004). This pro-ject takes into cognisant the consideration of a centrally managed approach to combat habitual waste and cost through the deployment of printing man-agement system software.

1.1Background

 

In respect of the present Economic situation in Nigeria, a medium sized en-terprise, Contact Solutions Limited needed to optimize it´s printing device services presently characterized with technical problems, logistic issues in terms of consumables and functionality of the device, locally connected print-ing and scanning devices and most importantly, the cost incurred in the daily operation of the devices. This project is based on finding solutions to those challenges raised by organisation in alliance with the stakeholders. The task is to proffer a solution by designing, installing and configuring of a centralized printing management system (CPMS) to drastically reduce the cost of running printing services, monitor the print jobs and prevent unauthorized access to printing devices. A centralised assessment on print devices will facilitates the adjustment of fleet capability and location of devices within the organisation (Mark 2012).

 

 

The central printing management system will ultimately deliver an efficient and effective support for the business printing processes at a reduced cost. Furthermore, printing, faxing and scanning are essential day-to-day activities of a business process. Therefore, it must be adequately supported to enhance and maintain employees satisfaction.

 

 

1.2   Company´s profile

 

Contact Solution Limited is located in Lagos, Nigeria. The company provides a world-class call/ contact Centre services and enterprise solutions. It is a me-dium sized company with three branches and has been in existence ten years ago. Its Clients are from both public and private sector within the country.