Managed Print Services

In September 2020, Wright State's contract for print and copy devices with ComDoc went into effect. This contract and the departmental printing and copying are now centrally managed by Computing and Telecommunications Services. 

CaTS Managed Print Services (MPS) encompasses all office and lab print devices—printers, copiers, fax machines, and multifunction scanners.

MPS Best Practices

• Reduce Paper Usage/Green Printing
  • The preferred Wright State University communication and storage method is electronic. Documents should only be printed when there are legal, client, or other essential business requirements.
  • Duplex (two-sided) and black and white printing will be the default on all office printers. However, the end user can change this if a document requires it.
  • Minimize the use of fax machines. Scan and email documents whenever possible. Faxing is more expensive than scanning on office printers. There is no cost to scan a document. 
• Printing of Color
  • Print in black and white whenever possible. Color printing costs three times as much as black and white.  Color should only be used for external presentations or communications.  
• Production Print Center Redirection
  • For documents requiring a large number of copies (greater than 100 pages), proof on-screen digitally, or print only 1 paper print proof to the departmental printer. Once finalized, direct the output to the central production facility (Printing Services Consortium or Wright Copy). Printing large numbers of documents or large documents in the production facility costs the university less than printing within your department.
• Internet Printing
  • Printing from the internet is discouraged. When you need information from the internet, save or print to a file. If you must print from the internet, only print in black and white and use the following guidelines:
    • Do not print the background - If you are printing a web page using Internet Explorer, select Tools->Internet Options, select the 'Advanced' tab and in the 'Printing' section, remove the checkbox in the 'print background colors and images' option.
    • Just select the area you want to print - If you do not want the whole document and need only a few paragraphs or a few pages, then just select those paragraphs or pages and print them. To print selected paragraphs, select the paragraphs and then select File->Print and in the 'Page Range' section, check the 'Selection' radio button.
• Document Specific
  • (Microsoft Word document, Microsoft Excel worksheet, web document, text document, graphic document, Adobe Acrobat document, Rich Text Format, Microsoft Visio document, etc.)
  • General
    • Set your print defaults to low or draft resolution and duplex (two-sided).
    • Proofread, spell check and “print preview” documents on the computer before printing.
    • After proofing on-screen, print one copy, review and then make additional copies using the duplex copy function.
    • Turn hard-copy documents into electronic documents by scanning them.
    • Convert frequently distributed files into portable document files (PDFs).
    • To reduce network traffic and storage requirements, zip all larger documents or groups of documents prior to emailing.
    • Reduce margins and font size on less important documents.
    • Redesign documents to reduce the length and save a page.
  • Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
    • PowerPoint presentations are usually lengthy and require a large amount of network and printing resources to print. 
    • Whenever possible, print in “outline” mode or handout mode with multiple pages on one page.
    • When presenting, decide which slides need a hard copy if any.
    • Use a live meeting to share presentations vs. email or handouts. 
    • Use a projector in meetings and provide the PowerPoint electronically through DocuShare (central repository) or email as a last resort. 
    • When designing PowerPoint presentations, use white backgrounds vs. dark backgrounds that require significantly more ink.
  • Microsoft Outlook Document or email system:
    • Print email documents only in black and white. Color printing of emails is discouraged.

Guidelines and Procedures

• Centrally Managed
  • The managed print solution is supported by CaTS like other Information Technology services at Wright State.
    • The initial deployment was completed by CaTS and guided by collaborative assessments with each department.
    • All requested moves, additions, changes, and deletions of output devices will be approved and completed by CaTS.
    • Exceptions to the ComDoc contract will be evaluated and approved by CaTS.
• Network Printers
  • CaTS strongly recommends that non-ComDoc devices are removed and/or assessed for replacement by a ComDoc device.
    • Supply costs for these devices are significantly more expensive for these devices and are not delivered automatically.
    • CaTS cannot support or service these devices at the same level that we can the ComDoc devices that are under contract.
• Exceptions
  • If you feel your print/copy needs are not being met or you have any questions or concerns, you can contact the CaTS Help Desk at any time. CaTS will work to assess your needs and evaluate how best to meet them. 
• Procurement of Output Devices
  • It is strongly recommended that any new devices purchased come through the ComDoc contract through an assessment by CaTS.
• Performance Management
  • The MPS program metrics will be tracked on a monthly basis.
• Review
  • CaTS will periodically review usage statistics and re-assess the deployment of devices if changes are appropriate. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Program Information

How to use the device

Equipment Removal

Training/Support

Questions or Assistance

Contact the CaTS Help Desk at 937-775-4827, or helpdesk@wright.edu, for any questions or assistance with these devices.

Instructions for Installing Xerox Print Queue onto a Linux Workstation

• Download Secure Print for Linux (Zip file)

Introduction

Printing to Xerox devices through the university’s Managed Print program is facilitated using a software package called “Pharos”. On Windows and Mac workstations, a client is installed onto the workstation in order to facilitate printing. However, Pharos does not provide a client for Linux/Unix workstations, so CaTS has developed the following process in order to allow Linux users to print to the Xerox devices provided through the university’s Managed Print program.

In order to ensure the integrity of the financial aspect of the Managed Print program, Linux machines are only able to print to the Secure queue. 

Download Configuration Script

1. Log into a user account with rights to configure printers.
2. Download the configuration script zip file: Linux_Xerox_Install.zip
3. Extract the contents of the zip file. The zip file contains two files:
   1. xrx7855.ppd – This is the printer driver file
   2.  Linux_Install_Secure.sh—This is a bash script that installs the print queue using lpd/lpr and prompts for your username so print jobs are submitted attached to your username.
4. From a terminal window, run the following command from within the folder location where the two files were extracted: bash ./Linux_Install_Secure.sh
   1. You may need to modify the file to permit executions and may need to run the script using sudo.
5.  The print queue should now be installed.

Notes:

• Depending on the application used to print, you may need to change print options, including one‐sided vs. two‐sided; and monochrome vs. color.
• This configuration will install the same printer across all users configured on the workstation; and will send all jobs to the queue with the username entered during the installation process. If you have a need to have multiple users use the same system, please contact CaTS at x4827.