A newly formed partnership of schools is finding that PaperCut

Cutting to the chase

Problem

A reliable and easy to use printing solution was needed for a group of schools.

Solution

PaperCut is now being used by all the schools in the partnership.

Outcome

A standardized approach that works for both students and staff.

Green Point Christian College is an independent, non-denominational, co-educational school located in Green Point on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Currently, PaperCut MF handles the printing needs of around 1,100 students and 180 staff members. Geoff Inman, the Service Desk Team Leader for the school, reveals that they’ve been using PaperCut for 14 or so years. “It’s used by both staff and students. The virtual queue means you can print from your device and then pick it up at whichever multi-function printer is nearest. The students have RFID cards that they can tap at any of the photocopiers, or they can use their student IDs.”

Geoff has set up some rules using PaperCut so that jobs over 60 pages can only be printed out on the larger printers, which saves the school money. The students are given a quota for the amount of printing they can do, and a pop-up will tell them how much credit they have remaining. There is also the option to see their environmental impact with the number of trees-worth of paper they’ve used.

“We have also implemented the option for users after they have printed to be able to change their job to monochrome printing at the printer. This has been great for when people don’t select it when printing from their device but can save the school money when releasing their jobs.”

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The synchronization of users is really efficient. It’s a set and forget process, or the push of a button if you need the sync done straight away."

- Geoff Inman,

Service Desk Team Leader, Green Point Christian College, Green Point, New South Wales.

Problem

In recent years, the Melos Foundation has been established to bring together a number of schools in order to streamline some processes and strengthen the schools individually and as a group. This initiative came from Green Point Christian College, which has been joined by Yattalunga Valley Christian School, Greenacre Christian College, Yanginanook School, Brewarrina Christian School, and Moree Christian School, with more institutions to join soon.

Part of the aim of this partnership is to utilize expertise across all the member schools. The foundation wanted to establish a print management system across all the institutions that would not only standardize usage, but also allow one IT department to run the entire system. In this way teaching staff, who sometimes move between schools within the foundation, benefit by having a consistent printing experience wherever they are.

Solution

Having enjoyed 14 years’ experience with PaperCut at Green Point, it was an obvious choice to be rolled out across all the schools. It enables Geoff to provide IT support for all of them whenever necessary. But, as he points out, PaperCut’s ease of use and reliability means there are rarely any issues. “Since you don’t need to install print drivers or anything, once people are onboarded, it’s pretty much set and forget.”

Geoff is also impressed by the ease with which PaperCut allows users to install updates. “I have never had a bad update from PaperCut and feel confident doing them at the end of the day and don’t feel like I will have to spend the rest of the weekend rolling the update back. And major security issues have always been fixed quickly.”

Outcome

With six schools already part of the Melos Foundation, and more expected to join soon, the use of PaperCut on all campuses offers a standardized, simple solution that works for teaching staff, students, and the IT department.

With simple onboarding, flexibility, and comprehensive reporting, PaperCut MF will keep print management easy and efficient as more schools join the foundation.

As Geoff declares, “PaperCut really is the industry standard for schools.”