Middle school achieves a far from middling reduction in printing

Cutting to the chase

Problem

Current print management tool wasnt cutting it in numerous ways

Solution

PaperCut MF provides quotas, monitoring, policies, and compatibility with any brand

Outcome

Student printing reduced by 90% with a powerful set-and-forget solution

The Minehead Middle School (MMS) has a history dating back to 1929, previously operating as a grammar school and general secondary school. In 1971 it evolved to its current form as a middle school, educating 600 students aged 9-13, and employing more than 100 staff.

Printing costs can get out of hand with tens of users, so it’s no surprise MMS were experience significant cost blowout with their 700-strong user base. They also needed a print management solution to support their new MFD fleet, and let users pay their own way.

After the implementation [of PaperCut MF], student printing dropped by a massive 90%."

- Tony Ayre,

IT Manager at Minehead Middle School

Problem

Current print management tool wasnt cutting it in numerous ways

When Tony Ayre, MMS’ IT Manager, realized their existing print management tool wouldn’t support their new fleet of Ricoh multifunction devices, he knew it was time for a change on a more sweeping scale.

On top of Ricoh compatibility, Tony wanted the solution to include a raft of flagship features previously not included. Students and staff enjoyed no restrictions on their printing, so the chosen tool had to not only control printing, but give users complete agency over the cost.

So he set off to find print management that plays nicely with Ricohs, while performing three key tasks: control the amount of printing, place restrictions on what could be printed, and let users top up quotas with minimal IT intervention.

Solution

PaperCut MF provides quotas, monitoring, policies, and compatibility with any brand

Tony sought advice from other schools in his search, and it didn’t take long for PaperCut’s reputation to come out on top – or for MMS to complete a full rollout of PaperCut MF over the summer vacation.

Prudent policies and quotas were set up to drive costs down, and put them top of mind. The choice cuts included a five-page-per-job limit for students, mandatory descriptive titles for documents, and color printing exclusive to staff (limited to 20 color pages a month).

Tony and the team were thrilled: “With its powerful scripting, filtering systems, and many varied reports, PaperCut MF’s definitely our ideal print management solution,” says Tony. And of course, PaperCut MF worked wonderfully with the Ricohs to boot.

Outcome

Student printing reduced by 90% with a powerful set-and-forget solution

Numbers and figures often aren’t the whole story, but the following cited by Tony certainly says a lot: “After the implementation [of PaperCut MF], student printing dropped by a massive 90%.” No doubt the finance department is also a fan!

With PaperCut MF in place at MMS, printing is more tightly controlled school-wide, and everyone understand their available quota and the process they need to follow if they have a legitimate need to top up.

Tony’s favorite part? The simple satisfaction of a set-and-forget solution: “We can safely leave it [PaperCut MF] to do its job, and not worry about running up massive printing bills.” Sounds like another happy customer to us.