Does investing in new technology increase the pressure on your IT Administrator?
In the past, administrating and managing your school or university’s printer fleet was a complex, time-consuming, and costly task, from installing the application and adding devices and users to ongoing management.
Print management changed all that, and if you find the right print management solution, you can use the same solution on new technology you bring into the classroom, like your 3D printers.
Use this simple guide to help you find your ideal
3D print management solution. This solution will aid in the long-term maintenance and support of 3D printing in your school and alleviate the burden on your IT team.
Managing secure access
Ensuring secure access to 3D printers accomplishes two things: ensuring that only students who need access for school projects are using the 3D printers and protecting these students’ projects.
Look for a print management solution that offers secure access through identity authentication via ID badges, PIN, username/password, or a combination of these. With secure access management, your students’ projects are safely locked in the 3D printer device until the user authenticates at the device. This also gives you greater flexibility on where you locate your 3D printers because you don’t have to police them manually.
Pay-for-print
Research shows that nearly 90 percent of schools with printers restrict student access due to an inability to manage costs. A pay-for-print feature enables you to charge users or departments for their 3D printing.
If students or departments are charged for printing, they will take greater responsibility regarding the cost of their 3D printing projects, ensuring that costs are minimized. Pay-for-print services also enable you to recover some or all the upfront 3D printing costs.
From an administrative perspective, pay-for-print services should be supported with easy tools to manage student/faculty accounts. Students should be able to top up their accounts with additional funds on their own, and you should be able to manage refunds when necessary.
Reporting
If you are not going to pass the cost of printing onto students and users, then managing costs is even more vital. It is essential to invest in a print management solution that offers you in-depth usage reporting.
Look for an admin dashboard and user interface with easy access to reporting tools. The reports should provide a comprehensive fact-based overview, allowing you to easily manage your 2D and 3D print environment, saving you time and effort. They should be automatically scheduled or on-demand, customizable, and allow you to get to the granular level for each print job on each printer without hassle.
2D & 3D print management
Managing your print fleet from multiple interfaces adds unnecessary complexity. Look for a print management solution that enables you to manage your entire print fleet from one interface. This will save you time and prevent your IT administrator from having to learn how to navigate multiple interfaces.
User-friendly IT interface
A full-featured print management solution is paramount, and so is the IT admin’s user experience. Look for a solution that enables your IT administrator to install and add users and devices easily. A simple, intuitive management interface saves valuable time, releasing your team from administrative tasks to focus on activities that enhance the educational experience.
Next up, you'll learn how to best expand your print environment to support your entire curriculum while taking peak and quite times into account.