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Setting up job attribute based charging

Question asked by Kevin Two on Feb 8, 2018
Latest reply on Mar 15, 2018 by Yadin Flammer

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Hi Pharos Community,

I am trying to figure out how to configure job attributes that will charge according to black & white or color from a single print queue. For ease of use and self service I have configured one print queue to handle both B&W and Color print jobs. The issue is the system is unable to accurately charge according to the attributes I have selected. In particular, when I send a print job from a Mac with a generic PostScript driver and set the print settings to Grayscale, the print job is charged as color. Attached is the screenshot of the particular print queue I am trying to configure to be able to correct charge B&W and Color rates for the following paper sizes:

Letter

Custom

Ledger

Legal

I want this Job Cost Method to be able to charge $0.07/page to print/copy in black and white (Simplex or Duplex), regardless of paper size.

In the same print queue to charge $0.38/page to print/copy in Color (Simplex or Duplex), regardless of paper size.

Best,

Kevin

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Nic Meadows Feb 15, 2018 6:51 AM

The jobs cost is determined first by the attributes that the page counter has detected which are then applied to the job cost method to calculate the cost. View the spooled job in the queue using Pharos Admin/Remote to ascertain what the pagecounter is finding. I expect that the generic drivers grayscale is actually being detected as colour. Make sure you've got the latest page counter on your print servers and if its still detecting gray scale as colour, send the spool file to Pharos support to check for you, they may be able to advise a setting to change or get the pagecounter updated so that it detects what you want.

Its absolutely possible to do what you want on a single queue and we've done it for years. BUT the pagecounter has to correctly detect the attributes that are sent for it to work.

Nic

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Willis Dair Feb 15, 2018 2:31 PM

We have a print queue set up like that. From our experience, when they say B&W it really is just black and the absence of any color (white). If there is one pixel that is not black, it is charged as a color print job. It is possible that the conversion to greyscale is producing shades of grey instead of dithering (kind of like a newspaper photo) which is not black, so therefore it is a color. When students send their reports or papers which are just text to the color printer, they are charged a B&W cost.

Willis Dair

Santa Clara University

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Steve Lasich Feb 22, 2018 10:51 AM

I feel like I should mention our experience charging the same for color printing on paper of any size. When word got out that we were charging the same price for ledger (we call it tabloid) some student groups began mass-printing posters with Uniprint because we undercut the price of other local printing services. The problem was these posters were so saturated with toner they cost more to print than we were charging.

We doubled the price for tabloid color. The service is still just as popular but we're back to breaking even instead of losing money.

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Kevin Two Feb 28, 2018 3:02 PM

Does anyone mind analyzing this spool file where a ledger (11 x 17) print job is being interpreted by Pharos as Letter? The print job was submitted from a Mac using a Print Queue adding script that uses a Generic PS Driver.
Tabloid Converting to Letter.rb - Box

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Yadin Flammer @ Kevin Two on Mar 15, 2018 9:27 AM

You're best off opening a support ticket for something that deep. Baring driver issues (common with Epson) you should find that the job attributes in the Transaction log match the attributes set on the client when sending the job. Using allowed attributes on the queue can be helpful in testing this as well. If something isn't working, send the spool file and printer information to support and they should be able to work it out.

As to the B&W vs Color thing, you pretty much have to set Grayscale Only when sending the job if you expect to be charged B&W prices on a queue that is set to process both. It's because of this that using two queues with restrictions is often better as it denies a job that would be charged in an unexpected way due to user oversight.

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5 Replies

Nic Meadows Feb 15, 2018 6:51 AM
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Correct Answer
The jobs cost is determined first by the attributes that the page counter has detected which are then applied to the job cost method to calculate the cost. View the spooled job in the queue using Pharos Admin/Remote to ascertain what the pagecounter is finding. I expect that the generic drivers grayscale is actually being detected as colour. Make sure you've got the latest page counter on your print servers and if its still detecting gray scale as colour, send the spool file to Pharos support to check for you, they may be able to advise a setting to change or get the pagecounter updated so that it detects what you want.

Its absolutely possible to do what you want on a single queue and we've done it for years. BUT the pagecounter has to correctly detect the attributes that are sent for it to work.

Nic
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Willis Dair Feb 15, 2018 2:31 PM
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We have a print queue set up like that. From our experience, when they say B&W it really is just black and the absence of any color (white). If there is one pixel that is not black, it is charged as a color print job. It is possible that the conversion to greyscale is producing shades of grey instead of dithering (kind of like a newspaper photo) which is not black, so therefore it is a color. When students send their reports or papers which are just text to the color printer, they are charged a B&W cost.

Willis Dair
Santa Clara University
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Steve Lasich Feb 22, 2018 10:51 AM
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I feel like I should mention our experience charging the same for color printing on paper of any size. When word got out that we were charging the same price for ledger (we call it tabloid) some student groups began mass-printing posters with Uniprint because we undercut the price of other local printing services. The problem was these posters were so saturated with toner they cost more to print than we were charging.
We doubled the price for tabloid color. The service is still just as popular but we're back to breaking even instead of losing money.
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Kevin Two Feb 28, 2018 3:02 PM
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Does anyone mind analyzing this spool file where a ledger (11 x 17) print job is being interpreted by Pharos as Letter? The print job was submitted from a Mac using a Print Queue adding script that uses a Generic PS Driver.
Tabloid Converting to Letter.rb - Box
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- Yadin Flammer @ Kevin Two on Mar 15, 2018 9:27 AM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  You're best off opening a support ticket for something that deep. Baring driver issues (common with Epson) you should find that the job attributes in the Transaction log match the attributes set on the client when sending the job. Using allowed attributes on the queue can be helpful in testing this as well. If something isn't working, send the spool file and printer information to support and they should be able to work it out.
  
  As to the B&W vs Color thing, you pretty much have to set Grayscale Only when sending the job if you expect to be charged B&W prices on a queue that is set to process both. It's because of this that using two queues with restrictions is often better as it denies a job that would be charged in an unexpected way due to user oversight.
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Setting up job attribute based charging

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