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Documentation

Installation

  1. Download prnwatch.exe.
  2. Logon with administrator rights to the Windows NT/2000/XP system installed on the computer connected to desired printer(s)
  3. Exit all runing programs.
  4. Run prnwatch.exe and follow the on-screen instructions

The program consists of two components –

  1. O&K Print Watch Service is the service to be installed on a print server to intercept all print events, log them to the database and control the print server.
  2. Control program is a user interface to view the print statistics and to control the print server.

You should install O&K Print Watch Service on each print server you want to keep the statistics on, which enables you to save the information on printing of all the selected printers of the current print server in a local database. To view the statistics as well as to control the printing process (print queue) you need the Control program which can be connected with the print server with the installed O&K Print Watch service from any PC of your local network.

While installing O&K Print Watch Service, you have to select the database type that will be used to store the entire statistics and settings.

  • MS Access - the file pw4db.mdb will be used as the database.
  • MS SQL Server – MS SQL Server will be used as the database.
The O&K Print Watch distribution package includes Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE). Its installation is optional in case you want to use SQL Server as the database source and there is no available SQL Server on your network. The program will generate a password for the SQL Server administrator during the installation of MSDE. Save this password somewhere for future use.

If you install MSDE and select the MS SQL Server database type, the database will be created and configured automatically.

If you do not install MSDE and select the MS SQL Server database type, an SQL Server already existing on your network must be used as the database server. You will have to specify the server name, the SQL Server administrator name (for example, sa) and his password. SQL authentication is used for connecting to an existing SQL Server.

The installation program will create both a database on the specified server and the user O&K Print Watch will work with this database under.

The SQL administrator password is necessary only when the database is being created. It is neither saved not used anywhere later.

We recommend that you use MS SQL Server instead of MS Access for quicker and more reliable work of the database.

Uninstall

  1. Double click the Add/Remove programs in the Windows Control Panel.
  2. Select O&K Print Watch in the list of installed program and click Add/Remove button.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions.


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Quick start

This section is intended to help you start using O&K Print Watch as soon and as seamlessly as possible.

Follow these simple steps and all will be set up and running in just a few seconds:

  • Logon to the Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server system with administrator rights.
  • Run O&K Print Watch
  • NOTE: You can set the password for start of the program. For this purpose choose menu item Tools-> Password. At following start of the program you should enter the password for continue.
  • Select the File->Add print server menu option. Enter the name of the print server (for example, MY-SERVER) in the dialog box or click the Browse button to select a server in the network neighborhood. After you add the print server, the icon in the left tree of O&K Print Watch Control Program will indicate its status.
- This icon indicates a print server with O&K Print Watch Service running on it.
- This icon indicates a print server where O&K Print Watch Service is not installed, or where it is not launched, or when it is impossible to connect to the print server. Control Program will display a dialog box with a detailed error message in case it fails to connect to the print server.
  • Select menu item Printer->Add Printer, a window will appear listing all printers, installed LOCALLY on this selected print server and not being monitored yet.
  • Select the printers you wish to know more about. As soon as this is done you should be able to view all the information available for given printer's print jobs stats and specifications. Repeat this step to add as many simultaneously monitored printers to O&K Print Watch print queue monitor as you wish.

After O&K Print Watch service is started you will begin to receive the information on print jobs. To get information about print jobs select printer in the left pane printers' tree.

To stop the monitoring for the certain print server, use the menu: File->Remove print server

To stop monitoring a printer select its icon in the left pane printers' tree and then select the Printer->Remove Printer item from the main menu.

NOTE: If the printer has its own network interface, the print jobs originated on workstation, where it is installed as workstation's own printer (Microsoft® TCP/IP Printing, LPR port), will not be taken into account when generating information on print queue.

For the correct count of the number of printed pages and copies, you should install the printer as a local one on the same server where O&K Print Watch is installed. Besides, you should specify the MS Standard TCP\IP port with the printer IP address as the port of the printer, or the JetDirect port for a network print-sever. Every user should connect to printer via the print-server - \\ServerName\PrinterName. In that case the number of printed pages for every user will be counted correctly.


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Reports

O&K Print Watchis capable of providing various printing activity reports, such as total number of print jobs on the particular workstation within given time frame, total number of print jobs originated by the particular user within given time frame and total number of print jobs by all users on all workstations within given time frame reports.

The report on documents printed out on given printer - to generate this report select printer of interest in the left pane printers' tree. The report will be shown in the right pane of main window immediately. This report contains following fields:

  1. User - Name of the user who created a print job.
  2. Computer - Name of the computer that initiated the print job.
  3. Document - Document name.
  4. Pages - Number of pages in a print job.
  5. Cost - Cost of the print job.
  6. Size - Number of bytes in a print job.
  7. Date - Date and time when the print job was originated.
  8. Paper size - Paper size for this print job.
  9. Color - Color mode used for printing.
  10. Duplex - Duplex mode information: one or two side printing.

The report on documents printed out by particular user - to generate this report expand printer item in the left pane printers' tree and select user item. The report will be shown in the right pane of main window immediately. This report contains following fields:

  1. Computer - Name of the computer that initiated the print job.
  2. Document - Document name.
  3. Pages - Число страниц в задании.
  4. Cost - Number of pages in a print job.
  5. Size - Number of bytes in a print job.
  6. Date - Date and time when the print job was originated.
  7. Paper size - Paper size for this print job.
  8. Color - Color mode used for printing.
  9. Duplex - Duplex mode information: one or two side printing.

The report on documents printed out on particular workstation - to generate this report expand printer item in the left pane printers' tree and select computer item. The report will be shown in the right pane of main window immediately. This report contains following fields:

  1. User - Name of the user who created a print job.
  2. Document - Document name.
  3. Pages - Number of pages in a print job.
  4. Cost - Cost of the print job.
  5. Size - Number of bytes in a print job.
  6. Date - Date and time when the print job was originated.
  7. Paper size - Paper size for this print job.
  8. Color - Color mode used for printing.
  9. Duplex - Duplex mode information: one or two side printing.

The report on total number documents printed out - to generate this report expand printer item in the left pane printers' tree and select either Computers or Users item. The report will be shown in the right pane of main window immediately. This report contains following fields:

  1. User or Computer - Name of the computer that initiated the print job or name of the user who created a print job.
  2. Total - Total number of printed documents.
  3. Pages - Total number of pages in all documents printed out.
  4. Cost - Total cost of all documents printed out.
  5. Size - Total number of bytes in all documents printed out.
  6. Paper size - Paper size for this print job.
  7. Color - Color mode used for printing.
  8. Duplex - Duplex mode information: one or two side printing.

To refresh a report select the View->Refresh item from the main menu.

Each report can be sorted by columns. To sort a report click on header of a column you wish to sort.

To search for a text string in a report, select the Edit->Find item from the main menu.

To print a report select the File->Print item from the main menu.

To preview report before printing select the File->Print Preview item from the main menu.

All the reports are generated from last 500 records by default. To change this setting to another value select an item of your interest (printer, user or computer) in the left pane printers' tree and right-click it with your mouse. Select the Report settings item from the popup menu that appears.

Select the time frame you wish view the report for as well as maximum number of records to be displayed in report.

Note: time frame of report value is not stored and will be reset next time O&K Print Watch starts up.



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Users groups

Any user that prints anything can be included in a user group. Print statistics can be viewed for each user group. It is also possible to set a printing quota for each group. This printing quota will apply to all members of the group.

Use the User->Users Groups menu item to manage user groups.

All user groups with their descriptions and the number of users are displayed in the Groups dialog box. Use the Add, Edit and Remove buttons to create, edit or remove a group.

NOTE: You can remove only an empty group. Before you remove a group, you have to remove all users from this group.

Creating a user group.

When you create a group, you should choose a name for it and select users that will belong to this group.
  • Group name – the name of the user group being created.
  • Description – the description of the user group, an optional parameter.
  • Users – the list of users that do not belong to this group.
  • Members – the list of users that belong to this group.

NOTE: Each user can belong only to one group. If you add a user from another group to the new group, this will automatically exclude the user from the old group.

Printing reports for user groups.

To view printing statistics for user groups, use the Groups tab in the left tree in the main window of the program.
Both general reports on all groups and detailed reports on members of a certain group are available.

Each report contains the following fields –
  1. Group or Member – the name of a group or a group member.
  2. Documents – the number of printed documents.
  3. Size – the size of printed documents.
  4. Pages – the number of printed pages.
  5. Cost – the cost of printed documents.
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Charts

Overall reports on printers, users and computers are presented not only in the form of tables, but also in the form of charts. To view a chart, select a print-server, user or computer item in the left tree and switch to the "Charts View" tab in the right report window.

The chart view is customized with the help of the “Properties” workspace bar.

  • Start date - Set start date of report's period.
  • End date - Set end date of report's period.
  • Show legend - Show/Hide chart's legend.
  • Type - Show chart as pie or bar.
  • Group by - Group chart data by users, pages or cost.
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Export reports

You can export any report into the HTML or MS Excel format.
  1. On the File menu, click Export.
  2. Select the format of the file for exporting.
  3. Specify a file name and click OK.
  4. After the data is successfully exported, the program associated with files of this type will be started. For example, Internet Explorer for html or MS Excel for xls.

NOTE: To be able to export into the MS Excel format, you must have MS Excel installed.

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Delete records

To delete some records select report for the specific printer, user or computer. In the right pane window select one or more records and right click with your mouse. Select Delete selected records item from popup menu.

You can also delete records for specific time period. Right-click the desired Printer, User or Computer report with your mouse and then select the Advanced Delete item from popup menu.

Select time interval for deletion and time interval type in the Advanced records deletion dialog window. Refer to table below for explanations:

Inside range "From" and "To" Delete all records with date between 'From' and 'To' values
Outside range "From" and "To" Delete all records with date before 'From' and after 'To' values
Before date "From" Delete all records with date before 'From'
After date "To" Delete all records with date after 'To'

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Charging

O&K Print Watch gives you the opportunity of setting a different cost of a printed page for each printer and each paper size. Select a printer in the printer tree on your left and use the menu item Printer->Charging for accessing the printing cost settings.

The basic page cost is specified in the Base Page Cost field.

If the printer supports color and duplex printing, specify the corresponding values in the fields MONOCHROME and DUPLEX.

Paper sheets of various sizes belong to various Paper Groups. For each Paper Group you can increase or decrease the page cost. There are already three preset groups LARGE, VERY LARGE and EXTRA LARGE.

Example:

There is a color printer with duplex support and A2/A3/A4 paper.
  1. Set base cost per page $0.05. For A4 paper sheet.
  2. Set monochrome discount with 40% percent less.
  3. Set large paper cost with 30% percent extra. For A3 paper sheet.
  4. Set very large paper cost with 50% percent extra. For A2 paper sheet.
  5. Set duplex discount with 50% percent less.

Use the buttons Add Group, Edit Group, Delete Group for adding, editing or removing a Paper Group.

For viewing and changing the group a paper size belongs to use the Paper Size button.

The Paper Size can have the Base Page Cost or it can belong to one of the Paper Groups. Any Paper Size can be included into any Paper Group.

NOTE: Please, note that the name of a Paper Size, its belonging to a Paper Group and the name of a Paper Group are common for all printers, while Base Page Cost, Paper Group Fee and Action are different for each printer.

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Printing actions

You can specify printing actions for any object of the following types – printer, user, user group. These actions define the way a print job belonging to an object (printer, user, or group) will be processed. To view or edit a printing action, use the context menu of the corresponding object (printer, user, group) in the left tree of the program (a right click on this object in the tree). Select the Properties menu item and switch to the Actions tab

  • Printed – the document will be printed.
  • Canceled – the document will be canceled. An object this option is selected for will not be able to print a single document.
  • Paused – the document will be put in the print queue and printing will be paused.
  • Pin code – the document will be put in the print queue and printing will be paused. To continue printing, the user will have to enter the PIN code. The user must have the O&K Print Watch Authentication Client installed on the computer for that.
  • Redirect to Account – the document will be put in the print queue and printing will be paused. To continue printing, the user will have to select the printing account. The user must have the O&K Print Watch Authentication Client installed on the computer for that.

The hierarchy of printing actions is as follows: User->User group->Printer. How does it work? When a user prints a document, O&K Print Watch will first check actions specified for this user, then for the group the user belongs to, and then for the printer the job is sent to.

If no printing actions are specified for any object, the document will be printed.

Example1:

No printing actions are specified for the user oleg, but it belongs to the user group Paused Users and printing is paused for it (the printing actions is Paused). In this case, printing will be paused for the document.*

Example2:

The user oleg is allowed to print, but it belongs to the user group Paused Users and printing is paused for it (the printing actions is Paused). In this case, the document will be printed*

*In case the quota for oleg or Paused Users has not been exceeded.

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Viewing images of printed jobs

Each print job can be saved to the database and viewed later as an image. To do it, select the object print jobs should be saved for and select the Save each printed job image checkbox for it.

Saved documents will be highlighted in blue and marked with the O&K Print Watch icon in detailed reports - . To view an image, right-click such a document in the report and select the View printed job image menu

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Printing quotas

You can use quotas to limit printing for any object (printer, user or users group). Once the quota is exceeded, the rest of documents will be processed according to quota settings. Use the Users->Printing Quotas menu item to view and edit quotas.

When you set a printing quota for an object, you should specify how documents should be processed when the quota is exceeded.

  • Deleted – delete all documents sent to the printer.
  • Paused – put documents into the queue and pause printing them.

Limiting printing by balance.

The quota sets a balance for each object. Objects can use this balance for printing. When a document is being printed, its cost is determined according to the cost settings for this printer. This cost is deducted from the balance and it decreases. When the balance reaches 0, documents will be processed according to quota settings.

NOTE: If the cost of printing is not specified for a printer, the cost of each printed document will be 0. In this case, the balance will not reduced and the limit will never be exceeded.

It is possible to limit printing documents by the balance. You can specify the balance manually or you can schedule the balance to be increased:
  • Day – automatically increase the balance every day.
  • Week – every week.
  • Month – every month.

Example:

The balance is set to $10.00 for the user oleg and it is increased by the schedule: Day - $5.00. When the quota is exceeded, the printing action will be Deleted. It means that oleg can print documents the total cost of which is not greater than $10.00 a day. Once the quota is exceeded, any document sent to the printer will be deleted. His balance will be increased by $5.00 the next day.

Limiting each print job.

You can also use quotas to set limits for each print job either by cost or by pages. To do it, set the Pages and Cost fields to maximum values and when they are exceeded, the document will be processed according to quota settings.

Example:

The Limit each job checkbox is selected for the user oleg and the following values are specified: 50 Pages and $5.00 Cost. When the quota is exceeded, the printing action will be Deleted. In this case, a document created by this user will be printed if its size does not exceed 50 pages and its cost does not exceed $5.00. Otherwise, the document will be deleted.

Advanced limits.

Printing can be limited by key words in the name. To set such limits, click the Advanced button in the Printing Quotas dialog box.

If you specify several key words, separate them with «;».

Example:

The following key words are specified for the user oleg – «jpg; jpeg; gif; png; bmp». When the quota is exceeded, the printing action will be Deleted. If oleg prints a document named SomeCoolPic.jpg, this document will be deleted.

The Save print job image when quota exceeded option means that any document sent to the printer after the quota is exceeded will be saved to the database.

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Print Queue

To view the print jobs queue for the given printer select Print Queue item from the left tree view. A report will be shown in the right pane. This report contains the following fields:
  1. Document name - name of the document being printed.
  2. Status - document's status (spooling, printing, deleting).
  3. Owner - owner of the document being printed.
  4. Pages - number of pages in the document.
  5. Size - size of the document.
  6. Submitted - time when the document was submitted to print queue.
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Web Server

O&K Print Watch Service also includes the http-server. You can view reports and statistics of printing activity using any internet browser.

The default port for http access is 8989. For example, O&K Print Watch Service was installed on OFFICE_SERVER print server, enter the url http://OFFICE_SERVER:8989 in your browser.

You can change the port for http server or change the startup mode select print server in the left pane and right-click it with your mouse.

Select the "Web Server" item from the popup menu that appears.

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Printing Accounts

A print account is a new way to enhance and detail print statistics in those cases when the analysis by usernames is not enough. For example, you can use accounts in the following cases:

  1. Some or all users use one and the same Windows account to log into the network. In this case, all printed documents will belong to one and the same username. To avoid it and get detailed statistics for each user, it is necessary to use printing accounts. Whenever a user prints a document, he will have to specify the account this job must belong to.
  2. It is often necessary to keep statistics not only for users, but also for projects they work on. In this case, you can create a printing account for each project and all jobs of such an account will be the printing history of this project.
  3. Creating a printing account.

    To create a new printing account and manage those already existing, use the User -> Printing Accounts menu item.

    It is possible to disable a printing account. In this case, you can view the statistics of this account, but it is impossible to select the disabled printing account when new jobs are printed.

    Using printing accounts.

    To use a printing account, you should enable the Redirect to Account action for a printer, a user or a user group. Use the Properties -> Actions -> Redirect to Account item from the context menu of an object.

    For notifications about redirecting jobs and selecting accounts to be displayed, the O&K Print Watch Authentication Client must be installed on the user's computer. When printing a job, the user will be offered to select the account that should be used for the document.

    Quotas and actions can be specified for any account. For example, for a job to be redirected to a particular account using a password or a PIN code, you should enable the PIN code action for this account. In this case, the user will have to enter the password in order to print the document after selecting the account. You can view the statistics of printing accounts the way you do it with other objects. To do it, select the Accounts tab in the left tree of the program.

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