By SHANNON O. WELLS
That the COVID pandemic changed almost everything may be a cliché at this point, but use of paper and printers is not typically among the things commonly considered when comparing before and after the global tumult of 2020 and 2021.
On the Oakland campus, however, use of paper stock has gone down considerably each year since its pre-pandemic levels, as Emily Potoczny, sustainability engagement manager for the University’s Office of Sustainability, explained to the Senate Computing and Information Technology Committee at its Sept. 23 meeting.
The Managed Print Program at Pitt is responding to these changes as part of an overall effort the University is undertaking to make its print environment match current use trends. This includes a rollout of new, streamlined printing network including state-of-the-art, multi-function Canon-brand printers.
“University printing since pre-pandemic, campuswide — that includes student use, faculty and staff use, all of it — the actual paper stock that we’re using on campus has been down 70% or more each year since that pre-pandemic level,” Potoczny said. “We know that we have an overabundance of capacity on campus with the current printers that are out there.”
In many offices around Oakland, color printing devices sit next to black-and-white printers. “Part of this effort with the new transition is to find those devices that have a black-and-white paired right next to a color and get one device that serves both of those needs in one,” she noted, including more efficient and secure devices that will more immediately meet departmental office needs.
Some also purchased desktop printers during the pandemic. “We’re looking to save energy through consolidation of those devices. New multi-function printers are much more energy efficient than the (current) kind of dispersed network of desktop devices, as well as these older models that we have on campus currently,” Potoczny said. “Saving energy is part of it, to meet our sustainability commitments as a campus, and then beyond that as well with print reduction.”
Additional efficiencies from the new devices include default black-and-white and double-sided printing, which is currently used with student printing across campus, as well as Print Release, a feature that sends all printing requests to a single queue.
“When you go up to one of the devices, you tap your ID card, and then you release it,” she said. “This not only increases the security of those devices and the security of the information that you’re printing … but also helps to reduce accidental prints.”
“If you sent something to your print queue that was the wrong draft or it had an error in it, you could actually intercept that when you go to your print queue,” she added. “You could remove it or just choose not to print it when you go to the device.”
Other universities using similar systems have saved between 15% and 40% from eliminating “accidental” prints, she said. “So we are looking also for what additional paper we could be saving on campus with this new program.”
Another feature is ink and toner replenishment, in which the new devices will automatically send out notifications when their supplies are low, and have new ink and toner shipped directly to where the device is located, decreasing printer downtime.
“It’s also rolled into the program cost itself,” Potoczny noted. “That’s another place where we’re looking to really find resource savings for the University, in eliminating the need to purchase individual ink and toner.”
Streamlined and secure
Bob Fitzgerald, Pitt Printing Services senior manager, elaborated on the technological advancements in the updated Canon printing equipment and services. A component called UniFlow creates a secured print environment, allowing an end user to print “pretty much all day, to our secure print queue,” by using a device within their printing group and tapping to print.
“If someone’s using the device right in front of you, then you can walk down the hall to the next device as part of your unit,” tap and print there. “That follows you, and you can change the settings on that too,” Fitzgerald said. “So if you did accidentally print in color, you should be able to change the setting at that device and tell it that you wanted to print black and white, which helps save the department money.”
Traditionally, if someone else is using a printer that you need to use immediately, the tendency is to send the job to another printer. “Now you’ve got two prints coming out of that,” he said. “The ‘follow-me’ print is kind of helping resolve those types of issues with that.”
Another feature, Scan to Email, eliminates some steps when scanning a document to SharePoint or OneDrive storage files.
“This is a little bit of a leap that allows you to go directly to those file store locations with those prints,” Fitzgerald said. “Also, if you work from home, say, two or three days a week, or you come in two days, you can (send documents) to the secure printer. And then when you arrive (at the office), you can tap and print from there, or if someone is on site, you can then delegate that print to someone else that’s on site, if need be.
“So you don’t have to wait till you get there,” he added. “You can delegate it to another individual to print for you.”
Training will be offered as the new devices are put in place, which won’t be until individual departments’ needs are assessed.
“We make adjustments based on what the department’s needs are,” he said, leading to a final proposal and sign-off for the devices. “And after the devices are ordered, it takes about three weeks for them to come in, to be placed.”
“We’re trying to work with the departments first to make sure that we get everything that they need, but we still can handle the one-off situations where there’s an emergency need, where we need to place another device outside of the assessment process.”
On the way
What is expected to be a three-year transition process started about a year and a half ago, Potoczny noted. A few departments have already gone through this process, “and we’re placing things now. So it will take some time to get to everybody’s area.”
In the meantime, service remains available for existing Ricoh printers and for individual use computers or printers that are in place. “You’re still able to order supplies and parts for those pieces, so you still have a means currently for things that are in place to be repaired or replaced until we get to the assessment point.”
Responding to a committee member’s question regarding funding the new Canon equipment, Fitzgerald said departments will not be required to use discretionary funds.
“However, Canon is our contracted supplier. … It’s my understanding that if they buy devices outside the program that aren’t a Pitt supplier, such as Canon … then I don’t believe it’s going to be supported with service,” he said. “They’d be buying their supplies and buying their printer. It will not be put on the Pitt network, from what I understand … so they’d be managing it all by themselves.”
Another committee-generated question concerned the ability to keep using one’s own printer once the new systems are in place. Fitzgerald said while you can continue using your devices, Printing Services asks that, once they’re at end of useful life, considering joining the Canon shared-device network.
“Nothing’s going to change on that in the near future,” he said. “It’s more of, as those devices start to age and they’re no longer at a useful life, then they start to go away, and we’re hoping that we can move all that volume to those Canon shared devices at that point.”
Fitzgerald said more information will be shared as the process moves forward. “We’re going to discuss what you just asked about the bring-your-own devices, to find a way to work with that as well.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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