24.1. The Basics

A successful print system begins with an understanding of the requirements for a good policy, followed by solid design. Without proper policy, the design will be without direction. Without design, printing functions will be unstable and more difficult to use.

24.1.1. Level of Centralization

What would the perfect print environment look like? Some people want their own printers attached to their own computers. In their perfect world, every machine would have its own high-speed, high-quality printer. This is extremely expensive but very convenient for the customers. For others, the key issue is that no matter how many printers exist, they should be able to print from any host to any printer. This has the benefit of being able to “borrow” someone’s high-quality (possibly color) printer as needed and is certainly a flexible configuration. Finance people look at the high cost of printers and printer maintenance and would prefer to centralize printing, possibly recommending that each building have one high-speed printer, one high-quality printer, and one color printer.^[3] To others, it doesn’t matter how many printers there are or who can access them, as long as every penny of cost is recouped via a charge-back system. Somewhere, there is a middle ground.

^[3] We have nightmares of a CFO requesting one printer for an entire multinational company and arranging for printouts to be distributed by next-day delivery. However, Internet-based services that do specialty printing that way are popping up all over.