One of the key features of PaperCut NG is the advanced charting, statistics, reporting and logging. This information can be used by administrators to:
Determine which printers are most used
Spot areas where printers may be inappropriate for the task.
View user and printer trends over time.
Charts are ideal for obtaining a quick visual overview. All users and printers have a line chart displaying activity over the last 30-days.
The Charts Tab under the Printers section hosts a set comparison charts allowing administrators to compare printers side by side.
Under each individual printer the Statistics section provides information on all jobs printed on a given printer.
Reports provide a tabular data display, often in a printable format, of system information ranging from activity histories, summaries, transaction details, etc. Reports are typically run to print a summary of user activity, printer activity, or group or account activity. To streamline access to common reports, PaperCut NG provides a series of predefined one-click report links under the Reports section. Most reports can be generated over a variety of common date ranges or user defined date ranges.
Standard reports include:
User Reports
Print summary statistics grouped by user
Quick list of the most active print users
Printer Reports
Summary of print activity grouped by printer
Quick lists of the most active/busiest printers
Group Reports
Summary of print activity grouped by network group (Note: The group needs to be defined under the Groups section.)
Shared Account Reports
Summary of print activity grouped by shared account charged
Print Log Reports
Detailed lists of all print jobs over a given period
Quick list of the largest print jobs
Standard reports are provided in a variety of output formats including, HTML, PDF and MS Excel. PDF reports are ideal for printing. HTML versions of the reports are provided for systems without a PDF viewer.
Tip
In addition to the standard reports, administrators can run other reports on ad-hoc data by using the Export/Print option available under most of the data lists. This is covered further in the subsequent report section (See Chapter 9, Reports).
The PaperCut NG activity logging can be classed into the following areas:
Usage logging records information about usage events such as printing. Information includes:
The date of the use
Who performed the use
Details of the type of user including, cost and other attributes
All modifications or deductions to an account (user or shared) are recorded in the transaction log. Information recorded includes:
The date of the transaction
Who performed the transaction
Any comment or note associated with the transaction (if performed by a user)
The Application Log records system events messages such as:
User logins
Security errors such as incorrect password attempts
Backup times and scheduled tasks
Any system errors or warning
It is similar to the operating system's event log. It is recommended that system administrators view this log on a daily basis for the first week and weekly thereafter.