Active Printing... A must for location-based printer assignments...

The printing world as we know it...

Managing printers is one of the most time-consuming issues that an IT support staff faces. Whether it be adding or removing a printer from the network or adding or moving users around the network, printer drivers and settings must be adjusted for each user. On a large network or a network where users move around frequently this can be a significant burden on the IT support staff.

Mobile users are affected by printing issues most often...

When users travel between company locations, printers must be searched for, information collected about the printer, and print drivers installed before the user is finally able to print. Of course, this happens all over again the next time the user travels to a new location.

Server migrations and maintenance are time-consuming...

Any time a print server fails or is taken out of service, the users print environment must be reconfigured to reflect the changes. This requires manual intervention on the part of the IT support staff whenever a printer is added or changed.

Active Printing changes the game...

What can Active Printing do for you?

Active Printing helps your business in three key ways:
        1. ‘At once’ deployment of additions or changes to the printing environment
        2. Mobility printing: printers are automatically configured based on your physical location
        3. The Active Printing user agent maintains a consistent print configuration per user.

Deploy a new printer in three clicks or less…

Active Printing manages the print environment by leveraging your company’s existing Active Directory structure. By storing network printer information in Active Directory Application Mode, print configuration can be managed centrally and is available to users company-wide. In fact, Active Printing is managed via an extension to the user or group context menu in the Active Directory Users and Computers management console. There is no need to learn another administrative tool. Your pre-packaged administration tools from Microsoft simply do more. Best of all, no schema extensions are required for this additional functionality.

Wherever I go, my printers find me…

Active Printing also leverages your existing Active Directory site locations. Sites are normally physical locations such as a company building or office location. With Active Printing, site information can be used to apply the correct printers to the users no matter what site the users happen to be in. This is a great feature for road-warriors. Simply show up at a new location, log in, and print… without ever caring about the print server name!

A user-proof printing environment…

In addition to centralized printer management, Active Printing also monitors the user environment. When utilizing the Active Printing user agent via a logon script, the user environment is evaluated each time the users logs onto the network. Active Printing then compares the user’s current configuration with the configuration that is stored in Active Directory. If a printer has been added or removed from the network, that change will be reflected in the user’s environment. Conversely, if the user inadvertently removes a printer, Active Printing will reinstall it making sure the print environment is preserved.

ModernGhana Services can help bring Active Printing to your computing environment and with pricing as low as $7.50 per user, you can't go wrong! Contact us today to find out how.