Broward College was at end of a multi-year copier lease, before issuing a competitive bid to simply replace the copiers, the College recognized the need for a more strategic and cost effect approach for Document management. The Ascher Group was engaged to perform a survey of Broward College’s copy and print processes and costs. Throughout this process the Ascher Group pulled all relevant cost data including invoices, P Card purchases and reports relating to print and copy operations college-wide. 

The core findings of the study were:

• The College had 153 copiers throughout the institution, with only 23 connected to the network to copy and print. Of those that are connected, 13 are primarily used for scanning into the UniSearch document management software leaving only 10 for print work.

• Over 793 printers throughout all campuses.  The Ascher Group did survey each location, however this was done when many of the faculty were not present; as such many offices were locked and not surveyed. In general the Ascher Group feels comfortable estimating the printer fleet at well over 1,000. Of all printers, only 277 are connected to the network for printing and of those 148 are defined for use with the ERP system in addition to standard desktop printing.  All other printers are used by only one individual (desktop printers).

• Availability of Network drops and/or network cards installed in copiers is the primary reason all copiers are not attached to the network.  All network copiers and printers can be defined to the ERP system, the ones that not are primarily used by students who print from the web or desktop and have never been requested to be added to the ERP system.

• The annual output for the College’s entire fleet (Copiers, Network and Desktop Printers) totaled just under 31,000,000 impressions annually, with approximately 2/3 from the copiers and 1/3 from the printers

Key issues that have caused excessive costs inside the systems:

• Aging equipment condition

• Unverifiable meter reads/billing

• Departmental chargeback failures - The current fleet utilized two methods for charge backs.  The first system was the Daynl units that utilized a card system to record the department information and the second is the copier based departmental code system. The Ascher Group’s findings were that both systems are ineffective and out of date.

• Departmental view of copiers – Because of the chargeback issues, the fleet has grown  through the use of departmental copiers.  Throughout the survey process
  it  was not uncommon to find two or three copiers within 20 feet of each other.

• Connectivity issues – Currently less than 10% of the copier fleet is connected to print.  It was expressed to the Ascher Group be several department heads that
  they did not want copiers connected because there was so little accountability for impressions currently and their fear was that connecting devices would only make matters worse.

• Duplication of devices (Copy, Facsimile, Print)

• Lack of sufficient high volume printing

• Culture and Environment – Prevalent throughout the College culture is the mentality that each desktop and office should be equipped with a printer.

           
The outcome of the study was that Broward College needed to implement a College Wide document management strategy that incorporated the best mix of efficient/effective, quality equipment and solutions, service with measurable cost efficiencies for the required equipment and services. The ultimate goal was to build a unified document output strategy as a foundation for an overall document management strategy. 

The scope of the plan addressed equipment, functionality and services:

• Multi-function Equipment
• Copiers
• Printers
• Scanning
• Authentication and Chargeback system with integration to Active Directory
• Site Survey, Placement and Deployment Strategy
• Ongoing Status and Strategy meetings to measure success and recommend continual improvements and adjustments
• Imaging
• Inventory, Consolidation & Elimination of Devices
• Dedicated Fleet Manager
• Management of Surplus Printer Fleet
• Initial placement standards based on present volumes plus expected growth
• Training on functionality and use of new equipment
• Integration with the College’s current E-router Imaging system which uses the existing copiers as scanning input devices

 
The steps required to achieve the goal were:

• Developing an RFP designed around base assumption on quantities of equipment, services required model classes of equipment based on performance and functionality, annual output projections by model class, Service Level Agreements, and implementation plan. This approach allowed for all responders to build their custom solution around common assumption. Once the final selection process was complete, the selected vendor was required to develop a detailed plan based on initial response and pricing models.  

• Detailed surveys and usage analysis of existing equipment

• Interviews with College staff to insure a complete understanding of the use of the equipment as well as any specific concerns or needs that they would like addressed as part of the solution

• Implement a chargeback and billing system.  One that leverages the College’s existing Window’s Active Directory Schema for authentication, policy management and department chargeback.

• Connect all copiers and printers to the networking for printing.

• Balance the printer and copier fleet including:
• Set all new copiers to secure print as the default standard
• Implement volume based equipment standards
• Once the copiers are in place consolidate devices and eliminate the desktop printers

 

Sharp Business Systems was selected as the vendor to partner with the College to redefine the College strategy to printing, copying, scanning and faxing

Once the initial interview process was complete Sharp documented the location of each device, by type, at the College. Using the output usage analysis and information from interviews, Sharp provided documentation regarding MFP placement standards based on present volumes plus expected growth

Example documents outlining placement plan

North -  Building 46
Before and After
Device Information Detail

Central -  Building 19
Before and After
Device Information Detail

South -  Building 68
Before and After
Device Information Detail

Print Servers and Reporting System Diagram       

The centerpiece of the solution is a redundant core infrastructure, utilizing the Sharp SmartLook authentication and reporting system. The SmartLook systems track usage by individuals, accounts each action is charged against, and has the capabilities to restrict access and control volume for both Color and B&W by individual. Sharp worked with the College to customize Smart Look to integrate transparently with the College’s Active directory system. The system allows for the auto provisioning to create, deactivate, and modification of account profiles in the SmartLook system based on information stored in the College’s Active directory system.

The College was undergoing a migration from a Novel E-Directory to Microsoft Active Directory at the same time of the Document management project, by utilizing the Active Directory as the “trusted source” for authentication; the College was only required to add a few addition fields into the active directory schema to complete the provision to the SmartLook system. While programming and data development was required in the College ERP system to populate the data, the College was able to leverage the Active Directory provisioning process to supply the information to SmartLook. This process eliminated the need to develop a direct custom integration between the College ERP system and Smart Look or implement a manual process to maintain the SmartLook database.

Once complete the system allowed for all individuals with College Userid’s to authentication to the Sharp devices using the Active Directory credential and password, as well as register their College ID cards for card swiping authentication. To prevent the need for the College to continually have to adjust limit usages by individual, the ERP system was modified to set profiles limits by cost center and job class. This allowed each cost center manager to define default limits for each job class in their department. As new users came on board they were automatically defined as part of the College wide user provision system to SmartLook with the default profiles associated to their cost center and job class. In addition department manager could set specific limits by the employee as well, but if the employee transferred to a different department they would automatically be set to the default profile associated to that department cost center. The system also accommodates for employees with multiple assignments or authorization to use multiple cost centers for charge back. If multiple cost centers are available to an employee separate limit profiles can be set to each cost center.    

By enforcing that everyone using a Sharp device must authenticate prior to scanning, copying, releasing printouts, or sending faxes, the system can accurately detailed information related to all charge backs related to document management 

Below are samples of a few reports available using SmartLook. Reports were generate from Broward College’s activity from January 1 through February 28, 2010

Total by Cost Center - A breakdown of all cost centers MFP activity from 1/1/2010 to 2/28/2010. The first set of costs are the cost charged to the department, the second set of costs(L) are the click charges charged by sharp. In addition to click charge, the departmental charges are used to cover expenses related to paper (provided by College) and the fixed cost related to the equipment in the College wide fleet.

User Account Total by Cost Center - A breakdown by each user charging against specific accounts. This report was only run against one account, but could be run against all accounts or a selection of accounts.

User Breakdown -  A breakdown of a specific user and all of his/her cost centers 

10 Top Users by Department -  A break down of the top ten users by a specific department

Department and Budget Managers can use these reports to drill down and determine by user the activity 
And costs related to each department and the individual users.

For Example: Page 9 of the Total by Cost Center report shows 163405 Information Technology with a cost for the two months at $736.50. This matches the grand total for Information Technology in the User Account Total by Cost Center. Page 1 of the same report shows Frank Sandmaier with $59.11 of charges for the period, the User Breakdown for Frank Sandmaier shows the detailed information for the same period outlining the OPERATION(OP), DATE/TIME, PAGES, BW, COLOR, COSTS accounting for the $59.11.

In addition to interactive reporting, SmartLook users can schedule reports to run on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis and have them sent directly to a designated email account. This allows for each user to customize the selection parameters of the reports (i.e. cost centers) once and automatically receive the reports in their email, or send to others, without having to access the system to initiate the report.

Every user in the College has access to the Smartlook system, but is restricted to only running reports related to their userid (all reports are automatically filtered to the users signed on). To provide more extensive access, the system allows for specific users to be defined as administrators, which allow them to run the reports against all data in system.

In additional to the SmartLook reporting, The College monitors all output devices at the College through a remote system provided by Sharp. The system does not provide user information, but does show the usage of network and desktop printers still deployed at the College. This data is useful in determining if it would be more cost effective to replace the devices Multi functioning devices (MFPs), leave as is, or eliminate the device all together

Remote Fleet Sample Report -  This is a sample report of Remote Fleet software which collects data from all network printers set up in a IP range, as well as desktop with agents installed to allow monitoring or direct attach printers

Challenges related to the project

• Cabling, power, and space – Sharp placements were based on best fit for user needs, assumption was made that any issues with power, network cabling or space would be resolved. Some adjustments to the plan were required to reduce costs related to power and cabling, but for the large majority he plan was followed. However several locations required power and cabling work performed prior to installation. With the accelerated time frame to complete the project, coordination between IT, Facilities and Sharp were essential to insure that infrastructure was prepared in conjunction with the deployment schedule.

• Color Printing and Copying – Based on the information obtained from initial departmental interviews, several areas voiced no concerns on the need for color outputs. The initial plan had a mix of color and black and white models as part of the fleet. While the initial data did not reflect the need for color, Sharp proposed an alternative solution for the main device of the fleet to have color capabilities with a small increase in price per model. This turn out to be a critical decision, initial deployment prohibited color usage for most employees (even though the devices had the capabilities) however when removal of desktop printers was initiated the demand for the need for Color printing was much higher than what was reflected in the initial interviews. If Sharp had not offered, or the College had not accepted, the alternative plan, the inability to print color in all areas would have undermined the College’s ability to remove the desktop printers.      

• Ownership of Document Management – This was probably one of the greatest challenges and was one that contributed, indirectly, to the majority of the issues related to deployment. Traditionally copying was a business function coordinated through the departments and Procurement Services, Printing was supported by Information Technology. As the project moved forward it became apparent that a new approach was necessary, one that involved greater interaction between Department Heads, Business Dean, Technology Staff, Procurement Services, Sharp and the College Leadership Team (Provosts/VP/President). The migration from the traditional ownership process created a vacuum in regard to the actual owner of the service, in the end it was clear that here is no one owner but it requires a collaboration of several groups to provide a quality service. As part of the proposal Sharp provided the College with a dedicated onsite Fleet manager who is now the coordination point between the groups, however the individual in the role changed through the deployment dependent on the phase which until the end caused the inability to use the role as the key driver through the deployment.     

• Communication – In all projects communication is the key, in particular in a project of this size that involved several major cultural changes. While communication was incorporated into the project, there were several areas where communication was lacking. Typically this was due to the evolution of the ownership issue, each group’s position being that another group should be the ones to relay the progress and implication to the College family. Procurement and IT wanting the Deans of Business on each campus to work directly with their campuses, Deans of Business wanting the VP of IT, VP of Business of President to issue the messages (specifically when discussing desktop printer removal), in the end the word got out and the job done, just not as quickly and frequently as needed.    

• Planning for Usages Limits – The project had a very aggressive timeline, and while from the beginning it was clear that there would be restriction on Color and volumes, not enough time was allocated to properly coordinate the departments on how the limit profiles were designed for job class within cost center as a default and only if defaults were not acceptable for a specific user would limits be defined at the user level. This lead to departments continually requesting user level profiles, instead of doing the initial base profiles for each job class in their cost centers. Other provided cost center names and not numbers, where names were in consistent with the actual department names in the ERP system. These shortfalls could have been overcome with more time and coordination but staffs able to facilitate the meetings were stretch thin on other aspects of the projects. To complicate matters there was a data entry error which caused even some of the departments where the proper information was provided and entered to not get the correct profiles. To alleviate the impact on the restrictions, color and B&W limits were raised as the base default profiles by cost center and job class are being refined and entered into the system.

• Dependency on Multiple projects – With the system being integrated to Active Directory the migration from a Novell infrastructure to a Microsoft Infrastructure became a co-requisite to the project. By association all the co-requisites to the Microsoft Migration project we added to the complexity. This included re-imaging all devices in the College, limiting PC admin rights to technicians, converting to Outlook/Exchange, Micro File systems, and the auto provision of users including the automation to files shares, distribution lists and printer/copier limit usages based on cost centers of assignments. Requests to postpone the deployment of the new fleet until the Microsoft migration was complete were rejected due to the need to reduce costs and replace aging. While the initial rollout was copier only (to reduce some of the dependencies) the core Active Directory dependency was still there and the same staffs working on the Microsoft migration were required on this project. As soon all the devices were in place, it was essential to continue with the print portion to meet the overall goal of cost reduction.

• Training – Several sessions of user training were scheduled for each location prior to the major rollout, however only a small percentage of the users actually attended training. This lead to large number of issues that could have been prevented if more users attended the training. As part of the solution continual training is available to each department. Departments just need to schedule, and Sharp staff perform training at the Department’s location. In addition Online Tutorials and Frequently Ask question documentation have been developed and posted for users to access as needed.    

• Logon to Access Devices – This is a critical component to provide detailed usage reporting as well as securing documents in a shared environment. Integrating the existing College ID card to be used as a swipe card mitigated the resistance, but from a user perspective this was one of the major inconveniences of the system. Requests to create generic/shared cards for part-timers, consultants, or adjuncts were frequent at beginning of project. In order to maintain accountability of usage of the system individual logons were required, and genre accounts were not allowed access to the Sharp MFPs       

• Acceptance/Culture of Change – The project had several components which required cultural change from an administrative as well as an employee perspective. Users had to accept the fact that there were few justifications that the College would accept as rational to keep a desktop printer (ADA needs, isolation of area …), users were required to adjust walking to devices for printing and authentication to a device to release prints or make copies. With detailed control of user usage to the page by function, administration had to rethink their printing allocations. In the past printing was looked at as a budget cost, with costs being distributed across the purchase of ink and charge backs. However charge back numbers were unreliable for future projections by individual and actual usage of desktop printers by quantity, Color vs B&W and by individual were not known. To get the most out of the system, budget and department managers will need continuously monitor the usage reports and make adjustments to their department default profiles to insure that future printing habits are in line with expectations.

The project encompassed different strategic initiatives as well provide the base for future improvements

• Sustainability was improved through the reduction of individual devices with high replacement life-cycle (desktop printers, ink cartridges), having jobs not print until release combined with the less convenient access to printers (walking and signing on) had a combined effect of a outright reduction in printing. Some documents we just not printed, user adjusted to reading digital images instead of printing, documents never released (auto deleted after 7 days) or deleted before releasing reduced output. This was evident by less clutter of print jobs printed but never picked up (and ultimately thrown away without being read or used)

• Cost Efficiencies – were realized with the removal of high cost per image devices (desk top printing) and these outputs being redirected  to shared MFPs (which departments already needed for copying) costs for printing were reduced.

• Anywhere, anytime access to resources  The is no arguing that those with individual desktop printers lost the convenience to printing a page or two at their desk, the College in general improved access to resources. With the College wide deployment of the Sharp MFP fleet, all areas have access to high speed color printing, scanning and copying devices (not just the users with desk top printers). With the consolidation of devices, the College actually increased the number copiers (MFPs) through the College. This increase of the availabilities of copiers eliminated loss of productivity due to a copier being down and the only one in a department. The design of the print services allows the user to go to any MFP of similar model on the campus and release the print job, so when you get to the MFP and it is in use or not in service you can just go to another one and release job, does not required you to send to printer. Individual scanning devices were eliminated, all MFPs allow scanning to network folders, since everyone authenticates to Active Directory before accessing devices The MFP is configured to MAP all the network folders accessible to you via your network logon, now everyone can scan documents without the need for an individual scanner or customization on the MFP.

• Faxing  - The capability for using the MFPs for sending or emailing scanned images is incorporated in the system. In addition the Fax server which integrates to the Sharp MFPs for outbound faxes, also integrates with Outlook for virtual inbound and outbound faxes. Once completed the College will be able to eliminate fax machines across the College as well. Replacing stand faxes is another component of change that we are moving slowly with allowing for the College to adjust to the printer copier deployment and providing more time to design a security and access structure for shared fax mailboxes.

The Board Item which contains the ITN (RFP) and complete project plan is available at:

http://www.broward.edu/PresidentDistrictBoard/SupportingContent/20081203/20081203-VI-I.pdf