Why use accounting codes?
Many organizations want to allocate print costs and track print activity to departments or accounts. This use case is typically achieved through accounting codes.
directprint.io can help you achieve cost allocation via accounting codes whether you want to track using directprint.io, your on-printer / MFP, or a combination of both.
Where do accounting codes end up?
If an account code is chosen or set by the end-user, every print will result in an account code being passed to the directprint.io admin console and will be reported in our 'Print by accounting code report'.
If you require the accounting code to be passed with every print job to the printer (e.g. Xerox Standard Accounting) then you must also configure the printer with an accounting code PPD.
Enforce account codes
To enforce the use of accounting codes you must define and apply a policy through the directprint.io admin console. See the section 'Applying the Policy' below.
Creating or editing the accounting code section in the policy form will provide you with the ability to:
- Require an accounting code - Checking this will allow the selection of one of the accounting code capture methods as outlined below.
- Select a user prompt - See the 'Methods of end-user account code entry' section below with expected client behavior.
- Validate accounting codes before printing - Checking this will ensure any accounting code provided is a valid accounting code.
See the section 'Creating a pre-defined list of accounting codes' below for instructions on how to create a list of accounting codes.
Methods of end-user account code entry:
- Prompt with every print (text entry) - For every print submitted, pop an input field for the user to enter an accounting code. The account code field will default to the last code entered by the user.
This method is useful if users have multiple account codes or if they have different account codes per printer.
For this method, you have the option to enforce validation. To enforce validation, you must create a list of accounting codes on the directprint.io admin console.
See the section 'Creating a pre-defined list of accounting codes' below for instructions on how to create a list of accounting codes.
- Prompt with every print (option list) - For every print submitted, pop an option list of accounting codes for the user to select from. The options list will default to the last selected code by the user.
This method is useful if you want the user to have a pre-defined list of accounting codes to select from.
To use this method, you must create at least one accounting code in the directprint.io admin console. If only one accounting code is defined, then it will automatically pass through rather than popping the options list.
See the section 'Creating a pre-defined list of accounting codes' below for instructions on how to create a list of accounting codes.
- Read from the directprint.io app - The directprint.io app has an input field for accounting codes which can be found under the section 'settings & client info'. If the account code is supplied, then it will be sent with every print.
This method is useful if the accounting code for the user and printer is the same every time.
For this method, you have the option to enforce validation. To enforce validation, you must create a list of accounting codes on the directprint.io admin console.
See the section 'Creating a pre-defined list of accounting codes' below for instructions on how to create a list of accounting codes.
What if I don't enforce accounting codes?
You must enforce accounting codes to enable the following use-cases:
- Prompt with every print (text entry)
- Prompt with every print (option list)
For the read from the directprint.io app use case, if a value is supplied in the 'settings & client info' - 'Accounting code' input field it will be sent to directprint.io and will be sent to the printer if accounting is configured through PPD configuration.
Creating a pre-defined list of accounting codes
To set up Account Codes navigate to https://directprint.io/admin/accountingCodes in the directprint.io admin console.
Provide a code (any text or numeric string you wish) and a description to help you easily identify it later.
Ensure that the code you provide is unique.
Applying the Policy
To find out how to apply policies, please see the following help article - Applying Print Policies
Accounting Code Reporting
Accounting Code reports can be found in the directprint.io admin console under 'Activity & Reports' > 'Prints by accounting code' in the left-hand menu or by following this link.