Update on campus printing

[Mark Mastrean]

Campus Community,

Our Plattsburgh Next <https://www.plattsburgh.edu/about/mission.html> plan
embraces *environmental sustainability *as a core component of SUNY
Plattsburgh’s Vision. In service of that goal, campus tech teams work
constantly toward developing sustainable practices and green initiatives
that lower our carbon footprint and reduce energy usage.

Among our current efforts is implementation of SUNY’s Managed Print
Initiative
<https://www.plattsburgh.edu/academics/resources/technology/policies/suny-managed-print.html>.
We recently spent the summer working with departments to begin right-sizing
the entire campus copier/printer fleet. Thus far, we have achieved the
following results:

   - A permanent elimination of 32 Kyocera copiers; this is projected to
   yield $224,000 in equipment-cost savings every five years
   - A 35% reduction in B/W printing/copying
   - A 40% reduction in Color printing/copying
   - Increased sharing of copy/print equipment in many areas.

*It’s a strong start.* We are also working to accomplish the following
required tasks:

   - Significantly reduce the number of campus laser printers
   - Replace all remaining copiers with new SUNY-approved devices
   - Centralize a budget for printing and paper
   - Reduce color printing.

*A Centralized Printing Budget*
In collaboration with Administration and Finance, we have developed a plan
to centralize the print budget based on copy/print expenses from fiscal
year 2019-2020 (the same benchmark data SUNY used). This action moves us
away from departments paying for prints and paper at specific copiers. The
budget plan was approved by campus administration and will be implemented
for the 2022-23 budget year.

Implementation of the new centralized budget will involve a permanent
transfer of funds from accounts using expense totals represented in the
2019-20 print-utilization report to a centralized "Campus printing account"
managed by ITS. All copier print charges and paper expenses will then be
paid out of the centralized account.

Paper Distribution will be handled using the "supplies to go" process
already implemented in the warehouse. The warehouse currently stocks 40
cases of paper, and they will reorder when they get down to 10.
Departments may request no more than two cases at a time.

*Account managers can rejoice* that they will no longer need to manage
accounts for purchasing paper, consumables, and print usage costs. (We will
follow-up with account managers directly via email to show their revised
FY22/23 budgets.)

We can expect our print/copy fleet to shrink as more departments share
devices. Our overall campus print volume is down and will become lower.
However, because per-page costs in the SUNY Plan are higher than the rate
we pay now to SymQuest, we will use the 2019-20 print-volume data for
budgeting purposes.

*No print quotas* will be implemented at this time. While the campus has
done a great job in printing less and we have already met most of SUNY's
thresholds, we still need to do a better job of reducing our color printing.

*Going forward:*

   - We will default printer/copiers to B/W (Color printing is sometimes
   executed in error, and color print jobs are nearly 10 times the cost of
   B/W).
   - We will evaluate print usage quarterly to check alignment with the
   SUNY targets and the remaining centralized funds used to pay for printing.
   If our campus print usage rises above thresholds, we may introduce quotas.

*Good change is good—but not always easy.* We realize that transition can
be challenging. But we are confident our campus community will embrace the
changes as "the right thing to do."

Shifting to scanning and sharing documents electronically instead of
printing and distributing paper is an ever-more common practice that
provides benefits to the campus community and the planet.

Everyone wins when we succeed in making our campus more environmentally
sustainable, reducing waste, saving money for use in critical strategic
areas, and aligning with SUNY’s policy.

We can do this. Together.

Regards,
TJ Myers
Director & Chief Information Officer
Information Technology Services
(o) 518-564-2449
(f) 518-564-3817
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