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Iowa State University
Iowa State University is a powerhouse in the field of Science and Technology. Remaining true to its vision, Iowa State University practices what it teaches. Printing Services at the university teamed up with Xerox® and NowDocs® to implement the NowPrint print on demand solution.
The Business Challenge
Iowa State University handles the printing needs from a variety of customers including the administrators, faculty and students. The process for printing materials proved to be time consuming and costly. The staff would send a document to the print queue of Printing Services. The customer would then contact the printer operator and communicate the job specifications. Since documents were sent directly to the printers, Technical Support was constantly battling to keep the printer drivers up and running for much of the university.
Printing Services wanted to capture as much of the printing needs as possible for their targeted group of customers. In order to do that, they needed to keep up with the latest technologies available.
“Any good printer looking at business today needs to look at NowPrint as a solution using the internet to increase volumes. We would be a lot further behind if we were not using NowPrint.” states Rob Louden the Computer Publishing Coordinator at Iowa State University.
As Printing Services looked for ways to increase sales, a solution needed to be implemented first that would streamline communication and reduce waste, allowing for higher volumes to be handled. Louden envisioned a Web-based system that would be easy to use, work well with Microsoft® Office applications and be geared toward copy center work. NowPrint provided all of this and more.
The Solution
NowPrint provided solutions on multiple levels from the user to the printer operator and technical support. The software offers a Web-based system in which the customers are able to upload documents, fill in job specifications and proof their documents for accuracy. The printer operator is able to view the document and job specifications through this Web-based system. The communication between sender and printer operator is virtually eliminated allowing for increased productivity. Since NowPrint is Web-based, Technical Support no longer needs to spend time keeping printer drivers hooked up to the printers in Printing Services.
The system is easy for the user to access and navigate. A tutorial is always available for to the user. Louden has noticed many first-time users are able to navigate through the ordering process without needing help. The screens step the user right through the ordering process with clear and understandable instructions.
Since Iowa State University is licensed with Microsoft Office software, it was imperative the solution work well with all types of files generated from this software. NowPrint was designed specifically with this in mind. The software easily handles all Microsoft Office applications plus many other software applications as well.
Another requirement of Printing Services at Iowa State was to have an application that was geared to copy center work. NowPrint contains functionality that allows the user to view a soft proof of their document for accuracy prior to submitting the job for printing. The document is converted to an Adobe Acrobat® PDF file. This allows the printer operators to receive clean files that will print easily.
Implementation and Roll-Out
NowPrint was installed at Iowa State University in October 2002. Printing Services wanted to roll out access slowly to allow time to evaluate the system. As Louden worked with NowDocs to implement the NowPrint solution, he realized Accounting had specific needs that weren’t inherent in the system. NowDocs worked with Louden to develop the functionality required by Accounting and incorporated it into the system in a way that would be easy for the users to understand and navigate.
NowPrint went live in February 2003 for a beta group of users that included some administrators and faculty. Since working with this test group, Louden has noticed some students have found the site and placed orders with ease.
The testing phase has gone well and Printing Services is ready to start advertising NowPrint. They expect the volume to increase at least three times the volume seen by the beta testers which. This type of successful adoption indicators can be contributed to the ease of use of the interface.
Future Vision
Printing Services envisions implementing additional applications that will be useful for their customers. They will eventually allow orders for business cards and stationery on the NowPrint software.
They also envision NowPrint as a solution for Conference Services. Networked computers would be set up conveniently at a conference allowing access to upload and place orders for documents to be produced the same day.
“NowDocs is very knowledgeable and understands software well. They had a lot of good insight into what will work best for our customers.” said Rob Louden.
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