Software Features and Applications > Departmental Chargeback

It can be very challenging to control printing and copying costs in enterprises that don’t centrally manage their print/copy budget. There may be no incentives for individual departments to curb their spending on document output, and no way to hold them accountable for the resources they consume.

The Departmental Chargeback feature of Pharos Blueprint® Enterprise addresses this challenge by allocating printing/ copying costs to the business units that generated them. Budget center managers can see the big picture — and they can also drill all the way down to the volumes and costs associated with individual employees and devices.

Departmental Chargeback uses department/budget center codes imported real-time through Active Directory or via integration with HR databases. Print and copy costing is based on actual utilization and an embedded Lyra Research database, featuring information on over 7300 printers, copiers, and multifunction products plus their associated supplies. Blueprint takes into account the fixed cost of assets (equipment, service, and financing) plus variable costs (paper, supplies, and parts).

By providing accurate information about print/copy costs based on the actual resource usage, Departmental Chargeback helps organizations put the right charging model in place and helps budget center managers take control of their output costs.