Ranger Print Manager: Virtual money - for internal cost control only

For internal cost control purposes, Ranger Print Manager is used to aid print control but is not used to charge students.

First the user's credit balance must be set. The balance can be set to any amount, sufficient to cover a period of time such as a week, a term or the whole year. When the user prints to a monitored printer with charging enabled, Ranger Print Manager will calculate the cost of the print job and then debit the user's account accordingly. If the user has insufficient funds the print job will be rejected. At this point they are prevented from printing until their balance is increased.

Their balance can be increased via a number of methods, but usually via a scheduled task which either adds or resets their balance to a fixed amount. This control helps set a cap (an absolute maximum) that can be spent per duration.

If, despite setting the balance, the user runs out of funds, the print administrator can review their printing habits and make a decision as to whether their credit should be increased.