Quota Management

Quota Management enables administrators to set print or copy limits for users or groups through accounts. It uses a point-based system, where each print or copy job increments points based on a rate card. This rate card assigns point values to attributes such as paper size, color, and duplex printing to determine the cost of each job. Users receive notifications when they are approaching their quota limits. Once a user reaches their limit, they are restricted from printing or copying further.

Key Benefits

  • Cost Control - Limits excessive printing and copying, helping to reduce overall costs.

  • Environmental Impact - Reduces paper and toner consumption, supporting sustainability efforts.

  • User Awareness - Encourages responsible printing habits.

How Quota Management Works

1. Quota Allocation

Admins assign print or copy limit to users or groups through accounts (Users > Account Management) in the web console.

Notes:

  • A user can be assigned multiple accounts, each with its own quota limit.

  • An account can be either an individual account or a shared account.

2. Printing Notifications

Users receive printing notifications when quota limits are exceeded.

  • When users exceed their quota limit, they receive a Printing Declined notification, and their print job is canceled. They can choose a different account if available.

  • When users exceed their quota limit but are still within the allowable excess, they receive an Account Limit Warning, and their print job is permitted. This only applies if the Allow Limit to be Exceeded checkbox is enabled and a permitted value beyond the limit is set.

Notifications are sent to the following clients:

  • User Portal

  • Print Scout

  • Mobile App

3. Copy Accounting

If a user exceeds their quota, the More Device Functions option on the printer is disabled, preventing access to the Copy function. The user may select a different account if one is available.

Key Features

  • User friendly notifications - Users receive notifications when they exceed their quota limits.

  • Shared Accounts - Allows a group of users to share a common quota.

  • API for quota transactions - Enables setting and crediting quotas via API.

  • Setting Quotas for a specific time - Admins can set quotas for specific time periods with custom start and end dates.

  • Assign quotas by group of users or individual users - Administrators can allocate quotas to specific group or individual users.

  • Admins can update points via the web console - Administrators can manually adjust points for users, including refunds and manual charges.

  • Enforce quotas on Copy Accounting - Administrators can set quotas to limit copy usage.

Requirements

  • Job Accounting license and Secure Release or Direct Print license

  • OpenID or SAML authentication

Supported Clients

Quota Management is enforced on the following Pharos Cloud client components:

  • Print Scout

  • Mobile App

  • User Portal

Note: Jobs submitted through the Chrome Print extension will generate notifications in the User Portal and mobile app, but not within the Chrome extension itself.

Types of Accounts

Before exploring how quotas work, it is important to understand the two types of accounts. These account types determine how printing quotas are allocated and managed for users.

  • Individual Account – Each user gets the same quota and manages their own printing allowance.

    Example: If User A has their own account with 100 points and User B has their own separate account with 100 points, each user can use their entire 100-point allocation independently.

  • Shared Account – A group of users shares a common quota, and usage is deducted from the same pool of points.

    Example: If an account is allocated 100 points, every user who has access to the account will have the same 100 points available. If one user consumes some points (e.g., printing), the total pool is reduced, and all users share this common point pool.

Multiple Accounts with Different Quotas

In quota management, users can have multiple accounts with different quotas assigned for specific purposes. For example, a user may have a Personal Account for general printing and a Research Account for academic-related printing. By switching between accounts as needed, users can manage their printing more effectively without exceeding their limits unnecessarily.

Setting Quotas for a specific period

Quota Management allows admins to set a quota that applies only within a defined time frame. Admins can control usage based on specific start and end dates.

When creating accounts, the admin chooses a start date and an expiry date for the quota. The system enforces the quota only within this period—outside of this time frame, the quota does not apply. For example, an organization sets a quota from January 1st to March 31st. Employees can use their allocated points only within these dates. On April 1st, the quota expires. This functionality ensures print budgets are controlled and aligned with billing cycles or academic terms.

Configuring Quotas

Quotas are managed using the Users > Account Management tab in the Pharos web console. Follow these steps to configure quotas.

Step 1: Create Accounts with Quota Allocation

If an account has not been set up, create one in the Pharos web console. Follow these steps to create an account.

Step 1: Define General Settings

In the Users > Account Management tab, click the Add button. In the Account Properties, configure the following settings:

  • Name

  • Code

  • Status

  • Start Date and Expiry Date

For more information about Account Properties, refer to the Accounts Management document.

Step 2: Configure Quota Allocation

2.1 Select the Account Type

In the Allocation section, choose the type of account. Choose between:

  • Individual Account – Each user receives their own separate account with a dedicated allocation of points.

  • Shared Account – A single pool of points is shared among all users assigned to the account. This is ideal for departments, project teams, or research groups where multiple users need access to shared printing resources.

2.2 Set the Limit

In the Limit field, define the maximum number of points allowed for the account.

(Optional): Allow Quota to Be Exceeded. This setting allows users to go beyond their assigned quota. Instead of completely blocking access when the quota is reached, this option provides flexibility by allowing additional usage within a defined limit.

To allow users to go beyond their assigned quota, do the following

  • Enable Allow Limit to Be Exceeded if users should be permitted to exceed their set quota.

  • Set the By Amount field to specify how many additional points are allowed beyond the limit.

2.3 Configure Access

In the Access section, specify the users or group of users who have permission to use the account. The specified limit will be applied to the selected users or groups.

  • All Users – The quota applies to everyone in the system.

  • Specific Groups and Users – Restrict quota enforcement to selected user groups or individuals in Pharos Cloud.

Note: By default, an account is set as an Individual Account with unlimited points and applies to all users.

Step 2: Enable Accounts for Clients

In the Users > Account Management tab, select the account you created earlier and then toggle the Enable on client setting to ON. This setting turns on the account management feature for Pharos Cloud clients, letting users manage their accounts easily across different devices and platforms.

Step 3: Enable user portal for end users

The End User Portal allows users to switch accounts and check their account balance.

To enable the user portal, toggle the Enable User Portal for End-Users option in the Secure > Settings tab. Once activated, a link to the user portal will be displayed, which an administrator can share with users to grant them access to the portal.

User Experience across Pharos Cloud clients

This feature is integrated across the User Portal, Mobile app, and Print Scout, ensuring a consistent experience across all platforms. Users can submit to secure queue from the following clients.

  • Print Scout – Users submit documents directly from their desktop application with Print Scout installed.

  • End-User Portal – Users use the web-based end user portal to upload documents, to switch accounts, and to view account balance.

  • Secure Release Mobile App -Users submit documents from their mobile device.

Print Scout

If quota allocation is configured for accounts, Print Scout will show the following notifications to keep users informed about their print usage.

Job Ready Notification: Appears when the job is ready to print, and the user is within their allowed limit. It also shows the number points used and the available points.

Printing Declined Notification: Appears when the user has exceeded their allocated limit or the maximum allowable limit (if Allow limit to be exceeded setting is configured).

Account Limit Warning: This warning appears when a user exceeds their allocated limit but remains within the maximum allowable limit. This only applies if the "Allow limit to be exceeded" checkbox is enabled and a permitted value beyond the limit is set.

End-User Portal

The End-User Portal is the web-based portal that allows users to do the following:

  • View account balance

  • Switch to a different account

  • Shows notifications when quota is enforced

View balance for the active account

In the upper right corner of the user portal, under the active account name, users can view the points used as well as the limit.

The system automatically calculates points in advance for submitted documents and updates them when files are deleted.

Using the sample image below, here’s an explanation of how the points system works.

  • "19/50 points used" means the user has used 19 points out of a total of 50 available points.

  • The used points include:

    • Points from documents the user has printed

    • Points from documents currently in the submitted documents list

  • The system calculates points in advance for documents in the submitted list, even if they haven't been released yet.

  • If the user deletes a file, the system will automatically adjust the user’s used points by subtracting the points associated with that file.

In this example, the submitted document is worth 15 points. With a previously printed document worth 4 points, the total comes to 19 points.

To compute the total balance in a quota management system, you typically consider the allocated quota and subtract the used points from it.

  • Allocated Quota is the amount of points a user is given

  • Used Points is the total amount of points that have been consumed by the user

Total Balance = 50 (allocated) - 19 (used) = 31 points remaining

Switch to a different account

If a user has multiple accounts, they can switch to a different account through the user portal if their current account has exceeded its limit. To do this, click on the Active Account in the top-right corner of the user portal. This will open a dialog box displaying a list of all accounts assigned to the user.

Note: Accounts that have exceeded the limit or reached the maximum allowable limit will be disabled and cannot be selected when switching accounts.

Show Notifications when quota is enforced

When a user attempts to upload a file, but the calculated points for the job exceed their allocated quota, the "Upload failed due to insufficient points. Please check your balance and try again." notification is displayed. Additionally, the Printing Declined Notification will appear automatically.

The document will still be added to the list but will display a Canceled status next to the document name as shown in the image below. Hovering over the Canceled status will inform the user that they have exceeded their account limit.

The Account Limit Warning appears when the user has exceeded the allocated limit but is still within the maximum allowable limit.

Secure Release Mobile App

The Secure Release Mobile App includes the Quota Management feature. Just like the Print Scout and User Portal, the mobile app notifies users when they exceed their allocated print limit. Additionally, it displays a warning notification when a user exceeds their allocated quota but remains within the maximum allowable limit. The following image shows how quota management notifications appear in the mobile app

View Account Balance

Administrators can now easily view a user's point balances for each account from the Pharos web console.

  1. Navigate to Users > Users Management.

  2. In the User Properties, go to the Accounts section.

  3. In the Global and group assignments, click the usage icon() , this opens the Usage slide-in which displays detailed account usage, including:

  • Account balance relative to the quota limit.

  • Current usage

  • Recent activities by the user

  • For Shared Accounts, activities by other users

Manually adjust points for a user

In Pharos Cloud, user point balances are automatically updated based on activity. For example, when a user prints or copies, points are deducted according to the job cost. However, there may be situations where administrators need to make manual adjustments, such as refunding points for a failed print job.

To manually adjust user points:

  1. Navigate Users > User Management.

  2. In the user list, search for the desired user.

  3. Select the user account you want to update.

  4. In the User Properties panel, go to the Global and Group Assignments section, then select the Usage icon to continue.

  1. The Usage slide-in panel appears.

Choose from the following options:

  • Decrease Points

  • Increase Points

  • Set to Points

Note: These options are only available for individual user accounts and cannot be applied to multiple users at once. To adjust points for all user accounts, use the Job Accounting API.

Decrease Points

Decrease Points is processed as a Credit transaction, which reduces a user's usage and add points to their account balance. This function is useful when an administrator needs to refund points, such as in cases of a failed print job.

Example: A user is refunded points for a failed print job.

  1. The user has 100 points available.

  2. They attempt to print a large document, which costs 50 points.

  3. Due to a printer error, the job fails, but the 50 points are still deducted.

  4. An admin reviews the issue and refunds 50 points by using the Decrease Points activity.

  5. The system reduces their recorded usage by 50 points, restoring their balance to 100 points.

Increase Points

Increase Points is processed as a Debit transaction. A debit transaction adds to a user’s usage, reducing a user’s account balance. Increase Points is used for cases where additional charges need to be applied beyond standard print or copy usage, for example, 3D printing or specialty printing.

Example:

  1. A user has used 100 points out of 200.

  2. They request a 3D print job, which costs 50 extra points.

  3. The admin increases points 50 to reflect the additional usage.

  4. The system updates the user’s balance to 150 points used out of 200 (150/200)

Set to Points

The Set to Points option allows administrators to specify a target balance, and the system automatically calculates the required adjustments to reach that balance. This can be used in cases where an organization wants to reset user balances at the start of the semester.

Note: Pending print jobs are not factored into the balance calculation.

Enforcing Quotas on Copy

Quota enforcement for copying works by restricting access to the Copy function based on the user's available balance.

  • When a user has exceeded their allocated limit or the maximum allowable limit (when Allow limit to be exceeded is set), the More Device Functions button on the printer is disabled, preventing access to features like the Copy function.

  • Users can make copies that but are still within the maximum allowable limit the system will not block the transaction. However, since they are already over the limit, further copying is not permitted once they reach the maximum allowable unit. For example, an account with a limit of 30 and usage is 29. User sends a copy job which would put the limit over 30, the copy transaction will proceed (putting the usage to 33 points). The next time the user attempt to copy, the More Device Functions will be disabled.

Limitation: When switching the copy account on the Sentry Print device, accounts over the limit are available for selection but once selected the More Device Functions will be disabled preventing users from copying.