Working with the accounting system

Barr Host Communications Suite aids in the monitoring, allocation, and billing of printing services. The product is designed to track and manage the use of such resources as network-attached laser printers by collecting accounting data for completed print transactions. This data is stored in a SQL database. The name of the database and table within the database will be determined by the database administrator. With it you can:

• Select any combination of the BARR/SPOOL header fields to store in the database. These header fields include information such as job name, number of pages, start and end print time, and so on.

• Configure the print server to stop processing jobs for a specified printer if an error occurs with the accounting system.

Complete the following procedures to use the Barr accounting system.

To perform these tasks, you must have appropriate user access rights.

• Create a database

• Configure error recovery

See also:

• Accounting tab

• Select Header Fields dialog box

• Header fields overview

Creating a database

Complete the following steps to create an accounting database.

1. Open the Configuration Utility.

2. From the Accounting tab, select Enable Accounting.

   

3. Enter the Connection string used to connect to your SQL database.

4. Enter the Table name where records will be inserted.

5. Enter the Barr server name. This is the name of the Barr Host Communications Suite computer adding accounting information to the database. This value will populate the BARR_SERVER field, which will always be written to the database.

6. Select the fields to be captured by the database.

1. Click Select Fields. The Select Header Fields dialog box displays.

   

2. Under Available sections, select the section that contains the fields you want to add.

3. Under Available fields, select the fields you want to add and click the right arrow (>). This will add the selected field to the list of defaults. You can add all of the fields by clicking the double right arrows (>>). You can select a maximum of 253 fields to be captured in the accounting database.

4. Under Selected fields, select a field and click Move Up and Move Down to arrange the fields in the list.

5. To remove fields, under Selected fields select the fields you want to remove and click the left arrow (<). You can remove all of the fields by clicking the double left arrows (<<).

6. Click OK to save your changes and close the Select Header Fields dialog box.

7. Next select the error recovery method.

Configuring error recovery

Complete the following steps to configure error recovery for the accounting system.

1. Open the Configuration Utility.

2. From the Spool Printers tab, select a printer and click Modify. The Printer Properties dialog box displays.

   

3. Under Accounting error recovery, select one of the following options.

• Halt printing - Stops all printing if an accounting error occurs. A message will display that states the error and gives you options on how to recover. Review the following table for an description of each option.

Review the following items as possible causes of the error: if the database resides on another computer, make sure your network connection is active and check to make sure the disk is not full. To bypass this error message, select the Continue printing accounting error recovery option.

• Continue printing - Printing continues when an accounting error occurs. An error displays in the Operator Console.

4. Repeat these steps for each printer listed on the Spool Printers tab.

5. Click OK to close the Configuration Utility.