School District of Manatee County Print Center Earns Accolades, One Page at a Time

• Print Case Study

Customer Background/Solution Overview

The Printing Services Department at School District of Manatee County was faced with the task of covering their own operating costs. The very future of the in-plant was at stake! Manatee’s challenge lay in three areas.

First, teachers were wasting their valuable time. There were manual processes for creation and production of classroom and district materials such as handouts, forms, worksheets, etc. The average teacher and/or office professional spent two and a half hours weekly at copiers, or they used costly-to-operate ink jet printers.

Second, the process of hardcopy printing requests was slow. Turn around time could take up to four days for “Quick Copy” and manual billing could take up to three weeks. The manual accounting process led to lengthy reporting delays. Imagine trying to balance your bank account without knowing the cost of services. This was a hindrance to budgetary planning and often led to overspending.

Lastly, volume centralization was an issue. The in-plant shop was losing money, and the price of site-based printing on smaller devices at the schools and administrative buildings was exceedingly costly. Individual schools had both the authority and responsibility to acquire copiers or printers for their school. The aggregate effect was too many printers and escalating costs.

Manatee realized they had no real idea of the cost of printing throughout the district. They sought help from an outside firm to perform an audit and offer a recommendation. With Rochester Software Associates, Inc., they proposed a district-wide job submission system to deliver productivity for teachers, administrators, and the print center.

Today, teachers and staff use Accolade (the district’s branding for RSA’s Solutions) for virtually all printed material production. They use RSA’s QDirect.SCAN to electronically scan, ticket, and submit hardcopy jobs. Additionally, they create new materials on their computers, converting them with RSA’s SurePDF to submit requests via RSA’s WebCRD. The system provides complete and accurate job ticketing and accounting. Print volume has increased significantly without any increase in staff. The program has earned accolades from administrators and teachers, alike, saving 70,000+ teacher hours annually.

When submitting a job, the end user sees a cost estimate. This WebCRD feature is used as a tool to help manage budgets. When a job is sent, the end user receives an electronic confirmation that the job has been received at the print center. Jobs submitted by 4PM are typically delivered the next day. Voila! No mare standing in front of a copier for teachers!

Setting High Standards

The School District of Manatee County in central Florida is a large K-12 district with over 50 schools and more than 5,000 staff members serving a student population of over 44,000, speaking 104 different languages. With 34 Elementary Schools, 11 Middle Schools and eight High Schools, the Manatee School District is one of the largest, most successful districts in the state. With the help of parents, business partners and employees, the School District of Manatee County strives to nurture and sustain the dreams and aspirations of their students.

The Design

The goal of the Accolade project is to make copying and printing processes more efficient by automation, to allow teachers more time in the classroom, to get schools and departments out of the “copier business”, and to save dollars for the district. Aligned with Manatee’s mission and core values, it is a system designed to efficiently and effectively utilize technology, while building internal and external partnerships, to support their leaders, educators, and staff to inspire students to learn, dream, and achieve.

Accolades

“There’s a lot of accountability placed on teachers, and to stand in front of the copier is not helping teachers plan or get ready for their school day,” notes Tim McGonegal, Superintendent. “So this project is going to provide teachers more time in the day to plan.”

“At first I was very hesitant, but once I started, I fell in love with the program,” recalls Cynthia Blenker, a high school teacher. Mrs. Blenker leverages the Internet for materials to use as handouts. “I can print directly from the source to Accolade. I can even do it from home. It has saved me several hours a week! Before I’d have to come in early or stay late to use the copier and there was always a line, but with Accolade, I can avoid that. The print quality is much better, too. That makes me look more professional and makes it easier for my students to understand.”

Now retired Director, Bob Gehle, notes that a key to success has been the partnership between the School District of Manatee County and RSA. “What they were able to bring to the table was a real, collaborative willingness to help us succeed. They helped us develop a document strategy plan. We couldn’t have done this without the partnership we have with RSA… We wanted something that would work from the get-go, and that’s what we have.”

All Accounted For

Thanks to QDirect, RSA’s Enterprise Output Manager, Manatee’s printing is now accounted for. QDirect works seamlessly with the district’s accounting system so the old way of entering data, a manual billing process which could take weeks, is a thing of the past. Accolade has also increased the print center's efficiency and productivity. With jobs coming in electronically, they can produce more jobs in less time without increasing staff or adding overtime.

Instead of each school leasing and maintaining their own copiers, the Accolade project budget includes software, production, labor, equipment, and all of the MFPs installed at schools and administrative sites. This has lowered Manatee’s overall costs and carbon footprint as devices are strategically placed and monitored by the Accolade Team.

With the help of RSA as a significant program partner, the School District of Manatee County has realized a savings of over $1,000,000 since Accolade’s implementation, including supplies, labor, P.O. processing costs, overtime, and overall cost per copy. It has exceeded their expectations in time savings and other areas.

© 2012 Rochester Software Associates, Inc. All brands and product names are registered trademarks of their respective companies. 05/2012