A handful of staff in the Office of the General Counsel on Franklin’s eighth floor thought it was Christmas in April.

They were among the first to get their new Xerox WorkCentre 5150, one of several new state-of-the-art multifunction printers delivered April 18 to kick off print management at UCOP — newly dubbed Printing Smarter  — the ambitious program to upgrade copy and print services at all Oakland office locations.

All staff will have a chance to check out the new devices on Tuesday, May 22, 12 to 3 p.m. in Franklin Lobby 1, at an open house featuring refreshments, a raffle and demonstrations of the printers and their capabilities by representatives from Xerox, UCOP’s new contractor for managing printing and related services.

In all, Xerox will install 85 multifunction devices at Franklin, Kaiser, 20th St. and Broadway starting Monday, May 14, and rolling out over the next two months.

Spearheaded by Haggai Hisgilov, executive director of procurement services under Chief Financial Officer Peter Taylor, Printing Smarter is expected to save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next several years.

Serving as project director is UCOP Operations Deputy Director Donna Collins, who has mobilized a core group and 14-member multi-departmental task force to address operational issues, processes, deployment, training and communications. It’s a huge group effort involving nearly every department at UCOP, she said.

“This project has been an important administrative priority for some time to make UCOP more efficient and sustainable,” Collins added. “At the same time, it will significantly reduce costs and ensure that our staff have the equipment they need to get their jobs done.”

So what will Printing Smarter do for you?

In short, you as a print user will have access to new, state-of-the-art devices that provide better quality printing and copying throughout UCOP’s Oakland offices.

Xerox will be replacing UCOP’s tired, outdated fleet of decentralized and poorly maintained printers with a network of high-efficiency, cost-effective devices that are faster, easier to use and better maintained. Staff on every floor will be able to do high-volume copying, printing, color, scanning and faxing, all while meeting UC’s sustainability goals.

“UC did establish a policy on sustainable practices in 2004, but here at UCOP we are way behind industry standards on printing best practices,” Collins said. “We need to start printing greener and printing smarter. We need to start questioning whether we should be printing something in the first place.”

UCOP’s Oakland offices currently have 755 printers, one for every 1.8 users, while the industry standard is one for every 12 users. UCOP’s goal  is to achieve a device-to-user ratio of roughly 1:10 by concentrating most printing volume on the most efficient devices and eliminating inefficient and desktop printers through attrition.

Individuals who have their own desktop printers will not be asked to give them up right away, but they will not be replaced if they break down. No new desktop printers will be ordered except for employees with special needs.

In preparation for the rollout, Collins and her team are consulting with groups floor by floor to determine specific needs and practices that must be accommodated by the new devices and layout. Installation will begin with smaller groups to provide time for troubleshooting and testing print jobs for non-standard software.

“ITS offices on the third floor of the 20th St. Building are among the first groups to get the new machines because they are a perfect case study,” said BRC team lead Brad Niess, who is serving on the core group, tasked with implementing operational procedures to support the transition. “ITS is comfortable with new technology and will help us work out the details before we move forward with other users.”

Delivery and deployment will be staggered floor by floor, with installation, testing, user training and resolution of any issues completed on one floor before moving to the next, so schedules are subject to change. Existing devices will not be removed until the new devices arrive.

Installation is currently scheduled to begin at the locations listed below on these dates and in the order shown:

• May 14: 20th St. floors 3 and 4
• May 28: Broadway floor 14; Kaiser floors 12 and 10; Franklin floor 9
• June 11: Franklin floors 10 and 6; Kaiser floors 7, 3, 5 and 6
• June 25: Franklin floors 12, 7, 5, 8 and 11

Xerox will handle most supplies and ongoing maintenance and will maintain a dedicated HelpDesk with specified response times. Anyone will be able to print to any printer in the system, and users will have PIN codes to print confidential documents only when they are present at the printer.

Some departments that were in dire need of new printing equipment are already using the new devices, with rave reviews.

“I love the fact that I can print confidential documents so easily,” said JoEllen Francis, director of application technology services in ITS. “You send your documents to print, and they sit in the queue until you go over and enter your PIN code. Your job won’t hold up anyone else’s job, and I’ve never had to wait for my documents.”

Go to the Print Management website for more resources.

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