Finding ways to decrease operational costs is always top-of-mind for a school district. So when Trevor Akervik, Marco Sales Manager, introduced a document productivity planning process to help New London-Spicer Schools manage and control their document output costs, they were eager to learn more.

The plan – called iLink – is a four step process that helped the District assess, plan, measure, and manage their document output and distribution. Paul Carlson, Superintendent, explains, “We could never compare apples to apples on our copy machines and didn’t have a handle on the costs associated with them. We needed a more manageable way to get a handle on what we were spending.”

Marco used its iLink process to identify how many copiers, faxes, inkjet and laser printers, and color devices New London-Spicer Schools currently had throughout their four locations. A survey was sent to all of the District’s administrators to find out where they were producing their primary and secondary jobs. This helped them identify where their copiers/printers were located throughout the buildings. It also helped them understand how teachers were using the devices. Carlson explains, “We had no idea that teachers were using an inkjet printer to print their emails and multiple copies of documents. We found out that it is much more costly to print documents on an inkjet device versus printing them on a copier/printer.”

The survey results indicated that the district had a mix of 181 copiers, faxes, inkjet, and laser printers. They had one device for every two people in the district. Only 16% of those devices were networked, and each school was purchasing their own personal printers and supplies. Seventy of those devices were unique models which means the district had money tied up in stocking a variety of supplies that at times went to waste. Carlson says, “When Trevor showed me our ratio of devices to the number of employees, I was just amazed. When an invoice would cross my desk for a personal printer, I signed off on it because I thought we were meeting our staff’s needs, but eventually the costs get out of control. You can purchase a printer for $150, but you don’t realize the supply costs associated with them unless you look at the big picture. It was nice to have Trevor come in and review and analyze our service and supply invoices.”

Reviewing and analyzing their situation helped the District to outline their goals:

• Reduce the number of unique units and supplies they had
• Eliminate some of their personal inkjet printers that were costly to maintain
• Improve the functionality and speed in producing documents
• Add scanning capabilities for the instructors so they can scan and send documents to the copy center for quicker turnaround time
• Increase productivity, efficiency, and quality of their prints.

Trevor met with the District’s administrators and their site technology committees to determine their needs and get their input on device locations. Paul explained, “We wanted to keep all of our teachers informed throughout the process and get their input so they were involved. Trevor was the calming factor in answering all of our questions.”

Marco then recommended a Document Productivity Plan to help them achieve their goals.

The plan allowed New London-Spicer Schools to reduce the number of copiers, faxes, and personal printers they had throughout their schools from 181 units to 52 units. They reduced the number of unique devices they had from 70 to 21. This saves them time and money in service, supply and administrative costs. Every person in the district has been designated a primary and secondary device based on their printing needs. Their ratio of printers to employees is now 4.49 units to 1 – much better then the 2:1 ratio they previously had. The machines are being networked so users can print right from their desktops. The implementation and training for the units - which was a mix of current and new devices - took place during the summer of 2007 so the District was ready for the new school year in the fall.

According to Carlson, “We wanted to see the concrete evidence, not just the fluff such as saving personnel time and costs. Trevor showed us real numbers that that we could actually save on our document output costs. Over a five-year period, we are looking at saving $80,000. That means we can save two teaching or administrative positions.”

“Trevor was our expert in coming in and helping us go through this process,” says Carlson, “It helped us a great deal particularly when we presented the plan to our staff. We now have a plan in place to improve our efficiency, productivity, and quality of our prints while saving money.”

Knowing that business is not static, the District realizes there will be changes in their document output activity. The iLink process allows for a yearly review of their document productivity needs so that units can be reconfigured and features can be added based on their workload requirements. Carlson says, “Marco’s iLink process helped us really get a handle on our copy and print costs. It’s a plan that helps us improve our productivity and quality and one that we can use in the future.”