BUDGET AND COST MANAGEMENT
Track every page. Optimize every budget.
Gain visibility into print, scan, and copy costs
Gain complete visibility and control of your document output environment. uniFLOW Online allows IT teams to monitor print, copy, scan, and fax activity across locations and allocate costs to users, devices, departments, or projects. This ensures accurate chargeback, improves governance, and supports financial transparency.
Smart cost allocation
uniFLOW Online streamlines how organizations assign costs across projects, departments, and customer accounts. Cost centers make it easy to ensure each job is billed to the correct budget with minimal manual effort.
Print and copy accounting
uniFLOW Online provides consistent, reliable accounting for both Canon and non‑Canon devices:
- User‑based tracking through login credentials
- Automatic log collection: For devices with embedded applets, device logs are collected and uploaded automatically
- Spool file accounting: Data forwarded through uniFLOW SmartClient and uniFLOW Release Station
- Departmental cost allocation for users and groups
- Privacy controls to include or exclude job titles
- Device‑specific pricing through flexible price profiles
This unified model ensures fleet‑wide visibility and simplified internal cost management.
Cost allocation using cost centers
Effective cost allocation is the first step toward reducing unnecessary expenses. Cost centers, also known as billing codes, enable precise cost attribution for projects, cases, or internal accounts. They are ideal for project-based work or environments that need more flexibility than simple departmental charging.
- Assign cost centers per job or via defaults (user, device, location)
- Maintain and manage cost centers centrally in uniFLOW Online
- Restrict access so users only see relevant cost centers
- Ensure additional on-device copies or scans are charged correctly
- Reveal spending trends and identify cost-saving opportunities
This structure enhances financial accuracy and enables data-driven resource allocation.
Gain insights with custom dashboards
uniFLOW Online’s customizable dashboards offer clear, real-time visibility into print and scan activity.
Administrator dashboard
- Immediate overview of print volumes and color vs. black‑and‑white usage
- Visual insights to detect waste and enforce policies
- Device and user metrics to optimize chargeback and resource planning
User dashboard
- Personal print history and usage trends
Encourages responsible behavior and smarter printing habits
Comprehensive reporting
Get instant visibility into your entire print and scan environment. uniFLOW Online transforms print, copy, scan, and fax data into actionable insights that help IT reduce costs and optimize fleets.
Actionable insights at a glance
- Filter by user, group, device, location, or date
- View detailed (100 most recent jobs), summary (last year), and sampling (6‑months) reports
- Generate device volume, audit, uniFLOW SmartClient, and budget reports
Export & automation options
All report data, plus six months of raw usage data, can be easily exported as CSV files. Administrators can:
- Schedule reports for automatic email delivery
- Automatically export accounting, deleted job, and scan data to cloud storage services
- Restrict access to reports based on user roles
Users can view their own print history and trend charts through their personal dashboard.
Seamless Power BI integration
By implementing print rules, uniFLOW can redirect jobs appropriately so that only small print jobs are routed to laser printers, whilst larger jobs are routed to the cheaper, faster multifunctional devices. Very large print tasks can even be rerouted to the central print room.
In addition, users can be forced to print only in black and white/duplex. Double-sided printing and deleting print jobs that have not been released saves paper and money.
uniFLOW can help businesses implement an environmental printing strategy to save money and improve their environmental performance.
Budget management made easy
uniFLOW Online enables educational institutions to manage print budgets at scale with minimal manual administration. Users see their balance at login; any job that exceeds their budget is automatically blocked, ensuring accurate cost control with no manual oversight.
Manage student budgets – automatically or self-serviced
Administrators can automate the entire budgeting process. They can assign starting balances, schedule resets, and automate top‑ups for user groups. Students and staff can add funds themselves through a mobile‑friendly web page, dashboard, or the uniFLOW Online Print & Scan app, using payment options such as PayPal®, Flywire, Quickpay, or Paytrail. Cashier‑based top‑ups are also supported where needed.
This reduces administrative work and keeps budget management effortless.
uniFLOW Online also includes a double‑wallet system that separates funding sources for clearer financial control. The primary wallet is used first; the secondary wallet is accessed only when needed. This setup is ideal for schools and public environments where certain services are subsidized while others require user payment.
Insufficient budget
If a user’s budget is insufficient, uniFLOW Online automatically calculates which jobs can still be printed and rejects the rest. Canceled jobs (e.g., due to jams) are automatically refunded at the end of the session. When budgets are enforced, print jobs cannot be released in emergency mode; users save jobs to their queue until normal connectivity is restored.
The result: precise charging, less administrative effort, and a seamless user experience.
Why cost transparency and budgeting matter
- Ensures cost transparency and accurate chargeback across users, devices, and departments.
- Enables accurate project billing with cost centers and defaults.
- Lowers risk from abandoned prints and exposed documents.
- Provides faster insights through dashboards, exports, and Power BI.
- Creates less administrative overhead with automation and self-service top-ups.