Printer monitoring & meter readings
Printers that report on themselves.
A small agent at the customer’s site finds every printer and copier on the network. It sends meters and toner levels every day, and tells you within a minute when a printer jams, shows an error code or runs low.
4
printers found
3 of 3
contract machines
06:00
next meter read
- Ready
Ricoh IM C3000
10.1.20.21 · SN 3100R910455 · 182,406 pages
- Toner low
Kyocera TASKalfa 3554ci
10.1.20.24 · SN W9X8001234 · 96,120 pages
- Paper jam
Canon iR-ADV C5535
10.1.30.11 · SN XLM04218 · 251,877 pages
- Ready
HP OfficeJet Pro 9010 not on contract
10.1.30.40 · SN TH91A2B0C7 · 8,342 pages
Install once, at the customer’s site.
Run the SubClik Agent setup on a Windows computer that stays on, such as the school office PC or a server. Enter the pairing code from your portal and the agent knows which customer and site it belongs to.
The agent window shows this computer’s networks and lets you add other networks and VLANs or single printer addresses. It reads printers with SNMP v1/v2c, or with SNMPv3 for networks that require secure, encrypted access. You can test a printer by its IP address before adding it.
This computer’s networks
Other networks and VLANs
Add a printer by IP address
Sharp MX-3570N · SN 6509415X00 · 121,104 pages · toner K 34%
Every printer, every day.
Each day the agent reads total, mono, colour and scan counters, toner and ink levels, paper trays, the waste toner box and the drum. Printers installed in Windows on that computer are read through their network ports, even on another subnet.
Counters are read the way each manufacturer stores them, for Ricoh, Kyocera, Canon, Konica Minolta, Sharp, Xerox, HP, Brother and Lexmark. Other network printers report their totals, supplies and errors through the standard printer interface.
Problems seen within a minute.
Every minute the agent checks each printer for changes: paper jams, error and service codes, doors and covers open, toner low and memory errors. Codes are shown as the printer gives them, such as SC542 or C-2557, so you know what you are dealing with before anyone travels.
SubClik records how often each problem happens and how long the printer was stopped, and counts paper jams per printer. A machine that jams every week stands out long before the customer complains about it.
Want a job opened for it? Automation can open a service job by itself, with your priority and engineer.
Now: SC542 · fusing unit temperature
Seen 07:42 · checked every minute
| Problem | Times | Stopped |
|---|---|---|
| Paper jam, tray 2J-17 | 6 | 48 min |
| Service call: fusing unitSC542 | 1 | 3 h 10 min |
| Front door open | 4 | 12 min |
| Toner low, black | 1 | — |
Paper jams this week
Know when the toner will run out.
From each printer’s daily toner levels SubClik works out how many days each cartridge has left. Send toner in good time instead of after the customer has run out, and keep a record of what was sent from the Toner to send list.
St Mary’s School · Kyocera TASKalfa 3554ci
3 days leftBlack7%Harrow Dental · Ricoh IM C3000
6 days leftYellow12%Canary Bank · Canon iR-ADV C5535
11 days leftMagenta21%Soho Coffee · Sharp MX-3570N
19 days leftBlack34%
Parts, firmware and real toner yield.
For each printer SubClik shows how worn the drum, fuser, transfer belt and maintenance kit are and when each will need replacing, the error and service codes that come up most and how long the printer was stopped, what was replaced and when, and its firmware history compared with the same model elsewhere in your fleet.
Toner yield measures how many pages each cartridge really printed against the maker’s figure, and what a page costs you in toner. Machines that use far more toner than they should stand out, which matters on a cost-per-copy contract.
Readings keep coming when a computer is off.
Reports wait on the computer while the internet is down and arrive later in the right order, without counting anything twice. Add a second computer at the same site as a backup: if the main agent goes quiet for 30 minutes, the backup reads its printers until it is back. The agent installs its own updates.
Readings go to the right machine and onto the bill.
The portal sends the agent the machines you have on record at that customer and site. A printer that reports the same serial number is linked to its machine automatically, and its readings are saved every day as meter readings for contract click billing.
A reading that looks wrong, such as a counter lower than the last one or far above normal use, is held for the office to check and never reaches an invoice unchecked.
See what the customer’s other printers cost.
The agent also finds printers that are not on your contract: desktop inkjets, small lasers in offices and classrooms. The print audit shows each one per site with its monthly volume, whether it uses ink or toner, and an estimated cost per page.
Printers that cost far more per page than a contract machine are flagged with the possible saving, so you can show the customer where a better machine, or moving the volume, would pay for itself. The audit can be printed or saved as a PDF.
| Printer | Pages | Per page | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Ricoh IM C3000 · reception On contract | 4,820 | 0.9p | |
HP OfficeJet Pro · head’s office Not on contract | 610 | 11.4p | Inkjet with real volume |
Brother HL-L2350 · staff room Not on contract | 1,240 | 3.1p | Move volume to the copier |
Epson WF-2850 · year 6 Not on contract | 35 | 14.0p | Hardly used |
What monitoring gives your firm
No more chasing readings
Meters arrive every day for every monitored printer, ready for the billing run.
Faults before the phone rings
Jams, error codes and stopped printers are seen within a minute, with the code.
Toner on time
Days left per cartridge, so toner goes out before the customer runs dry.
Evidence for the next deal
Problem history, downtime and the print audit show where a new machine pays off.
Example: a school with four printers
- Step 1
The office creates a pairing code for the school’s main site in the portal.
- Step 2
The school’s IT runs the setup on the office PC and enters the code.
- Step 3
The agent finds the copier on contract and links it by serial; three other printers appear as not on contract.
- Step 4
Readings arrive daily, a jam shows up within a minute, and the quarterly contract bill uses the readings.
The agent only reads printers (SNMP) and never changes their settings. It sends to your portal over HTTPS and nothing connects into the customer’s network. Which supplies, codes and alerts are available depends on what each printer reports. Only need monitoring, without the service desk? See SubClik Monitor.
Questions
What does the customer need?
How quickly do we hear about a problem?
Does it work on secure networks?
Can it reach printers on other VLANs or sites?
What if the agent’s computer is switched off?
What about printers connected by USB?
Do the readings go straight onto invoices?
See it with your own jobs and machines.
We’ll walk you through the office portal and engineer workspace and discuss how your team works today.