To get more details, click on the links below:

• PlanWell DataBridge is a new data transfer tool being used to synchronize documents and contact lists between PlanWell Enterprise planrooms and Meridian’s Prolog project management tool
• Our Abacus print cost recovery tool recently went through some significant upgrades that can help you capture more reimbursable revenue, or at the very least, manage your printing costs more effectively.
• Sub-Hub, our web-based planroom and bid notification tool also got a lift in several key areas that makes this self-managed construction document management tool even more…well, manageable.
• If your work requires reprographics products and services to be used in far-off places, business in Shanghai just got a lot easier with our new sister company there called Shanghai UNIS Printing Technology.
• ARC, the parent company of more than 40 different reprographic company brands all over North America, also made its first foray into the BIM space acquiring RCMS, an Atlanta-based consultancy practice that creates building information models on an outsourced basis for a variety of purposes and clients, all from two-dimensional plans.

Finally, we’re not the only ones moving and shaking these days. For those of you keeping track of the digital printing market, Canon announced their intention to purchase Océ in the near future, and Océ appears to be embracing the offer. We’ll let you know more about the deal as we learn about it ourselves.

Abacus keeps track of printing activity on a network. When a computer user sends a file to a printer on their own network, or to a printer on a WAN, Abacus asks the sender to assign a billing or job code to the print job. The codes are stored and used to enhance cost recovery when billing jobs, among a host of other tracking functions.

The new release of the software enhances user experience through user interface improvements, upgrades to administrative tools, and close integration with imaging equipment from industry leading manufacturers Océ, KIP and others.
Jon Styrlund is the product manager for Abacus and he told us, “The upgrade is seamless from a user perspective. Most of the enhancements improve specific functions without disturbing the workflow of our clients. Instead of having to navigate screens or learn new procedures, most people will simply find it easier to set preferences, configure devices, or edit usage data.”

By way of an example, Jon told us that several of our larger customers who often manage and print hundreds of thousands of documents during a month can now utilize improved grouping, project searching and updating tools within the Abacus Manager, saving a lot of time and reducing costly data entry errors.

If you are a user of reprographic imaging equipment from Océ and KIP, you can now track walk-up printing and copying from a touch-screen device on Océ Plotwave 300’s, TDS450 & TDS700’s, and the full line of KIP IPS devices including the KIP3100 multi-function system, KIP5000, KIP7000 and KIP9000. Billing data from the on-board interface is automatically integrated with tracking information from other devices on the user’s network, and consolidated accounting reports can be generated quickly and easily.

Everyone’s watching costs today, and Abacus can help. If you’re interested to see how it stacks up against other products, or would like to see how you could integrate it into your existing workflow and machines, contact your sales rep, call our product manager Jon Styrlund at 925-949-5100, or visit www.abacuspcr.com.

With more than 20,000 users in hundreds of locations across the country, MetaPrint Abacus™ has been acknowledged as a state-of-the-art print cost recovery and print tracking software since it was brought to market in 2007. Until recently, Abacus was a proprietary application available only to designated licensees – but the software is being made available to end-users and third-party suppliers who have been snapping it up in record numbers.

If you’re looking for a tool that is fast, unobtrusive, and that could be customized to fit into your print environment, try Abacus – in the past 12 months, more than 10,000 new users have done just that and the feedback has been fantastic.

To learn more, click here and we’ll be in touch shortly.