A Fresh Storefront At Villanova

Mike George has brought many changes to Villanova University Graphic Services over the past three years—replacing analog copiers in campus departments with connected, multifunctional devices, adding direct-to-plate services—but the biggest impact on the in-plant's future will likely be the introduction of T/R Systems' Digital StoreFront.

"There had been a lot of concern on the students' part because we weren't offering students a place to print. They had to go to Kinko's," says George, director of Graphic Services. "We had pushed [the teachers' syllabi] out to the Web over the past two years and told students they could print it out themselves—but the university wanted to provide a location for the students to print."

The Digital StoreFront, a customizable server/software combination, allows the in-plant to take print orders—syllabus requests, library documents, research papers—from all over campus and handle them in a consistent, organized fashion.

"It basically takes 250 different file formats and converts them all to PDF format," says George. Students just fill out a work order online, view the document before printing and click 'submit.'

"Then the order spools into our print center and someone reviews the job before it's pushed to the printer," says George. The system color codes requests by due date to prevent a pile-up of finished jobs in the print center. Customers can also check job status online.

Faculty and staff can order business cards through the StoreFront, and students can place special requests for spiral binding, or resume paper and matching envelopes. The requests enter a separate print queue so that print administrators can respond quickly.

Students receive 500 sheets a year at no charge, and their print tally is monitored in the system through their university ID cards.

"It's still a work in progress," says George, but in the first month, more than 500 orders came through the system.

—by W. Eric Martin