Service Description

Printed output from the Administrative Information Services mainframe can be printed on appropriately-configured printers located in customer department offices. Printed materials that can be routed to departmental printers include output from scheduled production batch jobs, client-written batch jobs, and mainframe report repositories (SARC or Infopac).

Departmental Printing Access

Two forms of printing are available. The basic printing service is available at no charge, and includes printing single-font text only (no specially-formatted forms) to PCL-capable* printers.  (Click here to see the forms that may be printed using the basic service.)  The premium printing service, for which charges are outlined below, includes printing with specialty formatting (i.e., form overlay), and works with a more limited range of printer models which have specialized capabilities to support this function. (Click here to see printer information.)  Both services require a MSU-network-attached printer, provided by the customer department. Typically, this printer may also continue to be used for locally-generated printing from departmental desktop computers.

* PCL:  Printer Control Language was created by Hewlett-Packard (HP).

Training and Support

AIS provides consultation assistance in setting up printing service to the customer department’s printer, in testing that service and in helping with problem resolution related to the central software systems. The customer department retains responsibility for the department-owned printer including problem resolution, supplies, printer hardware and software, etc. AIS reconfiguration services for new or upgraded departmental printers is available at no charge as long as the reconfiguration is scheduled in advance. Written instructions are provided for common customer-initiated ad hoc printing scenarios.  Back to Top

Data Access

The departmental printing service assumes that the customer department already receives printed matter from the AIS mainframe, or has access to data in AIS mainframe report repositories (such as SARC or InfoPac) which are available for printing. Creation of new reports is available through other AIS services. Certain reports require approval by central administrative units before distribution to units, so may not be available through this service.  Back to Top

Service Availability

Normal printing service hours are 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, with infrequent scheduled evening or weekend outages for service upgrades or central systems maintenance. Central operator assistance is available 24 hours, Monday through Friday and Saturday until 3:30PM, except University holidays. Print from scheduled production batch jobs will be delivered to defined local printers as the scheduled print job runs (i.e., may occur during overnight or weekend hours).  Back to Top

Charges

Basic printing service (single-font, text only, no "boxes and lines" form overlay) is available to any MSU department at no charge. Premium printing service, for specialized materials requiring form overlay, is available for selected printer models at the rates listed on the AIS Billing Rates page.  These charges cover software licensing costs.  Back to Top

What To Do Next

To initiate the printing service for your department, contact the AIS Help & Support Center at (517) 353-4420 ext. 311, Monday through Friday 7:45AM to 5PM or by e-mail at AIS311@msu.edu. AIS printing consultants will schedule a consultation with customer unit representatives to identify mainframe output targeted for local printing, and plan/schedule service installation.  The AIS Remote Printer Information Sheet will be completed by the consultant during the meeting.

Back to Top