Here’s a guide that provides a detailed overview of each step involved in effectively managing Papercut billing and balances
1. Introduction
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To determine the cost of a print, it must be configured in Papercut due to its advanced features (such as paper size, duplex printing, and cancelled jobs). For guidance on setting this up, refer to: https://support.zapfloorhq.com/knowledge-base/configuring-papercut-in-zapfloor It is important to input print prices when initiating Papercut as it does not retroactively apply to previous prints.
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In Zapfloor, it is important to define a product for reporting purposes. The price of the product in Zapfloor can be set as 0, as the actual pricing will be determined and applied in Papercut.
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When users and organizations (accounts, tenants, customers) are transferred from Zapfloor to Papercut, both the user and the account will have a "saldo". Users do not have individual "saldo" balances, as any charges incurred by the user will be automatically forwarded to the account.
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The balance starts at 0 by default. When users print, the cost will be subtracted (resulting in a negative amount). For each account, you can set a starting balance which is a positive amount determining how much free printing credit they receive each month.
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2. The billing process
1. Login
Log in to the Zapfloor platform as an operator and ensure you have access to the Papercut integration in Zapfloor.
2. Navigate to the papercut integration
Open it by clicking on the logo.
3. Generate invoices
Click on the "Create Order for All Customers" button. For accounts with a set default balance for free printing that was not fully used, we reset their "saldo" back to the default balance. This allows them to utilize the predefined amount again. We reset the balance without adding the default balance on top of the previous one to maintain clarity and consistency.
Draft invoices will be generated and will be visible in the billing section. From there on you can process them as regular invoices.
3. Monitor costs
To monitor the costs generated by Zapfloor for your tenants, you can easily track when the balance was reset and view all additional charges incurred.
Navigate to Papercut, then select the "Account" option followed by the specific "Account name". Next, click on "Print logs" to view the printing history, apply date filters as needed, and export the data for further analysis.
When you reset the balance in Zapfloor and the customer's balance is negative, an order will be automatically created.