Uniprint deprecated feature list

While each new version of Uniprint brings new features to meet the growing and changing needs of customers, some features have been changed or deprecated to make way for new functionality. Following are a list of significant Database changes and altered or deprecated Uniprint features from version 7.2 onwards. It is recommended that customers planning an upgrade review the changes between the versions they are upgrading from and to for any possible impact on current behavior before proceeding with their upgrade.

Uniprint 7.2

Removed features

• The people table in the Pharos Database, which contained all data for Users and User Groups, has been split into a users table and a groups table. If your site uses scripts that reference the people table, these scripts must be updated to refer to the users and/or groups tables.

• Due to changes to the structure of Job Cost Methods in Pharos 7.1, certain information is lost in an upgrade from a version of Pharos prior to 7.1. Any per job costs are not retained in an upgrade, you will need to re-enter any per job costs into the new Base Job Cost and/or Per Job Attribute Costs properties. Per page costs are migrated in an upgrade.

• User-level permissions are no longer available; permissions can be set on a per-User Group basis only. In an upgrade, any User-level permissions that may be configured are removed from the database.

Uniprint 8.0

Enhancements

• Area Costing is now based on a Per Square Inch Cost, rather than a linear Per Inch Cost. In an upgrade, all Per Inch Costs become Per Square Inch Costs, meaning that all Job Cost Methods that use Area Costing will need to be re-configured to ensure that jobs are costed correctly.

Removed features

• The IP Address property for servers has been removed. Servers are now identified solely by their hostname, allowing Pharos to support servers with multiple network cards (correctly functioning DNS is required to support this).

• Standard charging is no longer an option for Queues, and the Queue properties relating to Standard charging (Per Use Cost, Per Sheet Cost) have been removed. All Queues now use a Job Cost Method for charging. In an upgrade, Job Cost Methods that duplicate the Standard charging settings configured for each Queue are created and associated with the respective Queues.

• The PrintOp feature of Pharos Uniprint is no longer available. The PrintOp Station application is no longer available in the Pharos installers and the PrintOp Stations context has been removed from Pharos Administrator. In an upgrade, all PrintOp Station records and PrintOp transactions are archived.

• The BEAR POD is no longer available as a copy control device, meaning that PC Pharos Stations can no longer be used as Copy Stations to control photocopiers. All copiers must be controlled by a Network Terminal. All properties relating to Copy Stations and BEAR POD copy control device settings have been removed from Pharos Administrator.

Uniprint 8.1

Removed features

• Per-use discount rates have been removed. When upgrading, any per-use discount settings will be removed, while per-unit settings will be retained.

• The SQL List Popup Question Type has been deprecated in Uniprint 8.1. SQL List Questions will continue to work when upgrading from Uniprint 8.0 or earlier, but there is no interface in the Administrator to configure them. Cost Center Question Type or the List Question feature of Notify can be used in place of the SQL List Popup Question Type.

• Web Remote is no longer available in Uniprint 8.1 and replaced by an MMC application.

Uniprint 8.2

Enhancements

• Uniprint database and services have been updated to fully support Unicode. There is no noticeable impact on the existing system.

• When costing a Duplex job with an odd number of pages, the final page is now costed as Simplex. This means that you must always configure Duplex/Simplex costs, even if Duplex printing is mandatory—if no Simplex cost is configured, the final page of odd-numbered jobs will be costed using the Default per Page Cost.

  • You can now add a registry key value (Last Page Simplex) to the Page Counter to determine how to charge the final page of any odd-numbered Duplex job.

  • The Page Counter registry entry "No Blank Pages" has been extended. Previously this could be set to charge for blank pages in a job, or to ignore blank pages (as many applications add a blank page to the end of an odd-numbered Duplex job). A third option is now available to charge for blank pages in the middle of a job, but ignore blank pages at the end.

• When upgrading to Uniprint 8.2, new Banks may be added to your system depending on how the network terminals have been configured. After an upgrade, there will be a new Bank called Default Bank [CSO] in addition to the Default Bank. Uniprint automatically associates the Bank to the correct terminal.

• User-Based Charging has been introduced to replace Discount Rate Schedules. If already defined before upgrade, Discount Rate Schedules will still be visible and useable, but cannot be altered or added to.

• The Upgrader can now support upgrading the Database on a remote SQL server. The Upgrade or Migration should be run from the Principal Services machine.

Removed features

• The Uniprint-specific SNMP functionality has been removed. Settings including SNMP Settings on the Devices context and SNMP Refresh Interval setting on the Uniprint Global Settings context have been removed from Pharos Administrator. You can continue to use SNMP status checking for a device using the settings available on the Microsoft TCP/IP print port.

• The log file-related command line options for the User Batch Loader and Cost Center Importer have been removed. These utilities still create log files, but generate logs using the new Pharos Logging Service.

Uniprint 8.3

Enhancements

• Support for the new Pharos MobilePrint solution, which enables users to print from any mobile device to any Pharos managed printer within the campus.

• Modified Print Engine. The new Print Server job management engine has introduced the following changes:

  • The new Print Groups concept streamlines the configuration of large groups of printers, particularly in multiple server environments. It removes the need for “Compatible Queues”.

  • Improved performance and stability by reducing the dependency on the Windows spooler and its driver management.

  • While Windows queues are still used as a mechanism to receive print jobs from users, output devices no longer require a Windows printer object.

  • Jobs waiting to be released by the user are no longer held in the Windows printer object. They are transferred from the Windows spooler to the Uniprint Secure Release Service.

  • Maximum Job holding time has been increased from 2 days to 7 days.

• Revised Administrative Permissions. While a Uniprint Print Server component still exists and is still installed on each print server, the “Print Server” concept plays a less central role in the configuration of the Uniprint system (e.g. the server is only important to Queues and Terminals, but not to Print Groups or Devices). Given this, Administrative Permissions now introduces the concept of a Management Zone. Each object in Uniprint belongs to a zone; you simply create administrative roles that have different levels of permissions to view, modify, create, or delete objects in the different zones. The Zone functionality allows you to easily delegate administrative duties to different departments (e.g. to manage their own devices) even when they are sharing the same server resource.

• Improved Security. You can now enforce strong passwords for User Accounts. A new section in the Security tab under System > System Settings allows you to select whether to enforce strong passwords, and whether to allow blank passwords.

• Added a mechanism to check the status of a device before sending jobs to it.

• Allows saving the spool files of specific print jobs from Pharos Administrator.

• Automatic retrieval of the Make and Model properties of devices using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). A new action called “Retrieve Make/Model” has also been added to retrieve these properties manually.

• The introduction of the Secure Release Service has prompted many changes to plug-ins/scripts. Please see this article for more details.

Removed features

• Removes the need for Compatible Queues with the introduction of Print Groups.

• Removed the relationship between Queues and Devices as well as the relationship between Devices and Servers.

• Removes the need for a “ServerManager“ template in Permissions with the introduction of Management Zones.

• The PageCountJob plug-in point is removed during the upgrade. It is no longer possible to specify a non-Pharos Page Counter. In addition, the Page Counter is now owned by the Secure Release Service. As a result it is now found under the Pharos\SecureRelease directory.