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Configure system or custom printer meters

The reading meters are collected and displayed automatically on the portal, in their raw form, with no configuration required for these cases. Meter configuration is only necessary when you want to use System or Custom meters, either to adapt calculation rules or to create new meter types according to the needs of your billing service.

NDD Orbix works with 5 pre-configured meters, which cover the services charged by the providers and the calculation rules customized by manufacturer. These have been created based on the expertise acquired during our work with NDD Print MPS and our knowledge of the operations of the print outsourcing providers in our base.

Through the NDD Orbix portal, you can configure these meters and/or create new meters with the desired rules, so that the calculation is adapted to correctly reflect your billing services.

Tip

If you do not wish to create new meters, we recommend analyzing the rules of the pre-configured meters and, if necessary, adjusting their settings.

The pre-configured meters are A4 Mono, A4 Color, A3 Mono, A3 Color and Scan, and they are characterized as System type. Any meters created will be characterized as Custom.

Who can use this feature

Users with the Admin or Meter settings management permissions

Instructions

  1. Configure the monitoring of network printers and/or USB printers

  2. Go to Settings > Meters

  3. Locate the Calculation rules for meters option

  4. Click the Open button

Configure meters of type System

When the provider is created in the NDD Orbix portal, the System type meters A4 Mono, A4 Color, A3 Mono and A3 Color will be enabled, while Scan will be disabled.

All meters of the System type will have their calculation rules for each manufacturer registered and with the flexibility of each rule enabled.

Warning

Except when necessary, we do not recommend modifying these meters or their rules, as the actions taken are irreversible.

  1. Click on the meter of the desired System type to open its properties

  2. Enable or disable the meter as required by the operation
    Disabled meters are not shown in reports.

  3. Analyze the meter's rule settings and, if necessary, create new rules, edit or delete existing default rules

Warning

When you delete a default rule from a meter of the System type, you will not be able to recover it. This action requires care and attention to avoid unwanted impacts.

Create a Custom meter type

  1. Click on the ✚ button in the top right corner

  2. Enter the meter name

  3. Click the Save button to create the meter and return to the grid, the Save and Open button to create the meter and open its settings, or the Save and Create button to create the meter and remain on the creation screen.
    The meter will be created with the status enabled.

  4. Create the meter rules

When you delete a meter, its history remains available, but data will no longer be calculated from that action and you will not be able to enable the meter again.

Meters of the System type cannot be deleted.

Configure meter rules

The meter rule consists of determining the members, the mathematical expression and its flexibility.

  1. Click on the desired meter to open its properties

  2. Click on the Rules tab

  3. Click the ✚ button in the top right corner

  4. Enter the name of the rule

  5. Click Add and select the desired category of members, whether printer, model, manufacturer or customer

  6. Select the members that will be linked to the rule in the side tab

  7. Click the Add button to add the members and remain on the add screen or the Add and Close button to add the members and return to the register

  8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 as many times as necessary until you have added all the members you want

Information

When the same rule contains members from different categories, the system applies the specificity hierarchy below to determine which member has priority:

  • Printer (strongest level)

  • Model

  • Manufacturer

  • Customer (weakest level)

Example 1

The following members were added to the rule:

  • Printer: X

  • Model: Y

  • Manufacturer: Z

  • Customer: ABC

The rule will be applied to printer X, which belongs to model Y from manufacturer Z and is linked to customer ABC.

Example 2

The following members were added to the rule:

  • Manufacturer: Z

  • Customer: ABC

The rule will be applied to all printers from manufacturer Z that belong to customer ABC.

  1. Define the mathematical expression that will be used to calculate the meter in the Meter, Type and Operator fields
    Meter: all registered meters (reading, system or custom)
    Type: Mono, Color or Total
    Operator: type of mathematical operation that will make up the rule:
    + to add
    - to subtract
    * to multiply
    / to divide

  2. Click on the Add button to add the expression to the Rule result
    You can add as many rules as you need to the operation.
    To finalize the mathematical expression, you must add a rule without any operation at the end.

  3. Enable or disable flexibility

Note

Flexibility considers the meters inserted in the rule's mathematical expression.

If flexibility is disabled, this means that for the meter to be generated, the reading sent by the agent must contain all the meters in the formula.

If flexibility is enabled, this means that it is not mandatory for the reading sent by the agent to contain all the meters in the formula for the meter to be generated. In other words, it allows the meter to be generated even if one or more meters are missing, in which case the missing meters are assigned a value of 0 to calculate the mathematical expression defined in the rule.

Therefore, enable flexibility if you want a more generic rule that covers several cases, or disable flexibility if you want to provide a shield to generate the meter only when the reading has all the necessary meters.

  1. Click the Save button to create the rule and return to the grid, the Save and Open button to create the rule and open its settings, or the Save and Create button to create the rule and remain on the creation screen

If the result of all the mathematical calculations is a negative value, the system automatically sets the meter value to 0.

Warning

When you delete a default rule from a meter of the System type, you will not be able to recover it. This action requires care and attention to avoid unwanted impacts.

Add or remove members from the rule

  1. Click on the desired meter to open its properties

  2. Click on the Rules tab

  3. Click on the name of the desired rule to open its properties

  4. Click on the Members tab

To add members to the rule, follow the steps below:

  1. Click the Add button in the top right corner

  2. Click on the type of member you want in the list

  3. Select the members according to the desired hierarchy

  4. Click the Add button to add the member and remain on the add screen or the Add and Close button to add the member and return to the grid

To remove members from the rule, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the desired members

  2. Click the 🗑 button in the top right corner

  3. Click the Confirm button in the message box to confirm the removal