Improving the Management of Output in an Sap Environment

The customer associated with this case study is a large, multi-national manufacturer of chain saws and outdoor power equipment, gasoline and electric grass

Business Problem – The company faced a multi-faceted business problem.They were in the process of upgrading their SAP environment and wanted to be able to offload the print spooler services from the application servers.Being able to separate the application servers from the print spooler and print management system would allow them to improve performance on the application servers, but more importantly, it would allow them to create a print architecture that was independent of the SAP print spooling system and their dependency on SAPscript to manage enterprise document formatting.They wanted to be able to utilize an off the shelf, standard electronic forms package to manage the document formatting and eliminate the high cost of maintaining SAPscript programming and staff expertise.Through the implementation of an independent print architecture, they also will be able to increase the efficiency of the IT organization and increase the efficiency of output/print driven business processes such as Just in Time Manufacturing processes, shipping, and materials management.

Objective– In order to improve end-user support and satisfaction, system administrators needed a single, automated, enterprise-wide print spooler solution to manage print jobs and print queues. End-users needed a tool that would allow them to manage print themselves, improve the efficiency of their print related business processes and relieve the burden of print related calls to the help desk. Additionally, they needed to be able to fax print jobs directly from their application instead of printing them and then faxing them and have the option of “printing” a job to email for delivery instead of to a physical printer.The fax and email functionality was not possible in their environment without significant application changes.

Customer Technical Environment - See diagram

• SAP R/3
  
  Enterprise Management
  
  Product R&D
  
  Make to Order
  
  After Market Sales & Service
  
  
• 500 + users
  
  
• Seven IBM AIX Servers
  
  
• Legacy applications (developed in house) and associated servers
  
  
• See diagram – At the end of this document
  
  Key Technical Requirements– The solution this customer implemented needed to be an SAP certified solution tested to meet the BC-XOM standard for external output management solutions.Additionally, the customer did not want to add client software on the end-users PC’s nor have to train the end-users on new methods of checking the status of their print jobs.While the solution needed to be SAP certified, it also needed to provide the Help Desk with the ability to manage and monitor print in the SAP environment and the legacy, in house developed applications.
  
  
  
  Technical Solution– After considering and evaluating several vendors, the customer chose to implement OM Plus the print spooler solution from Plus Technologies.They chose to implement the base OM Plus server module, the OM Plus Java GUI User Interface for their administrators/help desk and the OM Plus HTML User Interface for the end-users who wanted a zero client solution for advanced control of their print jobs.All other users who just need basic printed or not printed yet information and printer status can see that using the standard SAP GUI because OM Plus communicates this information back to SAP. Print Jobs are now “captured” by OM Plus and delivered to the appropriate device, fax system or email system.No modifications were required to either the SAP Applications or the AIX operating environment.The users just print as they normally do within SAP, and OM Plus does the rest. Administrators have a single, easy-to-use tool to solve printing issues in their new environment saving many help desk man-hours each week (over 70% of their help desk calls had been print related). Utilizing functionality built into OM Plus, users can also now select Fax or email as destinations and “print” their job directly to a fax or email server.
  
  OM Plus system administrator ratio control through the provision of very significant cost efficiency and centralized management features, please print the entire operation. Too,
  
  Implementation – Installing, configuring, and testing were completed in under a week.The customer installed the OM Plus system without any formal training. A Plus Technologies engineer worked remotely via phone to assist the customer with the installation of the OM Plus software and to provide configuration assistance.This level of phone-based service is standard and included without additional charge in all purchases of Plus Technologies software.
  
  Results – Utilizing OM Plus allows the customer’s system administrators to centrally manage their print/output across the entire enterprise.The OM Plus implementation increased the customer’s overall print related reliability substantially.Because OM Plus is SAP certified to the BC-XOM standard, it can confirm, from end-to-end, the delivery of a print job and notify SAP of a successful delivery of the job.Without OM Plus, all SAP knows is that it delivered the job to the operating system’s print spooling utility. The IT and end-user productivity was significant because (prior to OM Plus) over 70% of the calls to their help desk were print related.Utilizing a zero client deployment strategy allowed the end-users to manage their own print without modifications to the standard SAP user interface or without adding any client software on the end-users’ PC’s.
  
  From the standpoint of a system, the implementation of OM Plus also lead to significant positive results. The new OM Plus print server architecture relieves pressure management of the customer's application and database servers to enhance the reliability and productivity of the systems. The OM Plus status to standardize print management screens for the administrators on all platforms and applications, not only SAP applications and servers, but their legacy environment.
  
  Customer Quote – “We have utilized Plus Technologies print and output management solutions for quite some time.With the additional functionality we get from OM Plus (communication with SAP, delivery to fax or email) we are able to improve our efficiency and many of our business processes.”
  
  Plus Technologies Case Studies– The Plus Technologies case study series includes real examples of how companies use Advanced Spooling Solutions to streamline operations, reduce cost and/or add functionality to existing business processes.For more information on these case studies, contact Plus Technologies.
  
  

Spooler - Security is ensured

Troubles with Print spooler service subsystem app can interrupt all printing work so that you can�t print at all. Printer spooler subsystem app cooperates with printers drivers and input-output elements. Spooler is rather bad thing especially if it finds itself during intense work of many printers. Printer spooler controls print queues and is responsible to every printer installed in the operating system. Spooler comes to light when you don�t wait any tricks from your printers. Print spooler is a key part of the whole printing process in system.

Canceling or deleting spooler file stops all printer job till printer spooler subsystem app can work stably. At the moment you click on Print button somewhere in Windows system program the printing task is set up for your system and exactly at this moment spooler subsystem App makes the dust fly. After printer spooler receives printing command you can add or remove any printer jobs in your print queue. If something is wrong with spooler subsystem App Windows informs you about a spooler. When you are given back an error message "Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close." after clicking on the printer icon it may be a sign of threat. While your PC runs you can see "Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close." error.

Trying to run spooler subsystem App service you can encounter with "Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close." message. In some cases spooler can be restored from Windows installation CABs. Thanks to spooler all printers become treatless for work until spooler is able to manage them correct. Spooler error is very bothering thing because it occurs every time you try to print. Reinstalling printer drivers can relieve your problem only if you are a lucky man. Inspite of the hope that your anti-virus must save you from any infections unfortunately this isn�t the case sometimes. A malware can break operability of your print spooler service but standard anti-viruses can�t find it in many cases.

If you find spooler malware, scan your PC with recent anti-virus. Though you have met powerless of anti-virus to assist you getting rid of the problem you shouldn�t panic. To relieve the question you should locate temporary folders of your printer driver and remove all files with .shd and .spl extensions. Be assured that your print queue is clear if you begin your fight with spooler matter. In a few number of cases spooler app error can display after reinstalling your printer spooler drivers. Remember, that if you think you can fix up spooler subsystem App by hand, you are wrong in most cases - the situation may substitute to a worse side after your intrusion.

Reinstalling printer drivers can become a new question for you if your spooler has been infected before. I advice you not to believe a treatment of spooler to anybody if you are not sure in his or her competence. Expert advice or professional assistance will be a pretty wiser idea rather than if you settle to try to cope with spooler yourself. Be careful when editing registry entries of printer spooler job queue as you can damage your computer. Spooler is a widespread trouble for many users all over the world. I was headed up with complaints and requests of those people who couldn�t save from the problem by hand.