Making digital copy of printed file

[bagellad]

Is there any way to automatically make a digital copy of a printed file? The situation is I have a customer who wants proof of their employees printing off the invoices. I thought I could make a folder that collects the invoices in pdfs to help track when they are printed. They already have a camera system but can't see whats happening directly.

 

[JosephLeo]

Save as PDF in a Custom Print Spooler Directory



Edit: I read that wrong...sorry, this software is of no help to you >_<
Well- maybe you can just rename the "Print as PDF" to say... "Xerox FakeCopier J-123" or something along those lines

 

[studiot]

Something not enabled by default in Windows systems, although I reckon it should be.

Simply enable print-to-file

You will then find this as an option in the printer selection drop down box.
It will be available to all programs, ( eg .doc etc) not just your pdf creator.

 

[atlanticjim]

If I understand you, the client is looking for something that can detect when an employee of his actually prints an invoice? Because printing that out is something that they should not be doing?

 

[bagellad]

Well the customer has had problems with "Cash jobs" where employees just take cash and pocket it. Its a service business. They want to be able to check to see that each car has a corresponding invoice. But this is at a seperate location. Currenty they have a video camera they connect to online and can tight VNC on the computer to check the database, but there is no record, as in if they dont put it on the database (ie cash job) you cant check the invoices later, but to be printed it has to be on the on the database,

Im not sure what to suggest.. some sort of POS system?

 

[ProTech Support]

Well the customer has had problems with "Cash jobs" where employees just take cash and pocket it. Its a service business. They want to be able to check to see that each car has a corresponding invoice. But this is at a seperate location. Currenty they have a video camera they connect to online and can tight VNC on the computer to check the database, but there is no record, as in if they dont put it on the database (ie cash job) you cant check the invoices later, but to be printed it has to be on the on the database,

Im not sure what to suggest.. some sort of POS system?

That is exactly what I was going to mention, use a POS system. The only problem your going to have is there is no guarantee that the "sneaky" employees are going to use it. IE if they know its going to be a cash transaction they don't bother running it through the system.

My advice: Get rid of the shotty employee's, put a POS system in place, and train the new employees to use the system. What good is it to even leave employees of this nature working for the company, obviously they have ill intentions.

I know its not your company, and it is the owners decision in the end, but I would pitch the advantages of a POS system and persuade them to get rid of the crappy employees.

 

[PcTek9]

This is a bit confusing. The way you have stated the problem is not very clear to us. Here is something I will tell you. Camera systems such as EyeMax have the ability to link into a POS system and get a sale on camera each time and put the ticket number from the pos sale on the recorded video.
Also 16 camera systems are pretty cheap these days. Finally, if they want to be able to see more clearly, then they need different cameras. At some locations I installed 60mm lenses so my client can see the denomination of the money that is being passed across the counter. The reason for this is that sometimes people will come back in screaming and yelling "I gave your employee a 100, and they just gave me back change out of a 10..." <- that has happened at least 25 times at different store locations.
The interesting part is, we can pull it up on a giant monitor at each store right out front on the sales floor, and show the customer. To date, the customer has always been wrong. They usually feel embarassed, apologize, and then leave or, they get mad that you busted their little scam.
See we usually have the giant monitors on a conglomerate view showing whichever of 32 cameras we want, so that people know they are real, and know they are being recorded. Make sense? Theft has dropped way down. In addition to all of this, they are usually very surprised to 'hear' their voices in crystal clear clarity thanks to the super sensitive microphones installed in the systems. (you can set the pickup so high you can hear a pin drop.)
All of these systems allow remote web log in with audio. They can also trigger multiple alarm output switches, and they are more accurate than those ultrasonic things some alarm people install.
Additionally with the right size hard drive you can easily record a years worth of data on 16 cameras in full 32 frame per second motion. You would not beleive the people we caught on these systems doing bad things, it is unreal. I recommend EyeMax, they are my favourite out of many brands. Kalatel is good too though. Some of the other brands are plain awful so read reviews of people that actually use them and do your research.

 

[OnSiteSolutions]

If you dont want to go the pos route or upgrade the camera system, I think your stated objective could be solved with a print server on the network. Server would be configured to store log of print jobs and corresponding user.
Alternatively, upgrade to a printer that prints on continuous 2 layer/duplicate paper with sequential invoice or some tracking numbers for in-house use, pre-printed on the paper, so if one is missing it is immediately obvious.
Like one of those old dot matrix continuous feed printers where you tear off the top copy for the customer and the bottom copy you leave on the feed which stacks in the box below the printer.

 

[ProTech Support]

To me, all these suggestions are great, but here is my thing.

If the employees are stealing money on cash transactions, chances are they are not even putting them in the system. Think about it, if they are taking the cash, and do put it in the system, at the end of the day that money will be missing. If they are not putting it in the current system, then they wont put it in the POS - leaving you no way to really tell (besides literally watching playback of the entire day).

That is why I suggested cleaning house FIRST then implementing a POS system. Don't want the current thieves teaching new employees there tricks.