Plus Technologies Technical Support team released a printer naming convention document today. This document outlines ‘best practices’ guidance for naming print queues.

By adopting a structured naming convention, it allows support personnel to quickly identify which printer someone is calling about.  When the help desk gets a call they can identify the printer in question easily and quickly by referencing the location parameters found in the queues name.

A meaningful naming convention should contain information that helps users determine which printer the queue is associated with. The following pieces of information should be taken into account when creating names:

  • Is the environment broken into sections or regions? This can be either physical or logical sections.
  • Can some kind of location data be used in the name? Including a building and room number can be very useful to the user.  In lieu of that, a department name/number can also work.

The following items should be included in the name.  These items are useful to the users and support personnel, as well as the OM Plus software.

  • What type of printer does is the queue associated with?  Is it a laser printer, label printer, impact printer, etc.?  This should never contain information about a printer make/model because printers often get moved around or replaced with newer printers, thereby outdating the name.  Outdated named require administrative intervention to rectify, or causes confusion for support/users if the name remains the same.
  • There should be some kind of unique identifier to the location as well, in case there is more than one printer of that type at the location.

In addition, labeling printers with their assigned queue names is helpful.  When a printer is moved or reassigned, it should be relabeled.  In this way, the print queue services print for a location, regardless of what printer is actually producing the output.

There are a some pieces of information that should NEVER be included in a queue name.  Any information that ties the queue to a specific make or model of printer should be avoided.  This information can become quickly out of date when a printer is moved or replaced.  If the print queue name specifies one kind of printer, but there is a different kind in place, it will cause confusion and reduce end user satisfaction. Minimally it will require additional administrative intervention to keep print queue names current.

Another benefit of a good naming convention structure is that it will be easier to generate reports of the print environment output based on region, location, building, room and printer.

If you would like to discuss your naming convention ideas/concerns/questions with one of our technical resources, you may set up an appointment through your Sales Account Manager or contact our support group at [email protected] or call support at 1-877-899-7587 option 6.