I was delighted to read Radhika Ojha’s recent article in SAP Insider, which highlighted the use of External Output Management in SAP critical printing. This article got me thinking, and I wanted to add some comments to her excellent summary on the topic.
Some SAP consultants believe that the standard SAP solution for printing, i.e., SAPSPrint and the SAP Cloud Print Manager, are sufficient for enterprises. We respectfully disagree; the problem is not these solutions themselves, which are well programmed and easy to implement. Rather, the problem is their reliance on the Windows print drivers for PDL production, as well as the use of Windows printer definitions and the Windows spool for delivery. I have lost count of how many times companies have called LRS about a critical print problem or when background printing has ground to a halt. In many of these cases, the companies have suffered significant business impact, with costs running into six or seven-figure totals.
Windows Print Server (WPS) was never designed as a scalable enterprise highly available (HA) spooler with assured delivery. Its roots were clearly in branch office printing, where it seems that convenience was the driving force, along with allowing hardware vendors to produce a manufacturer-specific interactive UI experience. WPS systems’ architectural reliance on Remote Procedure Calls and vendor-based code running with powerful SYSTEM permissions do not promote safe and scalable operation. Although I do not doubt that SMBs with a few hundred printers may avoid issues relating to scalability, I think it is fair to say, as my colleague Guy Tucker has noted, that you cannot put Print Nightmare back in the bottle…
Most of the victims of scalability and stability issues with whom we speak have organically grown their spool environments, sometimes over periods of ten or more years. In the end, the results are simply not manageable. When print issues occur, the response from IT support is usually to “reduce the load on individual systems by creating new servers,” but in our opinion this is not a sustainable strategy. The first question you should ask is “How many printer queues exist in SAP?” This is an easy question to answer. However, the answer to the follow up question — “And how many of these queues are actually in use?” — illustrates perfectly where use of the standard SAP solution leads for Enterprises. I have yet to meet a large company that has been able to answer that question. This inability to answer indicates the lack of a managed end-to-end solution.
LRS’ VPSX enterprise output management (EOM) solution was designed from the ground up to be HA and to allow both vertical and horizontal scaling. Plugging SAP systems into this solution allows SAP to make use of all the functionality of the entire EOM environment. This includes the automatic end-to-end definition and removal of printers (IMAC/D) directly driven from your ticketing system or inventory. The functionality also encompasses pull print, printing over the internet without a VPN, full print auditing, DLP, scan and print integration, and a help desk based single point of control. Most importantly, from the point of view of business processes relying on print, the LRS solution offers assured delivery.
When migrating to S/4HANA and planning for the future, is it your strategy to extend your current mode of operation (CMO) for printing without further review? If so, please ask yourself two questions: “Is this a sustainable solution? Is this in the best interest of our company?”
We maintain that you have a unique opportunity to make a six-week investment to shift to an enterprise solution that is future safe, will consistently work for decades, and will pay for itself within six months. Maintaining your CMO sounds safe and easy, but your FMO (future mode of operation) is where the cost, time, and security benefits are to be found. It pays to spend time improving your print infrastructure. Literally.
Best wishes for a smooth-running New Year from the Odenwald.
—Al