Account Management
Overview
Account Management helps organizations track, control, and allocate printing and copying costs. Accounts can represent departments, projects, cost centers, research grants, or other budget categories, allowing organizations to charge printing and copying expenses to the appropriate area.
In HP Insights, users print and copy using accounts they have been granted access to. The associated costs are charged to the selected account, providing visibility into usage and supporting budgeting, cost recovery, and job accounting.
Account Management supports both Individual Accounts and Shared Accounts. Individual Accounts provide each user with their own balance, while Shared Accounts give multiple users access to a single, common balance. Shared Accounts are commonly used by departments, project teams, or other groups that need to track costs against a common budget.
Example
A university creates several accounts to manage printing costs.
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The Faculty Printing account is configured as an Individual Account, giving each faculty member their own point balance and allowing their printing activity to be tracked separately.
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The Research Grant account is configured as a Shared Account, enabling multiple researchers working on the same project to charge printing costs to a shared budget.
When users print or copy documents, the costs are charged to the selected account, allowing the university to track expenses by individual users, departments, or projects.
Account Management uses a point-based billing structure where accounts receive an allocation of points. How those points are applied depends on the account type. Individual Accounts provide each user with their own balance, so each user receives the full allocation to use independently. Shared Accounts use a common balance that all users with access to the account draw from together, so printing or copying by any user reduces that same shared balance.
For the administrator tasks to set up, configure, and maintain accounts, see Managing Accounts.
Notes
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Account Management is available only with OpenID authentication.
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Account Management requires a Secure Pull Print or Direct Print license.
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Users can access multiple accounts. They can switch between accounts using the End-User Portal or the
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Secure Print Direct jobs are charged to the designated account when submitted. Users cannot change the account after the job has been sent.
Key Features
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Copy Accounting – Lets users choose which account to charge for their copying activity directly at a
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Quota Management – Sets print or copy limits for users or groups through accounts, using a point-based rate card to control costs.
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Shared Accounts – Lets multiple users draw from a single shared pool of points instead of individual allocations.
Account Types
Every account is configured as one of two types:
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Individual Account – Each user has their own point balance, and printing and copying activity is tracked separately.
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Shared Account – Multiple users share the same point balance. Shared Accounts are commonly used for departments, projects, research groups, or other shared budgets.
For the full list of account properties and configuration options, see Account Properties.
Account Access
Accounts can be made available to all users or restricted to specific groups and users.
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All Users – Accounts are available to all users in HP Insights. Any user can charge printing and copying activity to these accounts.
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Specific Groups and Users – Accounts are restricted to designated users or groups. For example, an account can be made available only to members of the Marketing department or to specific individuals. This approach provides greater control over how printing and copying costs are allocated.
Active Account
The Active Account is the account currently selected for printing and copying. When users have access to multiple accounts, charges are applied to the Active Account unless the user selects a different account before submitting or releasing a job.
Note: The initial Active Account is the first account listed alphabetically in the web console. For example, if the available accounts are Library and Science, the initial Active Account will be Library.
Users can view or change their Active Account in the End-User Portal, Print Scout, or the
Print and Release Workflow
The submit-and-release workflow depends on how the job was submitted.
Print Scout
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The user submits a document from a workstation.
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The document is held in a secure queue until the user releases it. A notification appears indicating that the document is ready for release.
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The notification displays the Active Account that will be charged.
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Users can select Change Account to open the End-User Portal and choose a different Active Account before releasing the job.
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If quota management is enabled, users receive notifications when quota limits are exceeded.
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The user authenticates at a secure printer and releases the document.
HP JetAdvantage Secure Print Mobile App
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The user submits a document from the mobile app.
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The document is initially charged to the Active Account.
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The user can select a different account before releasing the job. Charges are applied to the selected account.
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The user authenticates at a secure printer and releases the document.
Chrome Print Extension
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The user submits a document using the Chrome Print extension.
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The document is held in a secure queue and charged to the Active Account.
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Users cannot change the Active Account from the extension. If necessary, they can change the Active Account through the End-User Portal before submitting future jobs.
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The user authenticates at a secure printer and releases the document.
Failed Print-Release Refunds
When a user releases a print job at a secure printer, HP Insights deducts the points for the job as soon as the release process begins.
If the release fails, the job returns to the ready-to-release state and the deducted points are automatically restored to the account.
This refund mechanism applies only when the release operation itself fails. It does not indicate whether pages were physically printed after the print data was successfully sent to the printer.
To view refunds in the web console or verify refunds through the Activities API, see Managing Accounts. For information about the underlying activity records, see Accounts API Reference.