Balance

Balance

The Balance feature allows administrators to track and manage user credit balances. When enabled, print and copy jobs are charged against a user's balance based on configurable per-page pricing. Administrators can view balances, top up credits, and review transaction history.

The Balance menu item appears in the left navigation panel.

Balance tab

The Balance tab displays a list of all users with their current balance. The table includes the following columns:

You can filter users by authentication provider, search by name, and filter by user group using the controls above the table.

Each user row has the following action button:

• Recent transactions (money bill transfer icon) — Opens a window showing the user's recent balance transactions.

Recent transactions

Clicking the Recent transactions button (money bill transfer icon) on a user row opens the Recent transactions window. This window displays:

• Overview — Information about the user's current balance, user name, groups, and effective policy:

  • Quota — Current virtual credit.

  • Wallet — Current paid credit.

  • Total — Total credit available for printing, as displayed on the MFD.

  • User groups — Groups the user belongs to.

  • Effective policy — The currently applied credit policy.

• A table of recent transactions with the following columns:

Transaction types that appear in the transaction history:

Top up / withdraw balance

Clicking the Top up/Withdraw link opens the Top up/Withdraw balance dialog. The dialog contains:

Click Top up/Withdraw to confirm or Close to cancel.

Credit Policies tab

The Credit Policies tab allows administrators to create and manage automatic credit reset policies for user groups. Each policy periodically resets the balance for all users in the selected group to a configured target amount.

The policy list displays the following columns:

Each policy row has Edit (pencil icon) and Delete (trash icon) action buttons.

Creating / editing a credit policy

Click Add Credit Policy or the edit icon on an existing policy. The form contains:

Apply now

After a credit policy is saved, a confirmation dialog appears offering to apply the policy immediately. The administrator can apply it either to all users in the group, or only to users whose balance is lower than the target amount.

Settings tab

The Settings tab allows administrators to configure the balance system and set per-page costs for users.

Enable balance

Use the Enable balance toggle to activate or deactivate the balance system. When balance is disabled, no charges are deducted from user balances for print or copy jobs.

Note: If balance is not enabled, the Balance tab shows a warning message: "Balance is not enabled. Enable it in Settings tab to start tracking user balance."

Pricing table

Set the cost per page for each category. The balance system uses these values to calculate job costs, which are deducted from the user's balance.

Click Save to apply the pricing configuration.

Initial balance for new users

When a new user is created, the system automatically checks all active credit policies for matching user groups. If the user belongs to one or more groups that have a credit policy, the system sets the user's initial balance to the highest matching target amount. The name of the matching policy is recorded in the balance transaction description.

If no credit policies match the user's groups, no initial balance is set.

How balance deductions work

When a user prints or copies a document, the system calculates the cost from the pricing configuration and the number of pages, then deducts that amount from the user's balance. The resulting Deduction transaction appears in the user's recent transactions (see the transaction type table above).

Insufficient balance

Before a job is charged, the system verifies that the user's balance covers the calculated cost. If it does not, the job is blocked at one of two checkpoints, depending on how it was started:

• Print jobs are checked by the PC Client before the job is released (see PC Client notifications below). When the balance is insufficient, the job is not released and the user is notified.

• Copy jobs are checked at the device before the job starts. When the balance is insufficient, the device does not allow the job to proceed.

In either case no balance is deducted, because the job does not complete. The user must top up their balance — or have it raised by an administrator or a credit policy — before the job can run.

PC Client notifications

When the balance feature is enabled, the PC Client performs a balance check before releasing a print job. If the user's balance is insufficient to cover the calculated cost of the document, the PC Client displays a warning notification informing the user that they do not have enough credits to proceed. The user cannot release the job at the MFD until their balance is topped up.

When a user prints to a direct queue and the balance is insufficient, an error notification is displayed informing the user that the job was not printed because of insufficient balance.

Limitations

• Balance feature is intended for cloud terminals only (Konica Minolta and Ricoh terminals are verified)