SUNY Managed Print Initiative - Background FAQ

What is the SUNY Managed Print Initiative?

In 2019 SUNY conducted a comprehensive assessment of the campuses print landscape (print devices, print volume and type, and existing campus managed print contracts) which revealed that SUNY prints more than 50 million pages a month, and possesses more than 40,000 devices, of which approximately 50% are personal or desktop printers. The analysis, conducted by an independent print consultant (Pharos), also determined that SUNY spends approximately $50M per year on printing with color printing accounting for more than 50% of the cost. As a result of this assessment, SUNY established the System-wide Print Resource Use Policy – an initiative that seeks to reduce printing across all SUNY campuses. 

What are the goals of the SUNY Managed Print Initiative?

The goals of the SUNY Management Print Initiative is to establish campus goals to reduce the amount of printing and number of printers, but also establish system-wide print defaults and standards; limit printing to items essential for academic instruction or required to perform and complete business needs; achieve sustainability goals to reduce the college’s paper, energy use and carbon footprint; deploy software to monitor usage by individual, application, department, and device; and have campuses centralize their print budgets. The goals are to reduce costs, increase operational efficiencies, and implement secure and sustainable printing practices. Check out the full SUNY Presentation. 

Why is SUNY Fredonia participating in the SUNY Managed Print Initiative?

All SUNY campuses are required to participate in the SUNY Managed Print Initiative and demonstrate compliance with the System-wide Print Resource Use Policy. 

How is academic and student printing addressed in the SUNY Managed Print Initiative?

The SUNY Print Initiative covers all documents printed in standard sizes (letter, legal, and tabloid.) The SUNY Print Initiative does not cover specialty printing – which is explicitly defined as “label printers, barcode printers, wide-format (plotters), or 3d printing.” The SUNY Initiative also does not address creative printing - where the printed artifact is an essential curricular requirement - Graphic Design being one obvious example.

We will need to “explicitly identify, acknowledge, and protect students’ access to specialty printing of studio artworks necessary to fulfill their curricular work and degree requirements” as our faculty suggest. IT will continue to assist and support specialty printers used for academic purposes however, departments will remain responsible for funding these specialty printers and their supplies.

Student printing in labs and other areas will be incorporated into this new system during the summer of 2025. 

Why is accessibility an important part of the SUNY Managed Print Initiative?

Our University's Strategic Plan calls for renewed emphasis on inclusivity and accessibility. Electronic documents can be made accessible to the visually impaired, paper documents cannot. If you do end up distributing a paper document, you also need to make an electronic version available for the visually impaired.

What devices are covered under the SUNY Managed Print Initiative?

From the SUNY Managed Print Initiative Procedure:

“This procedure does not include devices with a primary purpose other than to support the office printing environment, such as specialty printers like label, barcode, wristband, wide-format or 3D printers.”

Any printing that falls outside of the office printing environment, and is true to the intent of not being office printing, would stay a departmental expense.