Knox Grammar School

Widely recognised as one of New South Wales’ most outstanding schools, Knox Grammar School has a proud tradition of academic achievement. With approximately 400 staff members and 2,171 students in Prep through to Year 12, the School is focused on providing a second-to-none learning environment; and it is a close partnership with Ricoh Managed Document Services (MDS) which is proving instrumental in maintaining that level of excellence.

The challenge: Finding a cost-effective document partnership

For five years prior to April 2011, Knox Grammar had relied on a third-party vendor for the provision of a print and copy infrastructure, which included a managed fleet of multifunction devices (MFDs) and a staffed, on-site bulk printing facility.

Yet without accurate cost tracking, adequate service response levels or environmental measures, the infrastructure fell short of a total service. Having learnt from experience, the School put its entire document printing and management requirements out to tender, with Kerrie Howarth, Personal Assistant to the Deputy Headmaster for Professional Learning and Compliance, assuming the role of tender response manager.

“Our primary objective was to identify a provider committed to a partnership beyond the basics of providing print and copy facilities,” Kerrie explains. “Essentially, a partner to work with us in a proactive manner to help us achieve value for money, better environmental outcomes and a broad range of document efficiencies.”

The amount of work Ricoh MDS personnel put into understanding our needs, before there was even a contract to sign, really impressed us.

Understand: Leaving no stone unturned

As one of several companies responding to the Request For Tender, Ricoh came forward with a comprehensive MDS solution, which led in with a highly detailed discovery methodology.

In following that methodology, Ricoh MDS project managers conducted extensive meetings with key stakeholders at the School, designed to assist in developing a concise understanding of document print, workflow and usage requirements. Coinciding with that was a thorough on-site inspection that encompassed factors such as: network connectivity, optimum MFD locations and device security. “The amount of work Ricoh MDS personnel put into understanding our needs, before there was even a contract to sign, really impressed us,” Kerrie says. “It was definitely evident in their final presentation that they had used everything they learned to develop a comprehensive solution that met or exceeded all of our needs – and that was instrumental in Ricoh being awarded the contract.”

Improve: Service, cost and environmental performance

Based on extensive audits and detailed understanding of Knox Grammar’s needs, Ricoh proposed a solution tailored specifically for the School.

Included in that proposed solution was hardware that could handle almost any print, copy or scanning need Knox Grammar may have. Full-time, on-site Ricoh MDS personnel would run the Green Print Centre, manage the fleet, provide valet services and work proactively with the School to optimise ongoing performance and service levels.

At a management level, a solution was designed to incorporate Equitrac software tools customised by Ricoh to allow Knox Grammar to closely track and analyse document spending, resulting in reduced costs and waste, and contributing to predicted overall cost savings of up to 40 per cent.

Transform: A 12-day rollout

In accepting the proposed solution with its range of stated objectives, the School presented the Ricoh MDS team with a major challenge – implement and commission the entire solution within 12 days.

Underpinned by the Ricoh MDS methodology’s Transform process, a day-by-day action plan was developed, incorporating a comprehensive risk assessment and contingency plan.

Simultaneously, all MFDs were configured and tested in a Ricoh staging facility prior to delivery, while on-site, Ricoh personnel assisted in decommissioning the School’s legacy print infrastructure.

“Despite the 12-day timeframe, Ricoh had everything up and running on time,” Kerrie states. “Just as impressive was how smoothly the entire process progressed and the level of communication between us and Ricoh. We were constantly updated on progress, and staff members were given full notification of when old devices would be replaced with our new Ricoh MFDs.”

With the rollout complete, the transformation continued with Ricoh customer training representatives conducting sessions on MFD functionality, Green Print Centre capabilities and efficient document production workflows.

Govern: Realising the benefits

Software solutions, formal quarterly reviews and the ongoing work of Ricoh’s on-site MDS personnel are all part of the Ricoh MDS governance processes at Knox Grammar – a process that now provides substantial cost saving, efficiency and environmental benefits for the School.

Within only a few months of adopting the Ricoh solution, the School gained a 30 per cent saving in paper usage. That saving is being further improved with proactive management from Ricoh’s MDS-staffed Green Print Centre at Knox Grammar.

“Ricoh has delivered precisely what we were looking for in regard to governance,” Kerrie says. “We have been able to realise substantial and sustained improvements in efficiency and reductions in waste, which in turn has helped us reduce costs and improve our environmental performance.”

Optimise: An ongoing partnership

Continuous optimisation is another vital component of Knox Grammar’s Ricoh MDS solution, with Ricoh on-site personnel working with the School on a daily basis to maintain optimum performance and efficiencies.

Optimisation at the School extends well beyond the device performance level, with Ricoh personnel providing support to Knox Grammar staff on all print-related issues. Kerrie provides examples:

“Often our teachers will want to use resources they only have in a single hard-copy format. In those cases, our Green Print Centre personnel scan the resources and save them in digital form for on-demand printing. Then there are instances where staff members need advice on the most appropriate finishing options for a large print job. Again, Centre personnel are there to help – and they do!

“Ultimately, we have what we wanted – a strong and effective partnership with the vendor, and a solution customised for our needs,” Kerrie concludes. “And should those needs change, we know Ricoh will be ready and able to adapt the solution and change with us.