How to Create a Quota

This guide explains how to create a quota in OptimiDoc to control printing costs. Quotas can be assigned to individual users, groups, departments, devices or tags, and can be configured with automatic reset periods, hard or soft enforcement, and per-member tracking.

Before You Begin

Quotas are part of the cost-management system. Two things must be in place first:

• Quotas must be enabled. The quota engine is switched on with the Use Quotas option in Print settings, and it requires a dedicated quota database (a separate connection string from the main OptimiDoc database). If quotas are not enabled, or the quota database is not configured, jobs are never checked against any quota.

• Accounting must produce a cost. A quota is only checked when a job has a calculated price greater than zero, so the target device needs a price list. See Managing Devices for assigning price lists.

Then decide:

• Who or what the quota applies to (a user, group, department, device or tag).

• How much allowance to grant per period.

• How often the quota should reset (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or never).

• What happens when the limit is reached — block printing (hard) or allow with a cost-saving action (soft).

Step-by-Step: Creating a Quota

1. Navigate to Printing > Quotas in the sidebar.

2. Click the Add Quota button in the page header.

3. In the Create Quota dialog, fill in the fields below.

Target

Limit

Reset Schedule

Priority

4. Leave Active switched on (it is enabled by default) to make the quota effective.

5. Click Create to save the quota.

After Creating the Quota

• A balance is initialised automatically for the target (or for each member when Apply to Members is enabled).

• The quota appears in the Quotas list with its name, target, amount, type, reset interval and a visual balance bar (which turns yellow past 70% used and red past 90%).

• Open the row's actions menu to view Details, Edit the quota or Delete it.

• The Details drawer shows the current balance (initial, adjusted, used, reserved and remaining), the current period, and a full transaction history. From here you can also adjust the balance manually — enter a positive amount to top up or a negative amount to deduct, with an optional note; for member-based quotas you can adjust one member or all of them at once.

How Enforcement Works

Quotas use a reserve-then-settle model, so users are only charged for what they actually print:

• Enforcement runs when a print job is released, and happens after the rules engine, so the cost that is checked already reflects any rule that forced black-and-white, duplex or a redirect. It is combined across all applicable quotas according to the system-wide Overlap Strategy.

• A hard quota with insufficient balance blocks the job (it returns to the queue and is not delivered); a soft quota applies its action (notify, force black-and-white or force duplex) but lets the job through.

• The estimated cost is reserved while the job prints, then settled to the real cost once it completes — or refunded in full if the job fails.

Reservations, settlements and manual adjustments are recorded as transactions, visible in the Details drawer and on the Quota History page.

Scope: quota checks govern print jobs at release. Walk-up copying and scanning performed at the device are not pre-checked or blocked.

Examples

Monthly Per-User Hard Quota

• Name: "Monthly User Limit"

• Target Type: User

• Target: a specific user

• Amount: 200

• Quota Type: Hard

• Reset Interval: Monthly, Reset Day (Month): 1

• Balance Mode: Reset

The user gets a 200-unit budget each month. Printing is blocked once the budget is used up.

Department Shared Soft Quota with Carry-Over

• Name: "Finance Department"

• Target Type: Department, Target: Finance

• Apply to Members: Off (shared balance)

• Amount: 5000

• Quota Type: Soft, Soft Action: Force Black & White

• Reset Interval: Monthly, Balance Mode: Accumulate

The whole department shares a 5000-unit monthly budget that carries over when unused. Once exhausted, colour jobs are forced to black-and-white rather than blocked.

Group Quota with Individual Member Tracking

• Name: "Managers Individual Limit"

• Target Type: Group, Target: Managers

• Apply to Members: On

• Amount: 500

• Quota Type: Hard

• Reset Interval: Monthly, Balance Mode: Reset

Each member of the Managers group gets their own 500-unit monthly budget. Individual balances can be viewed and adjusted in the quota Details drawer.

Tips

• Use Hard quotas for strict cost control, and Soft quotas with Force Black & White or Force Duplex to nudge users towards cheaper output without blocking them.

• The Accumulate balance mode rewards light users by letting unused allowance roll over.

• When several quotas apply to the same person or device, the system-wide Overlap Strategy decides how they combine — see Quota Overlap Strategies. Under the Priority strategy, set each quota's Priority field so the right one wins.

Related articles

• Quotas

• Quota Overlap Strategies

• Quota History