Double billing in the Argos Desktop Billing Client

In some instances, a single print job can create duplicate billing entries in the Argos Desktop Billing Client. This step-by-step guide will help you identify and resolve your issue.

Is the printer being tracked from multiple sources?

Please begin by reviewing the details of the affected print job to determine if more than one instance of the printer is configured to be tracked by Argos.

Printers with a common MAC address are automatically merged together starting in Argos 7.7 and will show the same name in both the Desktop Client and Argos Manager > Data.

Therefore, the Communication Service Health Page must be used to diagnose double billing issues. The health page can be viewed in a web browser anywhere on your network at http://YOURARGOSSERVER:7080/cs/health.

Send a test page that reproduces the double billing issue, then review the entries for the print job within the "Last Jobs Posted" section at the bottom of the health page.  You'll need to hit "refresh" in your web browser and use the "+" button to expand the "Last Jobs Posted" section for the new jobs to show up at the bottom of the page.

If the Printer names listed are different for the column labeled "Device Service Info" for each print job, the solution is to disable tracking for one of the listed printer names.

In this example, and with most double-billing instances, an Argos Integrated connector or Argos OnBoard agent is billing in duplicate to the windows print queue tracking for the device.

You'll need to do the following in order to stop the double billing from occurring:

  1. Open up Argos Manager and navigate to the "Printers" tab.
  2. Double click on the Printer name you saw in the "Routed For Device" column in the health page.
  3. Click on the "Windows & Mac Queues" tab for the Printer, then switch the radio button to "do not track printing".

The print queue instance that you wish to disable tracking for will be recognizable on the health page because it will list the full UNC path for the print queue including the host computer name.

Example:"\front-desk.builders.net\Canon iR-ADV C5030/C5035 Class Driver".

Note: In some instances the print queue mat not be merged with the Integrated printer. If this is the case, you will have to locate that queue in one of the other printer groups and then follow the instructions above.

You've followed those steps and the "Device Service Info" values for your duplicate jobs are the same.  What now?

Is the device an Oce plotter and jobs are submitted using the Oce Preview tool?

Some Oce drivers will generate multiple spool files for each print job when the Oce Preview tool is used for submission. Follow the link below for additional information:

Multiple billing on Oce PlotWaves and ColorWaves

Is duplexing enabled in the print driver?

In cases where duplexing is enabled in the print driver, each "impression" will appear as separate page in Argos, even for sides of the page(s) where ink was not used.

Disable duplexing in your print driver to prevent the extra page(s) from being tracked by Argos.

Does the print job contain both Color and Black & White pages

Color and Black & White print jobs are typically priced at different rates and will appear as 2 different entries/line items in the both the CS Health Page and the Data tab of Argos Manager.

None of the above?

If you've worked through this guide and aren't able to resolve your issue, please open a ticket including the details of what you've found and a Sepialine Support Tech. will advise on next steps.

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