Planning the SAP Print
Architecture 
Purpose
The individual steps below support you in planning your optimal print architecture.
You should plan especially carefully if you must deal with the following print tasks:
· Printing time-critical documents
Example: delivery notes; if these are note added to the delivery, the product cannot be sent
· Printing large print requests
Example: Printing long monthly lists
Process Flow
Perform the steps below to plan your print architecture:
...
1. Determine the most important print requirements.
To do this, answer the following questions:
¡ Who prints time-critical documents, such as delivery notes?
¡ Who prints large documents, such as ABAP list reports?
¡ What is the expected total quantity of output requests that will occur in your SAP System?
2. Using the print requirements, determine how important the respective printers are.
Important printers are, for example, printers whose output is time-critical.
You should consider the following points:
¡ Can the existing printers handle the expected print workload, or should you purchase additional output devices?
¡ Would a faster line printer be able to speed up printing of long lists yet provide the print quality you require?
¡ Would a central print department be more cost-effective than setting up small line printers in individual departments?
Your hardware supplier, SAP consultant, and/or the SAP Competence Centers can help you select printers appropriate to your printing requirements.
3. Optional: Classify the printers:
Although classifying printers is optional, it provides this advantage:
If you also classify your spool servers, the spool system checks that the device and server classifications match. This helps to ensure an optimal output configuration.
4. Assign every print group to one or more spool servers, if you have set up three or more spool servers in your SAP System.
Output devices are assigned to spool servers in their device definitions. The device definition contains all of the required information about the printer; the SAP System uses this information to address the printer.
For information about the server classes for spool servers and the optimal printer throughput, see the General Guidelines for Optimal Printer Throughput.
Result
You have completed the planning of your print configuration planning, and can now set up the printers in your SAP spool system.
See also:
Example: Optimal Printer Configuration
