How printer supplies are managed in 3manager
Stay in control of printer supplies without the hassle. With 3manager MPS software you can automate reordering, avoid costly delays, and keep your devices performing at their best while saving time for your team.
How It Works
Order Smarter, Save Time, Cut Costs
3manager makes supplies management effortless. Create a supply ordering report in under a minute, combine days-left tracking with bulk ordering, and keep costs low while every device stays ready to work.
With API-powered Track & Trace and live order status, your team can follow every delivery without chasing updates.
Self-service becomes faster, smoother, and entirely hassle-free.
Business automation and intelligence in every supplies order
At 3manager, Business Intelligence (BI) and automation are more than buzzwords. They are built into how we help you manage supplies faster, smarter, and with fewer errors.
Example 1:
The problem: Duplicate orders sent to the same client because the printer flagged a false alert.
The solution: Data-driven analytics that clean bad data from good, removing “shaken bottle” errors and inaccurate device reports.
Example 2
The problem: A client suddenly prints far more than usual, and the standard 20% trigger level sends the order too late.
The solution: Intelligent ordering based on real usage and trends, not just meter levels.
A truly effective supplies management system needs to be intelligent and adaptive. Pairing our automation with your well-defined processes ensures ordering happens at the right time, every time.
Stop Repeating the Same Work
Reconfiguring the same issue wastes time and increases the chance of errors, especially as your client list grows.
With 3manager, your supplies ordering report can automatically include all relevant devices for each account.
You simply decide whether to manage the device or include it for a print audit.
By setting rules at the top level, changes apply across accounts without extra setup.
This keeps processes fast, consistent, and error-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
When are supplies ordered?
The default configuration is when the toner reaches 20% or less than 15 days estimated end of life. This is configurable, and you can add your own rules.
Toners with more than 90 days left before running empty are by default ignored, so toners are not sent too early, resulting in a higher toner replacement waste. Days left can be deactivated if you prefer working with the good old lists of high, medium and low ordering profiles.
Can I have multiple reports?
Yes, you can have as many as you would like. We recommend having these on a top-level, but you can also decide to have one per account level. Whatever fits your internal processes the best.
Do you support track & trace ?
Yes, by using our API you can push a track and trace link to the ordered articles as well as a status such as "ordered, sent, delivered" etc.
Can I change the part numbers?
Managing part numbers can be time-consuming, especially when dealing with originals, non-originals, or internal SKUs.
With 3manager, you can filter models and add the part numbers you need for ordering in just a few clicks.
Set them at both top and account levels, allowing different part numbers for the same toner across accounts.
How do you manage shaken bottles or false toner level reporting?
This is where data-driven analytics enters the room. At 3manager, we have a massive data stream as frequent as every 15 minute. Some would say, "why not just have a few readings per day".
Our response is: "Because you can't validate or clean data based on such a little amount of data, you need more data to make the best decisions".
So when a toner suddenly jumps to 100% or claims it full, we don't believe it by default. If it drops suddenly, we don't believe it either until we have validated the level with our logics.
We just need to face that it's not possible to trust the toner levels blindly as they can have errors resulting in multiple orderings and increased expenses.
How to send orders in bulk to reduce logistics costs?
Sending toners to the same client multiple times per week is a waste of logistics costs and time. This can be reduced by utilising the bulk ordering option.
By default 3manager will include supplies within a 5% reach, meaning if your trigger level is 20%, it will include anything within a 5% range unless it has more than 90 days left.
The bulk ordering option respects addresses even on department level.
How do you manage shaken bottles or false toner level reporting?
This is where data-driven analytics enters the room. At 3manager, we have a massive data stream as frequent as every 15 minute. Some would say, "why not just have a few readings per day".
Our response is: "Because you can't validate or clean data based on such a little amount of data, you need more data to make the best decisions".
So when a toner suddenly jumps to 100% or claims it full, we don't believe it by default. If it drops suddenly, we don't believe it either until we have validated the level with our logics.
We just need to face that it's not possible to trust the toner levels blindly as they can have errors resulting in multiple orderings and increased expenses.
How to send orders in bulk to reduce logistics costs?
Sending toners to the same client multiple times per week is a waste of logistics costs and time. This can be reduced by utilising the bulk ordering option.
By default 3manager will include supplies within a 5% reach, meaning if your trigger level is 20%, it will include anything within a 5% range unless it has more than 90 days left.
The bulk ordering option respects addresses even on department level.
Can I see upcoming orderings?
Yes, in every supplies ordering report you will have a menu called "Pending". here all upcoming supplies orderings are listed. A nice little feature is that if you have already sent a toner you can delete it from the list and it will not be sent with the next report.
What about order dates?
Every single time a toner or other supplies item is ordered, a time stamp is added to the device and supplies item. In this way its easy to see when it was last ordered as well replaced.
Can you integrate with our toner delivery provider?
Today We have made all the needed commonly used formats available in our supplies ordering report. This means you can use anything from CSV to XML and even Webhooks to send orders.
We also have an open API making it easy for any system integrator to get started using 3manager data.
In any case, if we do not already support with our current options, then we simply add it so you can benefit from an automatic process between 3manager and your own system.
Next step: Supplies analytics and insights
Now that we have the automation process covered, let’s have a look at how 3manager MPS software can give the insights you need to make decisions about optimisation, understand supplies usage, last order dates, and much more. Its great for status meetings and cost analytics.
Presenting the Supplies Analytics Dashboard
If you need to know the number of supplies replacements, orders or maybe filter out clients with a high supplies replacement waste, the supplies analytics dashboard will be your go-to tool.
From here, you can filter by any category needed: Managed devices, brands, models, contracts, departments, discovery dates, etc. You can decide between hundreds of options.
Often, this is used for understanding the supplies usage behaviour, and if there are any, it can be optimised.
It’s all about understanding the situation first, then deciding what to do next.
This dashboard is 100% automatically updated and needs no manual configuration.
How many orders were made last 30 days?
In the supplies dashboard and in the report, you have access to all order history.
This makes it simple to understand how many orders were sent. However, you can quickly compare this with the replacements made.
If your client would like to know what’s been ordered during the day or week, it’s so simple to check this online or schedule it as a report.
Available in Excel as a supplies analytics report
Even though its nice to look at the dashboard, sometimes you need a good old Excel report. Everything you see online is available as a report which you can schedule and send to your clients in a timely manner.
What you get with the Supplies Analytics report:
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Overview of all accounts including: replacements, average toner waste and coverage
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Detailed list of replacement per supply item
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Summarized usage of toners and coverage per device
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Estimated forecast for thet next 30, 90 or 365 days
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Supplies status overview (to understand current base of installed supplies)
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Detailed order history per supply item
Become a 3manager expert with online courses
Our 3manager online learning has a section dedicated to supplies management, including a Supplies Management PlayBook (PDF), which is great to have on the go.
Here you will find tips, guides and video tutorials for all supplies management features and best practices. We are always ready to support you if you have more questions or need more training.
Final summary
Thanks for taking the time to read through all of this.
We admit we are very proud of our software. We love helping our customers optimize their managed print services, taking them to new levels, including business intelligence and automation.
You can see a summary of all features related to 3manager Supplies management to the right.
3manager is much more than supplies management.
We have just as great features designed to help your business get much more done in less time with dedicated business features such as print audit management, contract management, cost reduction simulations and much more.
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Get supplies orderings using a combination of thresholds and estimated days left
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Avoid duplicate orders with intelligent toner alert and replacement tracking
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Optimise logistics and reduce C02 emissions with bulk orderings
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Access to all order history
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Use automation to streamline processes
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Track toner replacements and orders directly in the supplies analytics dashboard or reports
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Create as many ordering reports as needed following your business models.
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Multi-brand support
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Online courses available