Strategic Print Management & Archival System

Custom Print Management System

Company: Gold Business Technologies Ltd.

Developed a custom Linux-based print middleware that bypassed proprietary ERP limitations, automating the conversion of PCL print streams into searchable PDFs and increasing document accessibility by 100% through a custom archival pipeline

The Challenge

Many proprietary ERP systems operate within "closed loops," making it difficult to extract data or archive documents without expensive add-on modules. I needed to bridge the gap between a legacy ERP output and modern document management requirements.

The Solution

I engineered a custom, Ubuntu-based Linux print server that acts as an intelligent intermediary. Instead of a simple pass-through, this server intercepts, processes, and redirects data in real-time.

Technical Execution

• Protocol Interception: Captured PCL (Printer Command Language) data streams directly from the ERP.

• Data Transformation: Developed a conversion pipeline to transform raw PCL data into Text-Searchable PDFs, ensuring legacy data became modern, indexable assets.

• Intelligent Routing: Orchestrated a dual-path workflow where the original PCL job was dispatched to the physical hardware while the PDF was routed to a networked repository.

  

• System Integration: Designed the output to be compatible with third-party Document Archival Systems, enabling automated indexing and end-user retrieval.

Key Skills Demonstrated

• Systems Engineering: Ubuntu Server, Linux Print Spooling (CUPS/LPR).

• Data Processing: PCL-to-PDF conversion logic and regex-based text extraction.

• Network Architecture: Handling cross-platform communication between proprietary ERPs and standard network shares (SMB/NFS).

• Problem Solving: Bypassing vendor lock-in to provide a cost-effective archival solution