Patent ID: 7216360

Claim:
A system in which a plurality of office automation devices arranged in a work place and a management server managing each of the office automation devices are connected via a network, wherein each of the office automation devices comprises: a replaceable, expendable component, verification means for verifying a user attempting to operate each of the office automation devices and belonging to a predetermined section of the work place, information acquisition means for acquiring device usage information including information of a user verified by the verification means and a value indicating an amount of usage of the office automation device by the verified user, information storage means for sequentially storing the device usage information acquired by the information acquisition means, wherein the management server comprises: information collection means for collecting, via a network, the device usage information stored in the information storage means of each of the office automation devices, amount totalizing means for totalizing a usage amount record of the office automation devices, the usage amount record being associated with each user or a section in a company, based on the usage information collected by the information collection means, device usage amount acquisition means for acquiring a usage amount record of the office automation device subsequent to replacement of the replaceable, expendable component in the office automation device, based upon device usage information collected by the information collection means, comparison means for comparing the usage amount record acquired by the user usage amount acquisition means and a reference value and producing a comparison result, and output means for sending, via the network, a message prompting the replacement of the replaceable, expendable component to the office automation device operated by a targeted user, and outputting the message to a display section of the office automation device, in a case where the usage amount exceeds the reference value in the comparison result of the comparison means.