Method for monitoring print jobs in a data processing network

A network includes network connected printers and print clients. Each print client permits users to submit print jobs to the printers. A first print job table stored within the network contains information indicating the printer capacity available to each user. Computer code determines whether to accept a new print job based on a comparison of the capacity required to process the job and the user's available printer capacity. Available capacity information indicates the difference between a print quota associated with the user and the remaining size of all pending print jobs submitted by the user. The network further includes code for updating the available capacity information either indirectly by periodically adjusting the available capacity information of each user based on an approximation of the amount of print processing that has occurred or directly by determining the actual amount of capacity required to process the user's pending print jobs.