The Office of the Associate Provost for IT's (AP-IT) primary responsibilities are direct IT support of Academic Affairs and specific units reporting directly to the Office of the Provost, indirect support for other University units at the direction of the Provost, and leadership/coordinating functions for E&G IT.  Our mission is twofold:

1. to help people do their jobs more efficiently, and
2. to provide a stable, secure computing environment.

In addition, AP-IT is responsible for ensuring that applicable UF IT policies and standards are followed and coordinates with the University's Office of Information Technology to achieve this. AP-IT is staffed and funded to support specified UF units in the following critical areas.

Employee Technical Support

Much of UF's work is performed by UF employees using their desktop or laptop computers. When these people encounter a computer problem (unable to logon, printer does not work, etc.), they call on AP-IT for technical support. Depending on the nature of the problem, ITSS may remotely connect to the computer, assist the user over the phone, reply with an email or send a technician to their location.

Office Computer Management

Managing individual desktop computers, laptops, and peripherals is a cornerstone of IT support tasks. Desktop management of office computers includes: installation of new hardware components or software, software license administration, virus protection, equipment repair and maintenance, UF inventory tracking (select units), etc.

Account Management

Ensuring that only certified individuals can access the computer network and data resources is a very important task for AP-IT. AP-IT is part of UF's Active Directory and coordinates with the University's Central Networking Service (CNS) to assure that connections to other University systems are as transparent as possible to end users.

Online Communications

AP-IT supports the use of computer systems that allow faculty and staff to connect with the UF Community, vendors, and the world at large through the use of email, faxes, listservs, ftp, intranet sites, video conferencing, etc. This includes coordinating with UF central services as needed.

Technical Advisement

End-users often need assistance in determining an efficient process to achieve specific goals. AP-IT is available upon request to advise on products, services or procedures that best meet these goals.

See the IT Support Services (ITSS) section of this site for more information on individual user and personal computer support.

Business & Academic Support Applications

Developing and maintaining the business systems that support unit operations are essential tasks of the AP-IT. This includes home grown and open source web applications, as well as general office administration, such as Microsoft Office applications, SharePoint/Connect document sharing and tracking, and other industry standard software.

Website Support

AP-IT is responsible for providing and maintaining a web content management system (CMS) for specified Provost-related, publicly accessible websites. The posting of committee and working group information is supported through the Fora web application. UF's SharePoint/Connect is available for unit intranet websites and inter-unit file sharing, as are Sakai Project sites.  AP-IT is also available on an advisory basis to help units meet their website needs and that University standards and policies are being followed.

Management Reports

AP-IT supports data gathering and reporting to meet UF and Associate Provost requirements, auditability, and management needs. These reports may be part of existing internal business applications or run ad-hoc. If the data requested is not available to AP-IT, or the official repository exists elsewhere, users will be advised what entities should be contacted for the needed report, or what steps are needed to collect the data.

Education & General IT (E&G IT)

Leadership, communication, and coordination with UF units falling within the " E&G IT" designation. For an overview of the designation and how it fits within overall UF IT, please see the CIO Office Structure, and the UF IT Action Plan.

Information Security

It is the responsibility of AP-IT to ensure that all state, federal, and UF security and privacy standards are met. This includes—but is not limited to—multiple backup systems, periodic reviews of data processes, data retention timeframes, and disaster recovery plans. While this is the specific responsibility of the AP-IT Information Security Manager, all AP-IT employees are expected to uphold and enforce UF IT & AP-IT security policies.

Coordination with Central UF-IT

Information Technology at UF is constantly evolving, and thus AP-IT participates in multiple IT-related committees, work groups, and forums across campus. AP-IT is often called upon to represent the needs of Academic Affairs, as well as the unique aspects of non-traditional students, continuing education and distance activities. AP-IT employees also monitor multiple UF IT-related listserves and announcement websites to stay abreast of changes or issues with UF services that our supported units depend on.

Strategic Technology Planning

AP-IT is responsible for creating and executing a strategic technology plan that keeps supported units and processes up-to-date with technology advances and ensures that equipment and software do not become obsolete.