Active Directory is a system that centrally manages network resources such as user accounts, computers, printers, and groups. It ensures people can securely access the tools and information they need.

In the School of Education, Active Directory verifies user identity (authentication) and controls what each person can access (authorization).

Most School of Education users don’t need to configure anything themselves. Devices issued by the MERIT are already set up. Most Macs—except those in lab environments—are not joined to Active Directory and do not require this configuration.

Assets are any physical objects that have a certain monetary value and need to be tracked over their life cycle. Examples of assets include: laptops, desktops, monitors, printers, tablets, cameras, etc.

Assets in Inventory Manager are any items that have a WCER or SoE asset tag. Asset tags are always unique and are meant to be used with asset tag labels affixed to the assets themselves.

Workspace ONE is Omnissa's unified endpoint management (UEM) service. The service allows individual campus units to configure and manage devices across multiple platforms, including macOS, iOS, Android, and Windows. Workspace ONE allows Research IT to purchase and install Apple App Store software on enrolled devices, and to uninstall software and reassign licenses as needed.

Users also have access to popular UW campus-provided software as well as freely available offerings via the self-service features of the Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub. Workspace ONE also allows the configuration of security and other device policies. 

From the end user's perspective, the Intelligent Hub app may be thought of as an app store for UW-Madison and School of Education curated software.