University officials announced yesterday that the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the Administrative Data Project (ADP) will be jointly overseen by a new assistant provost responsible for their management.

In a memo circulated to some Harvard officials on Monday, President Neil L. Rudenstine said the University plans to "bring the Office of Information Technology and the Administrative Data Project into a closer alliance as part of the Office of the Provost."

Under the new structure, the directors of both the OIT and the ADP will, as of January 1, 1996, report directly to the new assistant provost.

"[The restructuring] is prompted by the fact that this is a logical place for the OIT to be administered. At a great many other universities, the Information Technology is administered through the Provost Office," said Director of Public Affairs Alex Huppe.

"It makes a great deal of sense," he said.

President Rudenstine made the decision in consultation with Provost Albert Carnesale and Vice President for Finance Allen Proctor.

OIT, which is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the Information Technology infrastructure at Harvard, provides support to the University's faculty, administration and other departments.

ADP, created in 1993 in response to the increasing need for technology in administration at Harvard, is charged with streamlining the administrative data systems used by the University to process information.

In his letter, Rudenstine said the new structure will allow both divisions to continue pursuing their respective objectives.

According to Rudenstine's letter, this restructuring will "promote a cohesive approach to [Information Technology] activities across the various departments of the central administration."

The long term goal of the move is to "improve the center's capacity to support and complement the information technology (IT) activities of the Faculties," according to the letter.

"[The restructuring] is a fairly normal administrative change," Huppe said. "The transition will be planned so it can be a smooth one."

In conjunction with this restructuring, the Office of the Provost has plans for a broad review of the status of information technology at Harvard