The USFCard system extracts basic information on students and employees from databases maintained by the Registrar's Office and the Personnel Office. This information is loaded onto a separate USFCard database. The information is used to verify an individual's eligibility for a USFCard when he or she comes to the USFCard office to purchase an identification card. In the process of actually printing a USFCard, additional information is added to the USFCard database. The most notable piece of information is the digitized photograph.
Additional information is captured about the production of the card itself.
A number of special groups are eligible to obtain courtesy USF Cards through their connection with the University. In this case, no information exists on the Student or Personnel databases and therefore, does not exist on the USFCard database. In this case, basic information like name and social security number are input manually at the time the card is made. The USFCard system also supports two mainframe files. One of these is a standardized format file which service providers can download for their own applications.