The Curriculum Management Team was formed in 2016 after discussions at the Campus Curriculum and Leave Planning (CCLP) Steering Committee. Noting the need to come up with solutions to better integrate all aspects of UCSC curriculum, not just the CCLP, the committee reviewed our then current systems and business processes; created a summary of concerns; and proposed solutions. The initial Curriculum Management Team included representatives from the Academic Divisions, ITS, Planning and Budget, and the Office of the Registrar.

In 2015 a formal proposal for funding was submitted to then Executive Vice Provost Allison Galloway with significant backing from the Academic Business Officers Group (ABOG, now known as the Academic Management Professionals [AMP]), and division Deans and Assistant Deans.

Funding for the project was approved in February 2016 and the project kicked off in October 2016.

Why We Need a Curriculum Management Project

Business processes integral to curricular and fiscal planning touch all academic departments and divisions at UCSC. Yet prior to the project, these business processes utilized systems with many flaws and deficiencies:

The primary systems were either only loosely integrated or not integrated at all with the other curriculum systems with predictable results:

• Double entry of data house in multiple systems
• Having to check two systems for data that was not shared between systems
• Maintaining consistency between systems
• Some of the systems ran on outdated platforms that were difficult to maintain
• Some of the platforms ran on outdated technology limiting our ability to enhance functionality
• Workflows were either not available within the system or were hard-coded making it difficult to change

All of the above lead to increased staff time spent on curriculum and scheduling, inconsistent and sometimes incorrect data, poor user experience from outdated technology, and general frustration with the system as a whole.

Project Goals

• Eliminate duplicate processes and multiple points of data entry
• Eliminate multiple handoffs and manual processing
• Improve accuracy
• Improve student success through increased time for direct advising
  • Free up faculty & staff time to support student retention and time-to-degree initiatives
  • Improve student experience with timely and accurate class, lab, and section scheduling
  • Improve student experience with an interactive and searchable catalog
• Improve student success through improvements to degree audit reporting
  • Complete and up-to-date coverage of every undergraduate program 
  • Improved interface for viewing degree audit report results
• Reduce cumbersome, non-intuitive processes that require frequent relearning, correction, and intervention
• Improve reporting
• Facilitate building of degree audit/AAR report
• Increase employee morale by reducing long-standing frustrations
• Streamline repetitive processes required to produce centralized student information (major and advising pages) for associated needs such as orientation and admissions
• Provide a centralized, authoritative, and easily navigable source of information so that units are not compelled to post duplicate (or worse, conflicting) information

Project Phases

The project was originally conceived as a two-phase project. In 2018 a third phase was added. Below is a brief description of the phases. Click the link for more detailed information about each phase.

Phase I: Curriculum Approvals and the Catalog: This phase, begun in October 2016 and implemented in January 2019, addressed program and course proposals and approvals, and the catalog itself. It replaced the Online Curriculum Approval system (OCA) and the WCMS-generated catalog with the CAT system and the new General Catalog.

Phase II: Scheduling and Associated Processes: Early planning for this phase began in 2018, but only really got off the ground in late 2019; full campus adoption of the new system is expected by Fall 2022. The goal of this phase is to replace the existing Campus Curriculum and Leave Planning application (CCLP) which encompasses class planning and scheduling, as well as related functions such as leave tracking, faculty load analysis, and temporary academic staff planning. 

Phase III: Academic Advisement Reporting (AAR): Known to the campus as Academic Advisement Reporting and generally known as Degree Audit Reporting, this is a function currently done through functionality built into AIS. This phase, the Degree Audit Reinvigoration and Renewal Initiative, will be a close partnership betweeen Information Technology Services and Undergraduate Education. The goal, by the start of fall 2025, will be to provide students an intuitive user interface through which they can access accurate and complete degree progress/completion information; and advisors and curricular analysts an intuitive user interface through which they can access individual and summary/multiple student degree progress/completion information.