Proofing the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar

Timelines and deadlines

Proofing can commence at any time because you already have access to the content.

Timelines

Here are some general timelines to be aware of for items Under Review:

Updated February 12, 2025:

• Monday, January 27: Senate meeting for proposals that went to November Senate Undergraduate Council (SUC)
  • Expect items to be fully coded approximately one week after the meeting (the Office of the Registrar (RO) first needs to receive them from the Secretariat) [COMPLETED January 30/25]
• Tuesday, January 28: Senate Undergraduate Council (SUC) meeting
  • Largest meeting of the year
  • Expect items (not moving on to Senate) to be fully coded as quickly as possible; goal is to get courses coded by February 20 due to Quest timeline due to course selection processes
    [COMPLETED February 12/25]
• Monday, March 3: Senate meeting for proposals that went to January SUC
  • Expect items to be fully coded approximately one week after the meeting (RO first needs to receive the items from the Secretariat)
• RO post-approval work includes creating proposals when dependencies are involved for subject code changes, number changes, title changes, unit weight changes. Additional proposals not already Under Review will also be created during coding during these windows.

You can follow Under Review proposals by looking at the workflow status; if you are the original proposer, you will receive an email notification immediately once the item is fully coded.

Deadlines

The deadline to complete all proofing work is Tuesday, March 25 at 4 p.m., no exceptions.

• All proofreading and link checking must be completed.
• All editorial changes in Kuali Curriculum Management (CM) must be submitted and approved.

Preparing to proof the Calendar

What type of things are we proofing at this time?

We have been proofing the records as we approve them, so what you are looking for will be different this year than in years past. Things like the dependencies feature has flipped when we do the work!

For courses:

• No retired courses should be listed in the linked rules for prerequisites, corequisites, antirequisites (they should have been moved to Free form text rules).
• Check spelling in the description.
• For any references to course subject code+number (e.g., in Description, Notes, Free form text rule), ensure there is no space between the subject code and number (e.g., MSE211).
• Can request old courses that appear in requisites that were renumbered or retired over five years ago to be removed (considered editorial). These generally appear in Free form text rules. Not sure how long ago the change occurred? You can ask your faculty rep or the Office of the Registrar to look it up for you.

For plans: 

• Check all links in text boxes like Declaration Requirements, Additional Constraints, Notes work and are formatted properly. 
• For any references to courses in free style (e.g., text boxes, Free form text rules), ensure there is no space between the subject code and number (e.g., MSE211). These should not contain titles or unit weights (i.e., should not mimic the automatic database information).
• Ensure all references to subject code changes for fall 2025 have been updated:
  • RS is now RCS
  • SMF is now SRF
  • Some FINE are now VCULT (not all - course dependent)
  • In some cases, alphanumeric order will need to be updated accordingly.
• Check course requirement list:
  • Check if alphanumeric order has been disturbed by any renumberings and edit as needed.
  • Check if any courses that have been retired were missed being removed and remove as needed. This can be verified quickly enough by:
    1. Checking  courses against the list of retired courses.
    2. Creating a temporary draft proposal:
       • Select Propose Changes.
       • Select New Version > Next.
       • Scroll to the Course Requirements section.
       • Review to see if "(Retired)" appears next to any courses.
       • Select Cancel.
       • Select Delete Proposal > Delete.
  • Check all cross-listed courses are listed (if appropriate, see questions below the requirement lists), in alphanumeric order.
• If the plan has had a name change for fall 2025:
  • The Field of Study has changed and/or is still appropriate.
  • The name has changed in all locations within the record.
  • The CM Program Code (the name appearing before the | in the ribbon) has been updated appropriately. If this needs to be changed, submit a Jira ticket (the field is only visible to system administrators).
• The Description appearing in the database search is still correct. If this needs to be changed, submit a Jira ticket (the field is only visible to system administrators).

Tools and resources

Use the following tools and guidelines when proofing to ensure consistency throughout the Calendar. 

• University of Waterloo Writing Style Guide – especially the Conventions for academic calendars section
• Academic Calendar & Curriculum Management Resources site, including:
  • Guidelines for course requisites
  • Guidelines for plan requirements
  • Guidelines for Kuali CM text boxes with formatting
  • List of courses retired effective fall 2025 (XLSX)
  • List of courses renumbered effective fall 2025 (XLSX)
  • Instructions for links in Kuali CM, especially the instructions for links to the Calendar ("internal links")
    Note: If an internal link in Kuali CM works when selecting it from the record in Kuali CM, it will not work in the published Calendar. The expected result of clicking an internal link while in Kuali CM is a 404 Not Found error.
    You can verify a correct internal link the following ways:
    • When hovering over the link in Kuali CM, the URL should begin with "https://uwaterloocm.kuali.co/cm/#/"
    • Copy the part of the link following the # and paste it to the end of this starting URL: https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-calendar/undergraduate-studies/catalog#
      
      For example, checking links in the Honours Anthropology record:
      1. Hovering the cursor over the link displays the URL in the lower left corner of the browser window. At a glance, it appears to be correct as it contains https://uwaterloocm.kuali.co/cm/#/ followed by the Kuali database (in this case, programs) and a 9-10 digit code (SyLzAe5R3).
         
      2. To confirm the link will work, right click on the link, select copy link, and then paste the part of the URL following the # into the address bar of a new browser tab, with https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-calendar/undergraduate-studies/catalog# at the beginning.
      3. In this scenario, the new combined URL will be https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-calendar/undergraduate-studies/catalog#/programs/SyLzAe5R3.
      4. The URL should navigate to the expected Calendar page for the 2024-25 Calendar, which is the Bachelor of Arts Degree Requirements page in this example.

Steps for proofing: Proposers

Proofing must be done within Kuali CM. There is no visible draft of the 2025-26 Calendar that is available to the public; only certain key individuals within the faculties have access to an authenticated site.

Regardless of if your record has had a change for fall 2025, you will want to review it. If you focus only on what has been seen by committee throughout the year, that's how things get missed year to year!

In Kuali CM: Identify and review all your academic unit's records.

1. Navigate to the Courses database in Kuali CM.
2. Use the filters on the right to sort for Active records from your academic unit. Tip: Selecting the column Code once will sort your results in ascending order.
   You will need to complete this step twice, once for courses and once for Programs & Plans.
3. Open each record and review.
4. If you notice a correction is needed, you will need to create an editorial proposal and then submit it before the deadline. Not sure if the change you want to make qualifies for an editorial change? Begin by reviewing the approval vs editorial guidelines.
   • If the base is Fall 2025 > it needs to be a Revision (then don't change the effective date).
   • If the base is Fall 2023 or Fall 2024 > it needs to be a New Version (then change the effective date to Fall 2025).
   • In either scenario, ensure the Faculty/AFIW Path(s) for Workflow field includes your primary Faculty as they will review the request before the RO for appropriateness. Note: If the course is cross-listed, a proposal for each offering of the course needs to be submitted, regardless of whether the other course is being changed (this is so Quest integration works properly).
   • Reminder: Do not submit an editorial proposal to workflow if you see the "View Current Proposal" button. This means that a proposal for that record is still Under Review and you will receive an error if you attempt another change. You can view the workflow status of that change to see where it is; if it is at the Registrar's Office step after the January SUC meeting, patience is needed due to the volume of proposals that are being processed after the meeting. The original proposer will receive a notification once that proposal is released and once again available. 
     

     "View Current Proposal" link is present. Do not proceed with changes.