Frequently asked questions

In certain scenarios, the course information displayed in rules will appear updated in Kuali CM earlier than its actual effective date because of its dependencies and an outstanding Under Review proposal for that record.

It is important to note that this oddity is temporary.

Changes that are considered "dependent" are course details that display automatically within the rules field (requisites, plan requirements):

• Subject code
• Course number
• Title
• Unit weight

When any of those change, for them to change automatically on the other records, an affiliated effective dated row on the other record must be created.

For example, if RS 270 becomes RCS 270 in fall 2025, and RS 270 is also listed in the Honours Visual Culture plan (see Dependencies list), a fall 2025 effective date of the plan record must be created (no changes need to actually be made).

That is part of the Office of the Registrar's (RO) post-approval processes; we will create that row and that action will automatically change the RS 270 course to RCS 270.

However, if, when the final approval of the course work is done, there exists a proposal in Draft, or more importantly, in Under Review state when the RO does the post-approval process, and either an effective dated row matching the course proposal doesn't already exist and can't be created because one is Under Review, two options will occur:

1. The RO will assess if the course proposal can wait a little longer (if the associated plan is also almost done the governance approval process); or
2. The RO will push the approval through and then the current plans within CM may look odd.

Option two will allow further work on the course to occur if needed. The caveat is that, in the example above, the RCS 270 course would display in the Visual Culture plan in Kuali CM in the 2024 effective dated row (Fall 2024-Indefinite). The course is still effective fall 2025, but because the 2025 plan is Under Review until it is approved, there is no "end date" to cut it off and so it displays early. It is important to note that there is no impact to the 2024-25 Calendar, this display oddity is only in Kuali CM.

As soon as the fall 2025 plan record would be fully approved (no longer Under Review status), the 2024 effective dated row would change to "Fall 2024-Spring 2025" and the course would revert back to read RS 270 as it is supposed to and would display as RCS 270 in the plan only for Fall 2025 and beyond.

Only individuals with proposer-level access have permission to edit a proposal, at certain times.

Proposers can edit their own drafts at any time, until it has been submitted for approval. At this point, the state is Under Review, and proposers lose access to edit their submission. If an edit needs to be made, the proposer should either contact the approver to have the edit made, or withdraw the proposal to have the editing capabilities returned. The recommended action will depend where the proposal is in the approval pathway.

Approvers can edit an Under Review proposal if it is at their approval step. Once approved to go on to the next step in the approval pathway, the approver loses access to edit the proposal.

An employee who has been granted permission to edit, by a proposer or approver, will not see an Edit button unless they too are a proposer and received the proposer training.

By default, a proposer drafting a proposal must select one of the save options (Save and Exit | Save) to save their work. When the proposer tries to Submit For Approval but encounters a validation error (e.g., a required field was left blank), the proposer needs to go back to the draft to edit the proposal. The save options (Save and Exit | Save) will be disabled/greyed out. The save options will become enabled again once all required fields are completed. Users cannot partially complete the required fields after receiving the validation error message.

Records in Kuali Curriculum Management are linked and this linkage is viewable as "dependencies". This means that content is automatically updated in other areas of the academic calendar where it appears.

If a subject and/or number of a course is changing (e.g., DRAMA 101 to THPERF 101, or BIOL 130 to BIOL 230), the subject and/or number will update everywhere immediately, but this is temporary. This change will not be visible in a published academic calendar until the proposal receives final approval. But, the final approval is the Office of the Registrar (RO) or Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA), depending on the career of the course. At this final step, the RO or GSPA will perform some post-approval work to the dependent courses and programs/plans to ensure the change is only displayed as a future change in the yet-to-be published academic calendar. Including, in some cases, requisites or requirement lists may need to be reordered to keep the alpha-numeric order.

So, rest assured, this is a temporary visualization and all will be resolved upon final approval.

Records in Kuali Curriculum Management are linked and this linkage is viewable as "dependencies". This means that content is automatically updated in other areas of the academic calendar where it appears.

If a title of a course is changing, the title will update everywhere immediately, but this is temporary. This change will not be visible in a published academic calendar until the proposal receives final approval. But, the final approval is the Office of the Registrar (RO) or Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA), depending on the career of the course. At this final step, the RO or GSPA will perform some post-approval work to the dependent courses and programs/plans to ensure the change is only displayed as a future change in the yet-to-be published academic calendar.

So, rest assured, this is a temporary visualization and all will be resolved upon final approval.

This error message, in a large orange-yellow box, appears after a draft proposal has been saved but a previous proposal for the same record has already been submitted to the workflow and still has an Under Review state.

The newest draft proposal should be deleted and a user needs to wait until the previous proposal is fully approved before a new proposal can be submitted. For undergraduate proposals, determine where the original proposal is in the governance pathway and reach out to faculty undergraduate office to determine the options available (e.g., wait, withdraw original, have an approver send back to combine proposals).

This error appears when a proposer is submitting a saved proposal for approval, but a required field was left blank or doesn't meet the validation criteria. Also indicated in the red error box is the name of the field(s) that contains a validation error.

To fix this error, the proposer needs to Edit the proposal and update the fields that have been flagged with a red box (under the applicable field) and "Validation Error: X", where X is the explanation of the issue. All errors must be corrected at the same time in order for the saving options to become actionable.

This error message appears in a large red box at the top of the screen with the following message: "Conflicting subject code and number detected!". It occurs when submitting a draft course proposal for approval, and indicates that a record or under review proposal with the same subject code and number combination already exists. 

To resolve this error, first verify whether another record or under review proposal with the same subject code and number combination already exists by checking 1) in the Courses database, and 2) in the Proposals database.

Option 1: Search the Courses database for a Course record with the same subject code and number. Tip: Double check the search options and filtering you are using.

If the course you are proposing already has an approved record, you do not need a new course draft. Delete the new draft proposal you created, and instead propose changes to the approved record. 

Option 2: Search the Proposals database for an under review proposal with the same subject code and number.

If the course you are proposing already has an under review proposal, you can delete the new draft proposal you created. Once the under review proposal has been approved, it will become an approved record in the Courses database. Then you can proceed with proposing changes to the approved record.

Each database in Kuali Curriculum Management displays information almost immediately. If a proposal in Draft or Under Review, or an approved record, displays the "Loading, please wait." error message with loading "..." images for more than a second or two, it is possible the data is corrupted in some way. Reach out via the support portal, with specifics about what you were trying to do.

This error appears in a red box with the following message: “Revisions made to this item will not be reflected on any other version(s).”

It occurs on a draft proposal after another draft proposal of the same record was created but also submitted for approval (and finalized and is now the approved record). Essentially, it means if this draft proposal were to be submitted, because it would have older data than what has been approved since the draft was created, the database would become confused.

The draft proposal should be deleted; edits that were started and not submitted should be reintegrated into a new draft proposal using the newest approved record as the correct starting base.

A user sees this error message when they are attempting to access an area of the system they do not have permission to access.

Example:

An approver receives an email notification to approve a proposal, but the proposal has since been withdrawn and exists only in Draft state (which is only viewable by the proposer) or was deleted completely.

This error message, in a small red box, appears below the number field on a draft course proposal and indicates that a record or under review proposal with the same subject code and number combination already exists. 

To resolve this error, first verify whether another record or under review proposal with the same subject code and number combination already exists by checking 1) in the Courses database, and 2) in the Proposals database.

Option 1: Search the Courses database for a Course record with the same subject code and number. Tip: Double check the search options and filtering you are using.

If the course you are proposing already has an approved record, you do not need a new course draft. Delete the new draft proposal you created, and instead propose changes to the approved record. 

Option 2: Search the Proposals database for an under review proposal with the same subject code and number.

If the course you are proposing already as an under review proposal, you can delete the new draft proposal you created. Once the under review proposal has been approved, it will become an approved record in the Courses database. Then you can proceed with proposing changes to the approved record.

Other considerations:

• Do you need more information on the under review proposal, or to connect with its creator? You can determine the creator of a proposal by checking the proposal's Audit Log. 
• In circumstances where a colleague created and submitted a proposal, and the proposal has become "stuck" in the workflow with the colleague absent or no longer in the role to edit or withdraw it, reach out to the Office of the Registrar via the support portal.

This error appears in a red box with the following message: "You must merge this proposal. Compare the changes below and make sure they are the ones you want." It occurs when two draft proposals of the same record were created, and one was submitted for approval and finalized. Essentially it means if this proposal were to be submitted, it would have older data than what has been approved since the draft was created.

The draft proposal should be deleted.

For any proposal that has an Under Review state, the Workflow Status field at the top of the proposal is visible and displays the current approval step in orange text: name of the step, including any faculty affiliation if applicable, and the name of the approver(s).

Select expand to see the full pre-determined workflow for the proposal, including where it has been approved already (green text).

Steps that are in grey/black text indicate subsequent approval steps.

An undergraduate proposer drafting and submitting a proposal to the workflow will receive an automated email from Kuali Curriculum Management after the proposal has received final governance approval, either Senate Undergraduate Council or Senate, as applicable. However, a new proposal for the same record can not yet be made - the Office of the Registrar will receive the notification at the same and will have some post-approval work to conduct, along with the rest of the meeting agenda. This process will take several days. A new proposal can be made when the original proposal is no longer Under Review and is visible in the CM database.

Once a proposal has been submitted for approval and the workflow begins, the only way to change the selected workflow path is to withdraw and resubmit the proposal. This is because the workflow only computes during the submission, or resubmission, process. So although approvers can modify the field while in their step of the workflow, there will be no actual effect to the workflow path.

For example, the Faculty/AFIW Path(s) for Workflow field on the course form:

To change a proposal's workflow path after submission:

1. If the proposal is in the first step of the workflow (i.e., no one has approved yet), the proposer can withdraw the proposal, edit the workflow path as needed, and resubmit for approval.
2. If the proposal has been actioned (i.e., approved) at any workflow step(s), an approver in the current workflow step needs to send back the proposal to the Form Submission step. In the comment box required for sending back the proposal, the approver can provide instructions to the proposer for the actions needed (i.e., withdraw, edit the workflow path, and resubmit). Once the proposal is in the Form Submission step, the proposer can withdraw the proposal, edit the workflow path as needed, and resubmit for approval.
   

Have questions about changing your Faculty/AFIW Path(s) for Workflow field? Reach out to the Office of the Registrar via the support portal.

Each proposal will display the Workflow Status field with the name of the approver(s) responsible for moving the proposal through the workflow and governance approval path.

If the name of the approver - set at the time the proposal was submitted to the workflow - has changed or the individual is on leave, a user will need to submit a request to the Office of the Registrar/Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, via the support portal, to "skip the step". Only system administrators can perform this task. A rationale for skipping the step will be required.

Note: If an approver has been changed in the system, it will only display for any proposals submitted to workflow after the change has been made. Existing approval paths will not be updated.

Although course components no longer appear in the academic calendars, Senate Undergraduate Council and Senate Graduate and Research Council still govern their approval; to add or remove components from an existing course requires the governance approval process.

Undergraduate studies: Because timing of changes to course components impact course scheduling work, an upcoming fall effective date is still the best option to utilize. If another effective date (e.g., January 1 or May 1) is desired, please reach out to the Office of the Registrar first to see if the course is being offered and where we in upcoming term scheduling cycles, in order to determine what impacts there might be and what effective dates are possible.

The Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar is published once a year and many records are intertwined. Changing, or even adding/removing, courses mid-way through the academic calendar year can have unintended consequences to programs/plans and even how averages are calculated.

As such, only fall effective dates are permissible. However, Kuali Curriculum Management also has winter and spring dates, as these are needed for the Graduate Studies Academic Calendar, which is published termly.

Exceptions can be made, but consultation with the Office of the Registrar is required prior to a proposal being submitted. Use the support portal to submit a request for an alternative effective date.

If you are attempting to create a course with a new subject code, that new subject code must first be requested to be added to the system. Submit a request to create the new subject code. The process to create a new subject code can take 5-7 business days, thus requests should be submitted early in order not to impact any internal submission deadlines.

In the units field, do not use the arrows provided; this functionality exists in order for units to auto-calculate totals in some plan requirement listings, but do not account for the University of Waterloo's decimal system. Type in the units desired, using two decimal places (e.g., 0.25, 0.50, 1.50).

The Subject Code field is set up as a typeahead field with pre-determined options, meaning a user must type to filter the subject codes, but must also click on the subject code to select it.

If the subject code was typed and a user clicked away or tabbed away from the field without selecting the desired subject code, the field will be visibly blank.

If the subject code has been selected correctly, a trash can icon will appear next to the subject code, indicating it can be deleted if desired.

In this scenario, where a user is adding a new course - being created at the same time - to a list of courses in a requisites field (Courses form) or a requirements list (Programs & Plans form), the order of operations matters.

The new course must first be drafted and submitted to workflow. Once it has an Under Review state, a user will be able to search for the course in the appropriate rule field where it is to be added.

The Admin Notes field (hidden to regular users) is occasionally used by the Kuali system administrators when making changes to a record and needing to keep notes about the changes.

When a new proposal is created, this field is automatically cleared of content for the new proposal, and the system tracks that as a "change" on the form, as well as in the change summary. Committees and proposers should ignore the "Admin Notes" field listed as changed.