Navigating Kuali Curriculum Management

1. Navigate to Kuali CM.
2. Select Sign In. 
   
3. Enter your WatIAM credentials.
4. Follow two-factor authentication prompts.
5. Select the Curriculum tile.

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When entering Curriculum Management, My Dashboard is the home page. Depending on a user's access permissions, users can view their Proposals and Action List all in one place.

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The left navigation panel allows users to access the database they would like to view, search, or edit, depending on their level of access to the system.

• Action List: An expanded page offering an approver's complete list of items waiting for approval.
• Courses: Lists all courses. Search the database, and those with proposer-level access can create new courses and propose changes to existing courses.
• Programs & Plans: Lists all programs and plans. Search the database, and those with proposer-level access can create new programs/plans and propose changes to existing programs and plans.
• Regulations: Lists all regulations. Search the database, and those with proposer-level access can create new regulations and propose changes to existing regulations.
• Proposals: Lists all active proposals. Search for proposals in various states. All proposals can be viewed by any user.
• Agendas:
  • Users with agenda builder access: Allows select users to build an agenda (table of contents) for curriculum committees. Users who have this access will have received training.
  • Users with agenda view-only access: Allows committee members to view agendas that might be distributed to them.
  • Users without agenda access: Will see an error message (prompting to return to dashboard) when attempting to access this area.

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Kuali CM features a dynamic search bar at the top of each database to find specific records, which filters as you type. Depending on the specific database users are in, users can search for existing records or proposals by entering the following details in the search field. 

Use filters in Search Options on the right navigation panel to narrow the results.

Notes: 

1. Capitalization will not impact the search results (e.g., entering 'anth100' in the search bar will display results for ANTH100).
2. Kuali CM will remember a user's last search text or filtered criteria - it will not reset to a default.
3. Results can be sorted using the column headers (e.g., Code, Title, Description, Created On, Status).
4. By default, each database will display 30 results per page. Use the pagination options (Prev and Next) to move between pages.
5. The Search Options available will differ slightly in each database, but generally provide a way to narrow the results by:
   • Active or Retired status
   • Faculty (as designated "owner" in Kuali CM)
   • Academic Unit (as designated "owner" in Kuali CM)
6. More options are available for the Proposals database.

Tips for searching the Proposals database

The Proposals database Search Options allow users to search by proposal type and status, as well as view only their own proposals. Some tips for searching in the Proposals database:

• Select the type of proposal you are looking for (Courses, Programs & Plans, and/or Regulations).
• Select the status of the proposal you are looking for (Draft, Approved, and/or Under Review).
• To view proposals you created, select My Proposals. To view proposals created by other Kuali CM users as well, deselect My Proposals.
• Select the applicable Faculty or Academic Unit.
• Use the search bar at the top to further narrow results by inputting a code or title.
• Select column headings to sort results (e.g., select Code to sort the course codes alpha-numerically, or select Created On to sort the results by the date they were created).

In the example below, the proposals database is returning results for all Under Review status course proposals, created by all users, including all faculties and departments, and sorted by Code:

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Ribbon colours, status, and effective periods

All records and proposals have a coloured ribbon associated with its status and effective period. A user's dashboard view of their own proposals will also show the status with a narrow vertical ribbon and indicates the approval state of the proposal with a percentage.

Ribbon colours in Kuali CM

Colour	Type	Status	Description
	Record	Current	A current record is created once a proposal is approved and the record falls within the current University of Waterloo academic term. For example, if the University of Waterloo term is fall 2026, the version of the record that includes fall 2026 will have a Current state (e.g., Fall 2024-Indefinite; Fall 2026-Spring 2027).
	Record	Future	When a proposal is approved with a future start date, a Future state record is created. When the term becomes current it changes to Current state (green). For example, if the UW term is fall 2026, the version of the record with a Fall 2027 effective date will have a Future state, but in fall 2027, it will automatically change to display as Current state.
	Record	Past	System generated status when a record has an end effective date that is in the past.
	Record	Retired	A curricular record can be retired when it will no longer be offered or available in the academic calendar. An additional banner will appear above the coloured ribbon (full width of page) indicating the Retired state (i.e., Currently Retired or Retiring in FUTURE TERM).
	Record	Revision	When a change has been approved for a version of a record with the same effective date, past instances of the version (i.e., revisions) will appear with the teal blue ribbon. The latest revision will display as Current, Future, or Retired state, as applicable.
	Proposal	Draft	When a new proposal is created, or changes are proposed to an existing record, it is considered a draft. The proposal will remain a Draft until it is submitted to workflow or is deleted.
	Proposal	Under Review	When a proposal has been submitted to workflow, its status changes from Draft to Under Review. A status of Under Review indicates a new proposal or a modification is in the process of being approved.
	Proposal	Permanently Denied	When a proposal is denied by an approver, the status of the proposal changes to Permanently Denied. The proposal is removed from workflow and can’t be modified by the original proposer.

Ribbon colour examples:

Dashboard view	Record view

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Table of Contents

All records and proposals include a navigable Table of Contents on the right, allowing the user to quickly toggle through the sections of the record or proposal. Users can click on the text for the section they would like to navigate to.

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Viewing historical proposals and records

Data was migrated to Kuali Curriculum Management using fall 2023 approved content, which was used as a base to build the 2024-25 Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar and the Spring 2024 Graduate Studies Academic Calendar.

For any records where proposals have been created and approved, or additional versions (different effective dates) have been created, since that time, there are options to:

1. Display the content in the original proposal.
2. Navigate between different versions of a record.
3. View multiple revisions to the same record.

View original proposal

Original proposal details include content that is no longer visible in the current active record but was tied to the proposal as it went through governance, such as rationales, uploaded files, consultation details, etc. Those details do not get deleted and thus can be viewed by all system users.

Example: View the original proposal details of a course record, PHYS249

1. Locate the desired course in the database and click anywhere on the row to open the record.
2. Within the record, on the right navigation panel, select View Original Proposal.
   
3. The original proposal - with all the proposal fields available - will display.
   
4. To return to the active record, select View Active Course.

Navigate between different versions

1. To see all existing versions, select the arrow pair on the top right of the page.
   
2. In this example, in the pull-down menu that displays, there are four versions: one Future,one Current, and two Past.
   
3. To view a historical version of th record, select the desired version from the pull-down menu.

View a revision

If a record has been revised and the update had the same effective date as the previous change, this action will be indicated in the right navigation panel by the appearance of Revision, along with a pull-down menu. The latest revision is the currently approved version of the record.

Example: View a revision of ECON100

1. In the Fall 2026 version, notice the right navigation panel contains Revision and a pull-down menu denoted by the down arrow symbol.
   
2. Clicking on the pull-down menu displays the list of revisions – select the desired option to view the details.
   
3. The previously approved revision of the Fall 2026 version of ECON100 displays, with a teal ribbon and a Revision state.
   
4. To return to the most recent version of a record:
   1. Select Revision # (Latest).
   2. If applicable, select the most recent version, at the top of the version arrow pair menu.

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Audit Log

The Audit Log displays the history of what was done to a proposal and is visible for each record, version, or revision. Data it stores includes who created the record, changes made, workflow actions, and approvals.

• The Audit Log tracks changes for each individual field on the form. Multiple field changes to a proposal that are made in one editing/saving session will be broken down into individual log entries for each field that was changed.
• The Audit Log tracks comments made at approval workflow steps but does not track comments made as a discussion thread.
• A detailed Audit Log is available for records, and proposals in Draft or Under Review state.

To view the Audit Log for a record:

1. Select Audit Log on the right navigation panel.
2. The Audit Log will open, displaying the list of changes to that record, with the most recent changes at the top of the window.

To use the Audit Log:

The Audit Log features dynamic search and filter, allowing a keyword search, as well as filtering by date(s) and the type of action that was taken to change the record.

• Search criteria: form field name and name of user.
• By default, 10 entries will be displayed on each page. To increase the number of entries displayed:
  • At the bottom of the window, select the down arrow icon in line with Rows Per Page.
  • Select the desired number of rows to display (options are 5, 10, 20).
• Select View on the far right of any row to see the details of that specific logged action. Alternatively, you can select Expand All to open all rows simultaneously.
• The following form fields will not display detailed diffing when a change occurs in the field:
  • Courses:
    • Cross-Listed Courses
    • Prerequisites
    • Corequisites
    • Antirequisites
  • Programs & Plans:
    • Specialization is available for students in the following majors
    • Course Requirements (units)
    • Course Requirements (no units)
    • Required Courses (Term by Term)
    • Course Lists
    • Graduate Diploma: Course Requirements
    • Graduate Course Requirements
    • Thesis Option: Course Requirements
    • Coursework Option: Course Requirements
    • Master's Research Paper Option: Course Requirements
    • Specializations List
    • Specializations

Caveat: The Audit Logs search does not always display the expected results.

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Dependencies

This is a section of a record that is automatically generated and populated. It displays linkages between records in the system; for some records, this section will be blank.

• For course records:
  • It shows a list of other courses where the record is listed in the prerequisite, corequisite, and/or antirequisite fields.
  • It shows a list of programs/plans where the record is listed in one of the requirements lists.
• For program/plan records:
  • It shows a list of courses where the record is listed in the prerequisite, corequisite, and/or antirequisite fields.
  • It shows a list of programs/plans where the record is listed in the majors/specializations fields (linking to each other). [undergraduate only]

IMPORTANT: The dependencies feature of the system does not pull from any course or program/plan references manually typed in elsewhere in a record (e.g., Notes or Additional Constraints).

There are links to the dependent records via a View Record link on the right of the page and a preview function when using the down arrow.

The idea behind this automatic linkage display is to help users and committee members see the potential impacts of their proposal. Note: This data is displayed automatically (and will update automatically), but the dependencies section does not create an action to notify other stakeholders. Any required consultation still needs to occur, either outside the system or via the Comments functionality.

For example, PHYS249 is listed as a prerequisite for two courses, and as a course requirement for eight plans.

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