Office of the Registrar

Curricular Build

Building and Maintaining the Schedule of Classes

Each department is responsible for creating and updating their list of available course offerings each term. Departmental Curricular Representatives collect and enter information into SIS about classes’ instruction mode, credits, day/time meeting pattern, classroom, instructor(s), enrollment capacity, and more. Each build cycle consists of two main phases – Initial Call and Final Call – before the Schedule of Classes is released. After each phase, Curricular Services flips the Term Update Switch in SIS which temporarily locks Curricular Representatives out of making key updates to the schedule of classes while Curricular Services audits data for accuracy and coordinates assigning General Assignment classrooms. 

At all points during the curricular build, we encourage Curricular Reps to refer to our policy and guideline information.

For information, reminders, and step-by-step details of each curricular build phase, scroll down to the tabbed content and FAQ sections. If you have additional help, please contact your Curricular Services representative.

Build Phases & Descriptions

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Initial Call

During Initial Call, Curricular Representatives indicate which courses their department will be teaching for a given semester. In preparation for Initial Call, Curricular Services performs a process known as term roll. Term roll copies forward all active (not canceled) classes and vital class information from the previous like-term, e.g., from the most recent fall semester to the upcoming fall semester. This provides Curricular Representatives a starting point to work from when building the Schedule of Classes for their subject(s). Term roll does not copy forward instructors (except for Independent Study courses), class notes, or requested room characteristics, so it is essential to verify all information on active courses each term. 

During Initial Call, Reps update details for classes that will be taught, delete rolled sections that won’t be taught, and schedule new courses that weren’t taught in the last like-term. At the close of Initial Call, Curricular Services will temporarily limit Curricular Reps’ update access in SIS. Curricular Services staff will review all of the data for accuracy and consistency, and the first round of General Assignment classroom assigning occurs.

Final Call

As the name suggests, Final Call allows departments a final opportunity before publication to review their courses that will be taught and all of the classes’ details. Class information can be updated and new class sections can be scheduled. Reps should also review their room assignments if they requested a General Assignment classroom and request new rooms if necessary. Final Call is a shorter time period than Initial Call (only about a week long) because most of the work to build the Schedule of Classes should have been completed during Initial Call. Following Final Call, Curricular Services will again temporarily limit Curricular Reps’ update access in SIS while Curricular Services reviews course listings in SIS, conducts final audits, and adjusts room assignments before the Schedule of Classes is released.

Ongoing Maintenance

Once a schedule of classes is published and available for campus to view via Course Search and Enroll, departments may continue to edit their course listings. Edits may include scheduling a new course, adding a new section of a course, canceling a section of a course, updating enrollment capacities, updating section-level requisites for enrollment control, and requesting a new classroom.

Midterm and Final Grading

All courses need to be reviewed to meet requirements for grading. Most courses fall into two different categories of enrollment packages: non-9999 and 9999 enrollment packages. Additionally, all courses must have an instructor who can submit grades. The default access value for instructors is set to “Approve.” Any instructor who should not have access to submit grades should be set to “No Access.” Midterm grading reports only show classes with first year students enrolled. Final grading reports are for all courses.

Departmental Instructional Report (DIR)

The DIR contains every scheduled course section for every department. This report should be reviewed for accuracy and any missing instructor information should be added as soon as possible. Instructors can be added to class sections at any point during the schedule build – Initial Call, Final Call, or after the schedule is published. Accurate recording of instructors in SIS is important for a host of reasons: instructor access to grading, official reporting requirements, and more. Each meeting pattern on a course needs a Principal Instructor listed. Most details can be found below, and in the KB in the resources box.

Resources

High Level Steps to Building Your Schedule of Classes

  1. Log into SIS
  2. Select Curricular & Enroll Rep WorkCenter
  3. Pull up a course using Maintain Schedule of Classes
    1. If a course is not listed for that term, use Schedule New Course.
  4. Edit as needed. See also: Maintain Schedule of Classes Quick Tips reference sheet.
    1. Basic Data: Add Section, Delete Section (if term unpublished), Session, Section, Component Type, Enrollment Type, Association #, Instruction Mode, Topic, Show
    2. Meetings: Room, Meeting Pattern & Time, Instructor, Role & Grading Access, General Assignment Room Characteristics
    3. Enrollment Control: Consent, Auto Enrollment, Enrollment & Wait List Capacity, Requested Room Capacity, Cancel section (if term published)
    4. Notes: Footnotes
    5. Exam: view final exam date, time, and location
  5. If course is combined:
    1. Use Schedule Class Meetings page to update instructor, role, grading, date, time room
    2. Use Update Sections of a Class to verify Combined Section Enrollment Capacity
    3. View the combined sections where you are primary and verify all combined subjects have accurate capacities using Identify Combined Sections
  6. Verify/Edit setup and enrollments using Update Sections of a Class
  7. Verify/Edit Units/Credits, Honors, and Requisites using Adjust Class Associations
  8. Verify/Edit your Subject/Global Notes for each available term
  9. Use Reports to view and validate data from a summary point of view:
    1. SIS Query Report Viewer: PDF Schedule of Classes: U_CU_PDFTT
    2. SIS Query Report Viewer: Curricular Enrollment Report: U_CU_CUR_ER
    3. SIS: Data Center: Reporting Tools
    4. DataViz / Tableau Workbooks: Curricular Audit Tools, Curricular Audit IDE
    5. RADAR:  https://search.data.wisc.edu/radar.php

Fall Initial Call Reports & Planning Documents
Spring Initial Call Reports & Planning Documents

  • Maintain Schedule of Classes Find a list of your term-rolled courses by searching for your subject. Add and update all relevant information for the courses that will be taught during that term. If you do not see a class listed, navigate to Schedule New Course to find a list of all your subject’s active courses. Things to review:
    • Session codes: identifiers that denote the begin date, length, and weeks of instruction for a course. The Regular A1 session is the default for courses that meet the entire semester. (There is no “regular” session in summer terms, though the 8-week DHH session is frequently used.) More information on session codes can be found on our website here.
    • Add any new sections. DELETE any unwanted sections using the Delete Row button. Add a new section if you are updating the section number (e.g. section 002 exists, but you want to add 001). During Initial (and Final) Call, do not Cancel sections, please delete!
    • Associated Class numbers: each unique enrollment package must have its own association number. Remember to use “9999” to designate non-enrollment sections that are part of enrollment packages where multiple discussions/labs/etc. auto enroll into 1 main course. For more information, review the Building Your Schedule of Classes handbook in the Resources box above.
    • Courses with topics titles: topics are rolled forward from the previous like term. Select an available topic in Maintain Schedule of Class. Add new topics in Curriculum Management > Schedule of Classes > Add Course Topics.
    • Crosslisted courses and Meet-With Sections. Review which courses you are Primary on, and be sure to enter the necessary details for the course. Any secondary sections will automatically update after Initial Call. If you need to create a Meets-With bond, please submit the appropriate form on the curricular forms page. You can find a list of all your Meets-With courses by running a report ( insert report).
    • Instruction Mode: indicate how the course will be taught. Courses that require ANY on-campus or in-person instruction should be coded as P or WC. Courses that are entirely taught online should be coded as WO.
    • Meeting Pattern: enter a start & end time. SIS will provide a default 50-minute end time if you do not enter something different. If you have multiple meeting patterns (MMP) you must enter the instructor information on all meeting patterns.
    • Textbooks: once instructors are listed for a course, they are able to enter textbook information in Faculty Center, even before the Schedule of Classes is published.
    • Requested room capacity & enrollment capacity: requested room capacity is used to determine classroom size when assigning General Assignment classrooms. If you will be increasing your enrollment capacity over time, requested room cap and enroll cap do not need to match. Review enrollment capacity for each section. You can check this in Maintain Schedule of Classes, or Update Sections of a Class. Update combined enrollment capacity on Class Enrollment Limits page in Update Sections of a Class using the Combined Sections link.
    • Review courses that require General Assignment classrooms, and/or determine which will use departmentally controlled rooms.
      • If you need to complete a Special Facilities Request, Initial Call is the time! This form should be used to convey information such as instructor accommodations, or live animals needed for a course that cannot be transported out of the building.
      • Do NOT use this form to convey room preference about back-to-back section information.

    Adjust Class Associations

    • Credits are essential building blocks of academic programs, and it is essential that classes be scheduled for the correct number of credits. Do not schedule  course offerings for variable credit unless different students should be able to enroll for different credit levels.
    • Honors credit: Honors Only (HON), Accelerated Honors (HOP), Honors Optional (HIA).  Review if a course carries Honors credit. If you have courses that are ALWAYS offered for Honors, contact Curricular Services and we can code it at the catalog level permanently.

    Query Report Viewer

    The following reports can be run on demand to assist with your build:

    • PDF Schedule of Classes: U_CU_PDFTT
    • Curricular Enrollment Report: U_CU_CUR_ER
    • Room Request List: U_CU_RM_REQ
    • Not on Schedule of Classes: U_CU_001S2
    • Sections with Distance Ed Mode: U_CU_INST_DE
    • Optional Attendance Sections: U_CU_001S3
    • Meets-With Section Listing: U_CU_003C
    • Independent Study Sections: U_CU_IND_STD
    • Variable Credit Sections: U_CU_VAR_CRD
    • Term-rolled Section Level Requisites: U_CU_SECT_LV

Fall Final Call Reports & Planning Documents
Spring Final Call Reports & Planning Documents

  • Maintain Schedule of Classes
    • Review all of your courses and enrollment package details for accuracy.
    • Once an instructor is placed on a section, they can enter textbook info through Faculty Center.
    • Be sure the community-based learning attribute is displayed appropriately.
    • Classroom assignments are subject to change by Curricular Services following Final Call. 
      • Classroom availability is very limited during prime instruction hours; please do not add new course sections during prime hours that require a GA classroom.
      • Requests for classroom adjustments should only be made if the assigned room is too small or lacks required characteristics. 
      • When a classroom change has been requested during Final Call, Curricular Services cannot guarantee the original classroom back or a better assignment. 
      • If you are performing a room swap or special handling, make sure to contact your Curricular Services representative.
    • Final exam time/day information now appears in the PDF Schedule of Classes, as well as SIS, so ensure all sections that require a final exam have one scheduled.

    Adjust Class Associations

    • Check all honors symbols and variable-credit coding in Adjust Class Associations.
      • Changes to class associations can result in these settings reverting to catalog defaults, so confirm that honors are maximum/minimum units are set correctly.

    Query Report Viewer

    The following reports can be run on demand to assist with your build: 

    • PDF Schedule of Classes: U_CU_PDFTT
    • Room Request List: U_CU_RM_REQ
    • Not on Schedule of Classes: U_CU_001S2
    • Sections with Distance Ed Mode: U_CU_INST_DE
    • Optional Attendance Sections: U_CU_001S3
    • Meets-With Section Listing: U_CU_003C
    • Independent Study Sections: U_CU_IND_STD
    • Variable Credit Sections: U_CU_VAR_CRD
    • Term-rolled Section Level Requisites: U_CU_SECT_LV
  • Once the Schedule of Classes has been published/released to Course Search & Enroll, sections that are no longer offered need to be cancelled, not deleted. 
  • Manage course enrollment caps in Maintain Schedule of Classes and Update Sections of a Class.
  • Topics on scheduled classes should not be added or changed at this point. If a topic title is missing or incorrect, the current section must be cancelled and then a new section created with the correct topic title.
  • Review room assignments and make updates in SIS. View room availability in 25Live.
  • For combined sections, any changes made to enrollment caps or footnotes will require updates by all members. Combined enrollment cap must also be updated on the Combined Sections Detail page, on Update Sections of a Class. 

View the DIR Reports in the Curricular Build Box folder to review your subject(s)

How to Update:

  • Every active section of a course must have a Principal Instructor listed. This includes multiple meeting patterns, so check each meeting pattern for an instructor. 
    • Be sure to enter the correct instructor, as some instructors may have the same name. Navigate to Curricular Management > Instructor/Advisor Information > Instructor/Advisor Table. Use the Instructor Type and/or Academic Organization for the to verify you’ve selected the correct person. 
  • Any active sections with zero enrollment will be cancelled by Curricular Services- you do not need to cancel them yourself. 
    • Independent Study sections with zero enrollment will NOT be automatically cancelled, and you only need to cancel them if you do not intend to offer them this term or the next like-term. 
  • If you are not the primary on a combined section, do NOT cancel the section unless instructed to do so by the primary department. If you are the primary, remember to notify secondaries to cancel their sections. 
  • Maintain Schedule of Classes: Meeting Patterns tab
    • Access Options:
      • Approve: Instructor can input and submit midterm grades.
      • Grade: Instructor can input midterm grades. (This is sufficient for midterm grading.)
      • No Access: Instructor cannot access the grade roster.
    • The default Access value for instructors when they are entered on a course section is “Approve.” If you haven’t been checking these values as you add instructors, you may have instructors coded to submit grades who shouldn’t be. Please look through the midterm grading reports to ensure that all sections are set up correctly.
    • An instructor who should not have access to enter midterm grades should be set to “No Access”. 
    • If a section does not have an instructor, it cannot be graded and it will not appear on the grading report(s). Place instructors on these sections now, so midterm grading can occur.
    • Unlike our final grading materials, the midterm grading reports only show classes with first-year students enrolled. When an instructor enters midterm grades in My UW they will only see first-year students on the grade roster.
    • A Control List will be available for your use in SIS to monitor midterm grading. The instructor name listed for each course section on your Control List is taken from the Course Administrator field on the Basic Data page in Maintain Schedule of Classes. If no instructor is listed, or if the instructor listed is not correct, you may update the Course Administrator field with another instructor, as long as that instructor appears on the Meetings page for the section and is set to “Approve.”
    • Combined section updates should be handled by the Primary department ONLY.
    • Learn@UW grade entry will not work for midterm grade reporting. 

    Non-9999 Course Section Setups

    • If a course section is not part of a 9999 setup, simply check the Grade Access for eGrading report to be sure that at least one instructor’s grade roster is set to Approve for each graded section. Any instructors who should not be able to enter grades must be set to No Access.

    9999 Course Section Setups

    • These are courses that consist of a lecture and several associated discussions and/or labs. The lecture will have an associated class value of 9999 and will not be the graded component of the course. The graded components of the course will be the associated discussions or labs.
    • If the instructors of the graded sections (DIS or LAB) will be entering grades, their access should be set as Approve for non-9999 courses, with at least one instructor per section set to Approve.
    • If the instructor of the 9999 lecture will be entering grades for all of the associated sections, their access should be set to Approve on the Meetings page of the lecture, and they should be entered as the course administrator on the Basic Data page of the lecture.
      • They will be able to access the associated grade rosters and enter grades
      • They will also have access to a packaged grade roster, containing all of the first year students in the lecture.
      • If there are auto enrolls on the class, they will only see the grade rosters for the sections that auto enroll into their lecture.
      • If there are NO auto enrolls, they will see grade rosters for all of the associated discussions or labs with first year students enrolled.

Reports generated by Curricular Services:

    • Course Admins with Grading Access on 9999s
    • Midterm Grade Access
  • Grade-roster access is coded using the Access field on the Meetings page of Maintain Schedule of Classes, under the Instructors for Meeting Pattern section. Combined section updates should be made on the Schedule Class Meetings page (Curriculum Management > Schedule of Classes > Schedule Class Meetings).
    • Default access value is Approve
  • Non-9999 Course Section Setups: If a course section is not part of a 9999 setup, simply check the Grade Access for eGrading report to be sure that at least one instructor’s grade roster access is set to Approve for each graded section. Any instructors who should not be able to enter grades must be set to No Access.
  • 9999 Course Section Setups: Graded components of these courses are the discussions/labs, NOT the lecture.

FAQs

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What are terms and sessions?

At UW-Madison, the academic calendar is made up of three terms: fall semester, spring semester, and summer term. Sessions are a subset of time within a term in which specific course offerings are taught. Sessions are defined by when they begin in the term, how many weeks they span, and how many weeks of instruction take place. Most instruction in fall and spring semesters happens in what is called the regular “A1” session. Many sessions will be created in preparation for Initial Call, and departments can request a new session during the schedule build as needed.

Why do sessions matter?

It is essential that classes be scheduled in the correct session that reflects when instruction is actually occurring, as this has many downstream impacts. These include add/drop deadlines and other key enrollment and student-record dates; tuition-refund calculations; classroom assignments and availability; enrollment reporting; effective emergency response; veteran-benefit determinations; and more.

Why do I see additional classes in the A2 session?

The A2 session is reserved for courses that are the UW equivalent of courses students take during Study Abroad programs. Mid-semester, Curricular Services will term roll the A2 courses from the previous like-term. Reps should ignore these sections- do not make edits to any courses in A2 sessions.

What are General Assignment classrooms?

General Assignment (GA) classrooms are rooms that have been designated by the campus Space and Remodeling Policies Committee as primarily for use in for-credit instruction, open to all academic departments, and centrally scheduled by the Office of the Registrar. Technology in many GA classrooms is supported centrally by Classroom Media Support of the Space Management Office in the Division of Facilities Planning & Management. The School of Business supports the media systems for GA classrooms in Grainger Hall, and the College of Engineering supports the media systems for GA classrooms on the Engineering campus.

What is the role of the University Curriculum Committee?

The University Curriculum Committee has the final decision on any course proposal changes, including course title changes, new course proposals, course deletions, and more. All course proposals are created and approved in the Lumen online course proposal system. Once the department has approved a proposal to change an existing course or create a new one, proposals should be sent to the School/College Curriculum Committee. If the course proposal is approved, it is then sent to the University Curriculum Committee.

What does it mean to be 'Primary' on a combined section?

When departments are part of a combined section course (cross-listed, meets-with, etc.), one department is designated as the ‘Primary’ department. It is the Primary department’s responsibility to communicate to all secondary members the course offering information, enrollment requirements, enrollment capacities, and more. The Primary will create the course section(s) initially, and the crosslist sync that Curricular Services runs will create the secondary sections. Secondary departments will then edit the details as needed.

How do I know if I'm the Primary on a combined section?

To find out who is Primary, click on the Combined Section link that can be found in SIS in Maintain Schedule of Classes (either on the Meetings page or Enrollment Control page), or on Update Sections of a Class in the Enrollment Limits page. After the Combined Sections ID is the name of the Primary Department.

How do I know which instructor role to use?

When departments and programs assign instructors to courses, they will also determine what role that instructor has in the course. It’s helpful to be familiar with the Policy on Minimum Qualifications for Instructional Staff to understand the specific definition of a “qualified” instructor. Keeping in mind that EACH section of every course must have a Principal instructor listed, you can refer to this KB to assist with determining the appropriate type of instructor: Qualified Instructors and Instructional Roles

Can I repeat section numbers in a single term if the course sections are in different sessions?

No. Each section of a course must have a unique section number. For instance, if you you are offering an IND course 699 sections 001, 002, and 002 in the regular A1 session, but the same instructor is teaching another IND section in the AHH session, they must use a different section number. Some departments rely on a numbering scheme such as 001 (A1 session), 101 (second session), 201 (third session, if necessary).