The Coursedog project aims to implement the Coursedog Curriculum & Catalog cloud-based solution so that it supports the University’s multi-institutional model and prepares stakeholders for the transition to a new product and associated business process changes.
Project information
Coursedog implementation
Coursedog is an integrated course and program approval workflow system and will replace the University’s current curriculum management systems: ECAS and PCAS. Coursedog will also be used to generate the public-facing University catalog.
Prior to starting this project, the project team conducted user research with students, faculty, and staff to understand the community's needs in a new curricular & catalog management tool. Based on this research, Coursedog, a vended software solution was selected as the best match for the University of Minnesota’s specific needs.
Top project objectives
- Implement the Coursedog Curriculum cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) solution.
- Implement the Coursedog Catalog cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) solution.
- Establish a governance model & sustainment plan that supports ongoing improvement and regular maintenance.
- Ensure Coursedog is configured to serve as the source of truth for curriculum and catalog data that can be accessed to meet central and distributed data and reporting needs.
- Implement a sustainable security/access model for Coursedog.
Timeline
Project planning
January 2022-April 2022
Preparation for the start of the project following the completion of the contract between Coursedog and the University.
Project kick off
April 2022
The official start of the project. Project team members from both Coursedog and the University work on configuration, integration, and testing of Coursedog with University processes and data.
User acceptance testing
May 1, 2023
Once the project team has completed testing, select end users in the University community perform testing to validate the work of the project team and the system fulfills business requirements.
ECAS & PCAS “frost”
May 5, 2023
Current data finalized to prepare for data transfer. Final approvals and back end work completed on proposals. ECAS and PCAS enterers and approvers through the college level approval step will no longer have access to the current systems, including existing programs, courses, and proposals.
ECAS & PCAS “freeze”
July 8, 2023
The data transfer between current systems and Coursedog begins. Extensive data validation is completed in Coursedog. All ECAS and PCAS users of all levels will no longer be able to make any changes in current systems.
Coursedog go-live
August 21, 2023
Coursedog available to previous users of ECAS and PCAS at equivalent access roles.
Sneak peek videos
Catalog URL changes
When Coursedog launches on August 21, 2023, there will be significant changes to the University catalog and the links to individual programs. The main page for catalogs will remain catalogs.umn.edu, but then users will select which campus they want to view. Each campus will have its own set of policies and requirements, definitions, archives, liberal/general education requirements, and a customized search for courses and programs.
The links for each program within the catalog will be different. This is because they will be housed in Coursedog, and not on University servers. Redirects to individual programs are not possible based on the technology in use for current program pages. Any website currently pointing to an individual program page in the catalog will need to manually update them to the new link.
See this list of all programs with their new Coursedog URLs to begin preparing websites for the change-over in August.
The old URLs will still be available for reference for several months. There will be a warning message on these pages stating the information is out of date and directing users to catalogs.umn.edu.
The project team understands that this information is used extensively on collegiate and departmental websites and that this change will require a significant amount of work. If there is anything that would help you make a more seamless transition, please email the project team at coursedog@umn.edu.
Coursedog Project Steering Committee
Strategic vision & purpose: Core function of the project steering committee is to provide guidance and decisions for the project on a strategic level.
Role and responsibilities
- Provides guidance as needed to assure the project meets goals and objectives.
- Serves as the liaisons to their campus stakeholders and executive leadership.
- Resolves issues or assists with issue resolution when escalation is required.
- Assists with risk mitigation.
- Provides direction on major decisions during project execution, such as change requests, trade-offs between cost/time/scope, and resource-availability conflicts.
Project steering committee members
| Department/Campus | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Crookston | Jason P Tangquist | jtangqui@umn.edu |
| Duluth | Lisa Kittelson | lkittels@d.umn.edu |
| Graduate School | Toni Abts | twheeler@umn.edu |
| Morris | Marcus Mueller | mull0262@morris.umn.edu |
| MyU | William Dana | danax002@umn.edu |
| Office of Undergraduate Education | Katie Russel | russellk@umn.edu |
| Office of Undergraduate Education | Leslie Schiff | schif002@umn.edu |
| Provost | Erin Slattengren | slat0084@umn.edu |
| Rochester | Norm Clark | nclark@r.umn.edu |
| Twin Cities | Ingrid Nuttall | ingridn@umn.edu |
Coursedog Working Groups
Operational Vision & Purpose: Core function of the project working groups is to provide guidance and decisions for the project on an operational level.
Role and responsibilities
- Provides general business requirements.
- Provides business expertise throughout the implementation process.
- Collaborates in the coordination of business implementation.
- Participates in defining and fulfilling business and user requirements.
- Assists with User Acceptance Testing.
- Provides a point of view for process development or process changes.
Best Practices Working Group
The Best Practice working group consists of approver & central administration level users.
Role and responsibilities
- Focused on best practice recommendations
- Provide functionality & configuration decision-making guidance to the project team based on best practices
Implementation Working Group
The Implementation working group consists of current ECAS/PCAS end-users.
Role and responsibilities
- Providing end-user feedback and insight to inform functionality & configuration decision-making
Contact
Join the Coursedog Google group to have status updates and invitations to community events sent directly to your inbox. Just click the "joining the group" link on the group page!
For questions, please contact coursedog@umn.edu.