Lumen Program: Plan and Subplan Accompaniment Guidelines

This KnowledgeBase document provides clarity on when a subplan proposal must be accompanied by its associated plan proposal as it advances through the Lumen system. This most often pertains to named option proposals (as named options are subplans) and is sometimes referenced as the parent (i.e., plan) needing to accompany its child (i.e., subplan). 

This is relevant and important because UW-Madison is authorized by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to offer programs at the at the plan level (i.e., degree/major). All reporting (e.g., Board of Regents, the Higher Learning Commission, NC-SARA, etc.) thus occurs at the plan level. Named options are a convenience for UW-Madison faculty and staff to identify subplans that feature different funding models, subsets of a major's curriculum, or delivery mode, just for example; named options are not recognized at nor reported to any entity outside of the university. As such, whenever a named option proposal advances through workflow in Lumen, an associated parent plan proposal is expected to accompany the named option proposal, as changes that impact the named option should also impact the overall plan.

The process of updating curriculum/program content has changed over the last few years with the implementation of Guide, as well as Lumen Courses, Programs, and Structures. As the institution learns more about how the Lumen software works, best practices are being developed to maintain the integrity of the university's academic offerings. Guide continues to be the single source of truth, and there are items included in the governed integration points that do not necessarily impact the overall plan. To provide clarity, the following list has been reviewed by Academic Planning and Institutional Research (APIR) as being appropriate instances when the subplan (i.e., named option/child) proposal may advance through workflow without the accompanying plan (i.e., degree/major/parent) proposal.

Lumen Program Subplan Changes that Do Not Require the Accompanying Plan Proposal

1. Updated admissions deadlines
2. Updated website links (with authorization from APIR)
3. Grammatical corrections or spelling error corrections (with authorization from APIR)
4. Name changes of people associated with a program
5. Minor formatting changes that do not involve curricular reorganization/changes (with authorization from APIR)

Note: if seeking approval from APIR from one of the items listed above, contact lumen@provost.wisc.edu.

Any change to a subplan not included in the above list, or a combination of the actions listed above, will require an accompanying plan (i.e., degree/major/parent) proposal.

Some examples of subplan proposals that must be accompanied by the associated plan proposal include, but are not limited to:

• Items requiring UAPC approval (refer to the UW-Madison Academic Program Approval Overview for guidance)
• Curricular updates (including red-box removal/updates, course changes [e.g., subject/number/credits], and adding or removing courses)
• Changes to admission application content
• Policy changes
• Updates to learning outcomes
• Changes to the overall credits required for an award
• Changes to mode of instruction