Procedures: Lumen as the Single Source of Truth

An overview of the Lumen Suite of tools and how they support a single source of truth.

Policy

Lumen/Guide - Lumen Content

Policy Number

UW-1090

Responsible Office

Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research

Type

University Policy

Rationale/​Purpose

Lumen is the gateway for faculty, staff, and governance bodies to propose, update, track and/or approve academic and curricular information at UW-Madison. As a large and complex organization, it is imperative the campus community rely on one source of truth for course and curricular information.

Policy

Single Source of Truth

The Lumen/Guide complies with accreditation requirements, promotes data integrity and efficiency, provides students with consistent and easy-to-access information, and aligns with institutional priorities. For these reasons, the Lumen/Guide is the single source of truth, and the Lumen suite of tools is the official repository for all course and program information.

  • All course changes, including course proposals and course deactivations, must be made through Lumen Course Proposals and, if approved, will appear in the Guide for the effective term of the proposal. All course proposals must be effective for a future term, while all discontinuations become effective in the current term.
  • All curricular changes must be made through Lumen Program Proposals and/or Structure Proposals and, if approved, will appear in the Guide for the term listed in the administrative section of the proposal in accordance with the publication deadlines. All curricular changes must be effective for a future term; no changes will be retroactive. Non-governed content is to be updated annually, as necessary. See Knowledge Base for more information on Updating Principles by Tab, for the publication deadlines, and for more information on procedures.

Academic structure revisions can only be made with the approval of governance process and, when required, the approval of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), and/or State Legislature approval.

Accreditation Requirements

In alignment with the Higher Learning Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation, the Guide clearly and completely ensures all academic programs and curricular paths therein are:

  1. Approved by the appropriate level of formal governance (e.g., department, school/college, university, etc.); and
  2. Recognized as fulfilling current degree/major/certificate requirement(s) for any student pursuing a degree/major/cert based on date of declaration or matriculation in that program; and
  3. Actively offered and available for enrollment by UW-Madison students seeking credit.

Expiration for Proposals

It is imperative the information in Lumen be up to date. Once a course or program proposal is started, it must be submitted to workflow within 6 months (180 days). Once a proposal is in workflow it must be completed within 1 year (365 days). Any proposal that fails to meet these deadlines will be removed (shredded) from the proposal system. It is the responsibility of the submitter to ensure the proposal moves through the approval process in a timely manner.

Related UW–Madison Documents, Web Pages, or Other Resources

External References

Approval Authority

Vice Provost for Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research

Policy Manager

Vice Provost for Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research

Contact

Associate Director, Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research -- Michelle Young, MEYOUNG@WISC.EDU, (608) 262-2143

Effective Date

05-30-2023
Source: View policy UW-1090 in the UW-Madison Policy Library

Overview

The Lumen/Guide suite of tools provides UW-Madison with a single source of truth related to courses and curriculum as approved through shared governance.

  1. Guide is the academic catalog of all curricular offerings that displays all active for-credit courses and the requirements for completing degrees and awards. Guide publishes once a year, with two mid-cycle updates which allow changes for critical revisions to programs, and course catalog updates. See the Lumen/Guide - Guide Content policy for more information.
  2. Courses approved via Lumen Course proposals publish in Guide based on the effective date in the approved course proposal.
  3. Lumen Programs and Structures proposals communicate changes to programs, policies, and/or school/college requirements. Updates to programs publish in June (effective fall), except for limited situations where they may publish in October (effective spring) or January (effective summer). Updates to Lumen Structures only publish in June.
  4. Credit by departmental exams and placement tests are reviewed and approved through Lumen Exams. Once approved, they're added to Guide with the next most appropriate publication.
  5. Non-credit badges are reviewed and approved through Lumen Badges. These are not included in Guide.

Guide and departmental websites

To support Guide as the single source of truth, governed content in Guide should not be duplicated on departmental websites. Students will be held to requirements/expectations as approved by faculty shared governance and published in Guide. If content on departmental websites differs from what displays in Guide, Guide is the authoritative source.

Best practices

  • Use links to Guide when referring to the admissions/how to get in, requirements, policies, learning outcomes, or other governed content.
  • Utilize an API to pull content from Guide to display on departmental websites. Content from Guide cannot be parsed to display specific sections or change the meaning/intent of the governed content as presented in Guide.
  • Listing courses offered by term is acceptable to list on websites so long as they refer to courses in the way they display in Guide. Do not duplicate the governed aspects of the courses (title, description, requisites, attributes, etc.). 

Historical Background on the Single Source of Truth (SST) - Rationale for SST

In 2013, a Single Source Task Force (Single Source Force) was chartered by Provost Paul DeLuca Jr. "[t]o recommend a coordinated process for creating and managing a usable and accessible curricular and academic policy repository that will be rendered to create a student facing undergraduate catalog. The recommendations will be designed with student needs in mind first, yet also serve advisors and other users."

The Final Report and Recommendations, with supplemental documentation requested by the project sponsors, was presented to Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf in May 2015 for consideration to next steps (presented at the 19 May 2016 University Academic Planning Council meeting). In August 2015, Provost Mangelsforf reviewed and approved the purchase of an enterprise system that would become the single source of truth. To provide structure and guidance, the provost placed Jocelyn Milner, Vice-Provost for Academic Affairs, and Scott Owczarek, University Registrar, in charge of the project. The joint ownership, initially called UW-Madison Academic and Curricular Repository (MARC), later became known as Lumen Sponsors.

Benefits of a single source of truth:

  1. Data Integrity
  2. Efficiency
  3. Meet Current User and Customer Expectations
  4. Compliance with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
  5. Provide Students with Consistent and Easy to Access Information
  6. Align with Institutional Priorities

See Also


Keywords:
single source, Guide, Lumen, SST, truth in advertising, single source of truth 
Doc ID:
106916
Owned by:
Melissa S. in Lumen and Guide
Created:
2020-10-30
Updated:
2024-10-07
Sites:
Lumen and Guide