Curriculum Management System

 This page was updated on January 19, 2026.

WHAT IS THE CMS PROJECT? 

This project is a strategic initiative, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), focused on establishing a Curriculum Management workflow tool and a corresponding modern University Calendar tool at the University of Alberta. 

The initiative aims to deliver a unified, comprehensive digital solution to manage all academic changes (courses, programs, regulations) and replace manual, fragmented processes. 

Together, these tools will serve as the primary source of core academic information, enabling operational efficiency and academic quality across all undergraduate, graduate, online and continuing education programs.

• The Curriculum Management workflow tool will automate workflows and streamline processes for proposal submissions, reviews and approvals, and significantly enhance institutional efficiency, data integrity and transparency in decision-making.

The project will specifically investigate and explore the following high-value capabilities:

• Curriculum Mapping: Opportunities to link learning outcomes at the program and course level. This will allow the University to visualize gaps or redundancies and demonstrate alignment with accreditation standards or professional requirements.
• Academic Analytics: Opportunities to use integrated curriculum data to support institutional planning, resource allocation and evidence-based decision-making.
• The new University Calendar tool will replace the existing tool, providing a modernized platform for creating, editing and publishing the official University Calendar. 
  • This update directly benefits the institution by ensuring all stakeholders, especially students, have access to timely, accurate and consistent academic information.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Our goal is to establish a scalable academic infrastructure that supports the University’s growth and mission:

• Support Integrated Enrolment Growth Plan (IEGP) & Institutional Growth: Our current manual processes are labour-intensive and cannot scale to support the 63% surge in curriculum submissions and the future program development required to support institutional growth, ensuring the university remains agile, competitive and adaptable.
• Efficiency and Transparency: Our current fragmented process creates significant inefficiencies and administrative burdens, delays program approvals, increases errors, hinders cross-disciplinary collaboration and transparent decision-making.
• Ensure Integrity and Agility: The unified digital platform is essential to minimizing errors, ensuring institutional compliance and enabling the University to respond more nimbly to required course and program updates.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THE CMS?

• Faculty, Staff, and Governance Teams: Our dedicated staff and faculty will benefit from reduced repetitive administrative tasks, fewer errors and rework and real-time transparency. Faculties will maintain autonomy over their internal reviews of courses, programs and regulations.
• The University of Alberta as an Institution: By enhancing institutional agility, efficiency and transparency, we are better positioned to develop and revise programs, ensuring our offerings remain cutting-edge and responsive to societal needs and strengthen the university's position as a leading U15 institution.
• Students: With a new University Calendar tool, our students will have a consistent, transparent view of course prerequisites, program pathways and learning objectives, empowering them to make informed decisions and navigate their studies with greater confidence and less frustration.

The project is governed by the project sponsor, steering committee and advisory group and managed by the project team.

HOW WILL THE CMS WORK?

Implementing the Curriculum Management workflow and new University Calendar tools will fundamentally transform how we manage curriculum by:

• Reducing Administrative Burden: Enabling clearer, streamlined and automated workflows from proposal development to final publication, significantly reducing the manual effort required from individuals and units.
• Enhancing Transparency and Communication: Providing proponents with real-time visibility and status tracking of proposals, while ensuring feedback and revisions are efficiently communicated and documented for future reference.
• Improving Data-Driven Decisions: Providing a centralized repository enables us to measure the impact of changes across other programs and improve visibility into our curriculum architecture.
• Benefiting All Stakeholders: The solution is designed to assist faculty and staff involved in submissions, while ensuring the University Calendar is accurate and more accessible for students.

WHEN WILL THE CMS BE IMPLEMENTED?

Currently in its first phase, the project will be completed in three phases (Discovery, Request for Proposal (RFP) and Design & Implementation), within the estimated 24-month timeline, August 2025 to July 2027.

Feedback 

Your feedback on the CMS project is critical to ensure we meet the needs of stakeholders across the institution. If you have any questions throughout this project, please contact the Project team via email at cmsproj@ualberta.ca 

Project GOVERNANCE