Frequently asked questions about using the CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management System.
Yes, you can save changes at any point and come back to the proposal; however, it must be submitted to workflow to start the curricular approval process.
Yes, you can save your changes to the proposal form at any time by clicking the Save Changes button at the bottom of your screen. This will save all changes made but will not submit the proposal to the approval workflow process. You can then return to the proposal at a later date.
The Save Changes button only saves changes made to the proposal; it does not begin the approval workflow process. Once your proposal is finished and ready to begin the review process, you must click the Start Workflow button to submit the proposal to the approval workflow process.
To access a previously saved, but not submitted, proposal please follow the below steps:
The "Changes saved but not submitted" header means that someone has started a proposal for this specific course/program/prospectus and saved their change, but they have not yet submitted the proposal to workflow. You may click the green Edit Course/Edit Program/Edit Prospectus button in the preview panel to open the proposal and add your own changes. Once your proposal is finished and ready to begin the review process, you must click the Start Workflow button to submit the proposal to the approval workflow process.
The Save Changes button will save all changes made to a proposal but will not submit the proposal to the approval workflow process. The Start Workflow button will submit the proposal to the approval workflow process.
If you would like to discard a proposal you have begun but has not been submitted to workflow yet, please contact the Office of the Faculty Senate for assistance.
Fields that are required are outlined in red. You cannot start workflow (i.e., begin the review and approval process) on your proposal until all required fields have been completed. You can, however, save changes to your incomplete proposal and return to complete and submit the form later.
The CourseLeaf CIM Ecosystem displays all courses and programs that reference a specific course as a requisite or program requirement. To view the Ecosystem:
More information about the Ecosystem can be found in the Understanding the Ecosystem User Guide.
You may use any browser to access CIM. Firefox provides the best viewing experience.
If you are unable to log in to the CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management System, please first try the following standard troubleshooting steps:
After trying these steps, if you are still unable to access the the CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management System, please contact curriculumhelp@psu.edu.
To log out of the CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management System, close your browser window. Remember to save any changes you have made to a proposal before logging out so you don't lose your work.
To print a copy of your proposal or share it as a PDF:
Each proposal has an option in the left-hand corner to Export to PDF, but this only exports the text in black in white. If you, instead, Print to PDF, this will allow you to save it as a document with the red/green markup text that shows changes.
You will receive an automated email once your proposal has been fully approved. You will only receive this email if you initiated the proposal and started workflow on it.
Approved course additions and changes will publish in the University Bulletins at the time of their official effective semester.
The course description data that appears in the University Bulletins is directly imported from LionPATH, the student information system. There are three course effective dates within an academic year. These effective dates correspond to the semesterly releases of the Schedule of Courses. The University Bulletins shows course description data that is active as of the most recently released Schedule of Courses. For example, if a course is approved with an official effective semester of Spring, the course data will publish in the University Bulletins in September, on the date the spring Schedule of Courses is released.
No. Cross-listed courses are added to the same course proposal form, so once a course change is approved, it applies to all listed cross-listed courses.
The course abbreviation you are looking for is either inactive or no longer in use.
If you are proposing a course with a brand-new course abbreviation, scroll down to the bottom of the dropdown menu and select NEW - New to enter the new course abbreviation.
To find an existing course, log in to the CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard and enter the course abbreviation, course title, or course code (course abbreviation + course number (e.g., ENGL 15)) of the course you want to edit in the Search field. A list of matched search results will appear for you to select the course that you wish to edit from the results table.
Only changes entered and approved in CourseLeaf CIM can be viewed in the course's history in CIM. Past approved course proposals can be viewed in the University Curriculum Archive. The archive includes course proposals from January 1970 through the present.
To view course proposal history in CIM, log in to the Course Management dashboard and search for the course. In the preview panel for the selected course, you will see a History box along the right sidebar.
Each entry in the History box corresponds to a course proposal that was approved. Click on an entry to view the approved proposal from that date.
Alternatively, you can search for course history by checking the History checkbox when searching for the course you would like to review.
More information on viewing course proposal history can be found in the How to View Proposal History User Guide.
When you select the Edit Course button you may see the following error message:
"Out of Sync
The record in CourseLeaf does not match the record in PeopleSoft.
This error means that a mismatch was found between the course data in the CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management System and the course data in LionPATH. Please exit out of that window and contact the Office of the Faculty Senate with the course subject and number. Once they review the course and resolve the syncing error, you will be able to proceed with your course edit proposal.
At any time, you may preview the workflow for any existing course:
If you would like to preview the workflow for a new course:
To search for courses from more than one course abbreviation, enter each abbreviation into the search bar and separate each with a comma (e.g., BMB, BIOL, PHYS).
You may submit your program proposal once the course proposals for the new courses have been created and submitted to the approval workflow.
Please Note:
At any time, you may preview the workflow for any existing program:
If you would like to preview the workflow for a new program:
Approved program additions and changes will publish in the University Bulletins at the time of their official effective semester. For example, if a program is approved during the month of October and its official effective semester is for the following spring semester, the program will be published in the University Bulletins at the beginning of the spring semester.
Only changes entered and approved in CourseLeaf CIM can be viewed in the program's history in CIM. Past approved program proposals can be viewed in the University Curriculum Archive. The archive includes program proposals from January 1970 through the present.
To view program proposal history in CIM, log in to the Program Management dashboard and search for the program. In the preview panel for the selected program, you will see a History box along the right sidebar. Each entry in the History box corresponds to a program proposal that was approved. Click on an entry to view the approved proposal from that date.
Alternatively, you can search for program history by checking the History checkbox when searching for the program you would like to review.
More information on viewing course proposal history can be found in the How to View Proposal History User Guide.
When a proposal currently is in the workflow approval process, the In Workflow sidebar will appear along the right-hand side of the preview panel for a course/program proposal. The sidebar will list all workflow steps the proposal must complete.
If a course/program proposal currently is not in the workflow approval process, the In Workflow sidebar will not be visible. Instead, the Preview Workflow link will appear beneath the green Edit Course button.
The only time a workflow step will appear as a user's name is when the proposal returns to the Principal Faculty Member. All other steps appear as a designated role (i.e., Associate Dean, Consultation, SCCA Representative, etc.) in workflow, with each role having the appropriate individual(s) assigned to it. To see the roles in workflow, click on the dropdown arrow for Your Role. If there are any proposals in your queue waiting for approval, they will be found under your designated workflow role.
To review proposals:
More information about finding the correct proposal to review can be found in the Understanding the CourseLeaf Approval Dashboard User Guide.
There are two possible actions that may have occurred to remove the proposal from your assigned workflow step:
To check if the proposal has been rolled back:
To request removal from a role, contact your CIM college administrator to update the role in the CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management System.
