Fall 2025 Course Section Preparation

Course section managers need to complete the following tasks to ensure Fall 2025 course sections are set up appropriately for publication in Workday.

Schools must complete all tasks identified on this page by Feb. 15, 2025, for applicable Fall 2025 course sections while they are still in preliminary status. The Office of the University Registrar (OUR) will begin publishing approved course sections in Workday on Feb. 18, 2025.

We will add additional tasks to this webpage and communicate them to course section managers as necessary. If your school follows an internal process to review and approve course sections prior to publication, those deadlines will be communicated separately. 

Data Cleanup Tasks

Complete by 2/15/25 for Fall 2025 course sections*

Because Workday’s data and structures differ from WUCRSL’s, the Sunrise team and governance made strategic decisions regarding how best to bring data into Workday and specifically to address how Workday distinguishes between courses and course sections.

Required Tasks

The following tasks relate to how course section data was converted to Workday and require you to take action on specific fields for each of your school’s course sections. 

Recommended review

As you complete these required tasks, we encourage you to also reference this Course Section Data Conversion Guide, which outlines field by field how and why course section data was converted to Workday, based on available data in WUCRSL. Review this guide alongside your course section data in Workday to help you identify additional fields that need to be updated.

*Complete these data cleanup tasks before completing the course section setup tasks below for overlapping and clustering courses

Course Section Setup Tasks

Complete by 2/15/25 for Fall 2025 course sections*

Overlapping and clustering course sections are two new pieces of functionality available in Workday and therefore need to be set up manually. Whereas the data cleanup tasks above require action on each of your school’s course sections, you only need to overlap or cluster applicable course sections, as outlined below.

*Complete these course section setup tasks after you’ve completed the data cleanup tasks above

Section & Waitlist Capacity

Data Cleanup Task

Course sections were brought over to Workday with the Unlimited Capacity box checked. Course section managers need to uncheck the Unlimited Capacity box and enter the correct capacity information. Because Workday shares capacity data with EMS, it’s crucial that this data is accurate to ensure correct classroom scheduling. If approved by your school’s curriculum processes, you may also enter a Wait List Capacity.

Steps

Course section managers should do the following:

  • Uncheck the Unlimited Capacity box on each course section in Workday.
  • Enter the desired capacity in the Section Capacity field in Workday. This value must be equal to or lower than the Projected Enrollment.
  • Enter the projected enrollment in the Projected Enrollment field in Workday. This value must be higher than the value entered in the Section Capacity field.
  • You may also enter a Wait List Capacity. Limit this number to a reasonable proportion of the section capacity (e.g., limit the waitlist to 5 – 10% of section capacity to prevent students from waitlisting for an excessive number of sections/seats).

Important: Because Workday shares capacity data with EMS, it’s crucial that this data is accurate to ensure correct classroom scheduling.

Minimum and Maximum Credit Hours

Data Cleanup Task

Fall 2025 course sections were brought over to Workday with Minimum Credit Hours and Maximum Credit Hours using what was in WUCRSL for Fall 2024. Some of the values for Minimum Credit Hours and Maximum Credit Hours may be incorrect or blank. Course section managers should review these fields and update for accuracy or populate if blank.

Course Section Tags

Data Cleanup Task

For all course sections, enter a tag for Blue Evaluation and a tag for EMS Room Assignment in the Course Section Tags field in Workday. These tags must be added to ensure the EMS integration can assign a room for the course section.

Important: Because Workday shares location data with EMS, it’s crucial that this data is accurate to ensure correct classroom scheduling.

Instructional Format & Delivery Mode

Data Cleanup Task

Course section managers should review Instructional Format and Delivery Mode for accuracy and update if needed. Because of how data was converted, the Instructional Format and Delivery Mode may be incorrect for some course sections.

Background

WUCRSL uses one field – Instruction Types – to denote denote the mode of instruction (e.g., in-person, online), as well as some course types (e.g., internship, study abroad). Workday handles this differently; each course section has both an Instructional Format (type of course section, e.g. lecture, lab) and a Delivery Mode (how instruction is delivered, e.g. in-person, online).

To account for this, the Instructional Format for all course sections was brought over as either a “Lecture” or a “Lab,” which may not be correct as there are other available formats (e.g., discussion).

Instructor Roles

Data Cleanup Task

Course section managers must add instructors to all Fall 2025 course sections in Workday. Currently, the Instructor Roles field in Workday is blank, and no instructors are linked to course sections. This is because instructors could not be associated with course sections through data conversion and need to be manually added. Follow the instructions for adding an instructor(s) to a course section on the Course & Section Management in Workday Student reference guide on the Workday@WashU website.

Section Components Table

Data Cleanup Task

Course section managers must enter a Meeting Pattern and Location within the Section Components table in Workday. These could not be brought over to Workday via data conversion and need to be manually entered for each course section. Follow the instructions for setting a course section location on the Course & Section Management in Workday Student reference guide on the Workday@WashU website.

Public Notes

Data Cleanup Task

Course section managers should delete all content in the Public Notes field, except for content regarding:

  • Alternative meeting dates/locations (those that cannot be scheduled in Workday)
  • Course materials unavailable via one of the university’s primary learning management systems, such as Follett, Canvas, etc.
  • Limited details about the course topic if the title/course description allows variance by instance/instructor, such as identifying a time period of focus, genre, current events focus, etc.

Steps

  • Run SRPT0041 Find Course Section Definitions report.
  • Select the academic period Fall 2025 from the facets on the left of the report.
  • If needed, filter further by selecting additional facets or by searching for the course sections by course name and number in the search bar.
    • Note: New Fall 2025 numbers will be shown in this report, so you will need to search by the new course number not by the legacy course number.
  • Navigate to the related actions on course section.
  • Select Course Section Definition. Then select edit.
  • Scroll down to the Public Notes field and delete text in that field if necessary.
  • Select Save.

Preliminary Section

Data Cleanup Task

Fall 2025 course sections were rolled over to Workday as copies of Fall 2024 course sections in WUCRSL. If a course section is not needed for Fall 2025, course section managers should mark it as “Canceled: Preliminary” to ensure it doesn’t get published. Do not mark any sections for academic periods prior to Fall 2025 as “Canceled: Preliminary.”

Steps

  • Run SRPT0041 Find Course Section Definitions report.
  • Select the academic period Fall 2025 from the facets on the left of the report.
  • If needed, filter further by selecting additional facets or by searching for the course sections by course name and number in the search bar.
    • Note: New Fall 2025 numbers will be shown in this report, so you will need to search by the new course number not the legacy course number.
  • To update the status, navigate to the related actions on the course section.
  • Select Course Section Definition.
  • Edit Preliminary Section status.
  • Change the status from Preliminary to Canceled: Preliminary.
  • Select OK.

Overlapping course sections

Course Section Setup Task

Course section managers must overlap any course sections that should share the exact same instructor, location, date range and meeting pattern. This must be completed for any Fall 2025 course sections brought over from WUCRSL that need to overlap, as well as for any new course sections created in Workday that need to overlap.

When to use

This functionality is typically used for course sections that schools wish to offer at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

How

Course sections can be overlapped after each course section has been created. Step-by-step instructions for overlapping course sections are available in the Course & Section Management in Workday Student reference guide on the Workday@WashU website.

Clustering course sections

Course Section Setup Task

Course section managers must create course section clusters for applicable course sections in Workday. This must be completed for any Fall 2025 course sections brought over from WUCRSL that need to be clustered, as well as for any new course sections created in Workday that need to be clustered.

When to use

In Workday, you can cluster multiple sections of one course or multiple sections of different courses, which indicate that students must take two course sections during the same term. For example, students who register for the lecture section of a course must also register for a discussion or lab section of the same course.

How

Course sections can be clustered after each course section has been created. Step-by-step instructions for clustering course sections are available in the Course & Section Management in Workday Student reference guide on the Workday@WashU website.