Proposals; Create, Review, & Approve

ICMS course proposals begin with an Originator. The Originator prepares a Draft, then launches it into a particular workflow. The workflow is determined by the college/school, level of course, and type of change.

ICMS approval workflow

Creating a Proposal

The home page shows proposals the user is working on. To locate other proposals, use the search filters. 

Reminder:

  • Select the My Institution radio button.
  • Clear the status by selecting Select None in the drop-down.
  • Use the Title/Course # field to search for specific courses or titles. 
  • Search will also take the % character as a wild card. 
  • The ICMS logo, in the upper left corner, returns the user to this page from anywhere in the system.
Selecting the Create Proposal button

Creating a Proposal

Select Create Proposal; see above. Use the drop-down menu to select a Proposal type.  The proposal types dictate the workflow and type of change.  

  • College/School & Level (UG/grad/prof) dictates workflow.
  • Type (prereq/discontinue/new/modify) controls form fields required.
Proposal Type screen

To select a proposal type, filter the Proposal Type list by typing the proposal type. Proposal Types:

  • New
  • Modify
  • Discontinue
  • Prereq/Restrictions

Now, scroll further down the list to locate, and then select, the appropriate proposal type for your college or school. 

  • Colleges (A&E, L&S, BioSci, or Engineering)
  • Graduate Studies  (for non-departmental graduate groups)
  • GSM (Graduate School of Management)
  • Law
  • School of Education
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Nursing
  • School of Veterinary Medicine

Select Next.

For a New course enter the three-character subject, course numbers (with leading zeros, as needed), and the long course title; Description is not used. 

Proposal Requirements screen

For all other types of proposals, use Find Proposal the course to modify by using the filter in the Find tool. 

Proposal Requirements modification screen

Enter the subject/course number, and then select Search. Select the course from the list. To continue creating the form, select Select Proposal.  

Select Proposals screen

Verify that the proper proposal was generated by viewing the top of the form.

  • In the upper right are Launch and Delete Draft. 
  • Do not Launch until you finish working on the form.
  • Errors occur if a required field is empty.
  • Delete Draft allows you to delete the form without going further.

The form appears with the course number and title in place.

For information about each tab on the form, see Course Form Help. 

Request Change & Changes Made

Department Chair approvers can return a course form to the Originator for updates.

  • Department Chair Action is Request Change. 
Department Chair action
  • Originator Action is Changes Made; after making changes. 
Originator action

If you have Chair permission, you can update forms when they are at the Chair level; no need to use Request Changes. 

Workflow levels higher than Department Chair (e.g., Dean, COCI, etc.) use Decline to return ICMS forms to the Department Chair.

Chair Level—Request Change

Originators of the course form that have Department Chair permission should not use Request Change. Chair permissions allow updates without using the Request Change action.

Return a course form to an Originator using the Request Change action. 

  • Select the course form from your Approvals. 
  • Select action Request Change.
  • Type any notes or comments.
  • Commit the action.
Approval Update screen

Approvals screen for Chair users will show the proposal at the Originator position, with a colored back ground and YES in the Pending Changes column. A Chair user cannot work with these records unless they are also the originator of the form.

Pending Changes column

If another Department Chair uses Request Change on a form you originated, you will see two entries for the form in your Approvals; one at the Originator position, and one at the Department Chair position.

Originator position

Once the Originator performs the Changes Made action, the entry for the course will return to standard color and Pending Changes is No.

Originator—Changes Made; Working with Returned Proposals 

Select a course from the proposals in your Approvals list in the Originator position and Pending Changes is Yes. 

Originator position and pending changes screen

When a proposal is selected, the proposal opens in a new browser tab; this opens the Action Page, which also has the Proposal history.

Review the comments in the Action Comment column.

On the View Course Proposal button, use your mouse or pointer to open the course form in a new browser tab. 

Approval Update screen

Updates can be made depending on type of change.

Be sure to Save updates.

Review the instructions for specific form tabs using Course Form Help.

When updates are finished, close the browser tab you opened, and return to the tab with the Action Page. If you did not open the form in a new browser tab, return to Approvals and reopen the form.

Select the Changes made action, type any comments, and then Commit. 

Approval Update screen

The proposal leaves your Approvals list.  

The Chair can now review and approve the proposal, the proposal no longer displays as Pending Changes = YES. 

Reviewers & Approvers

Approval Screen

In ICMS, the Approvals link is at the top of the screen. If the box has an orange number in the right corner, it means the user has proposals in the workflow that need attention.   Select the Approvals button.

The actions that are performed by various users are:

  • Request Change or Approve  (Department Chairs)
  • Changes Made  (Originators)
  • Review and Notes (Committee members)
  • Decline or Approve  (all committee levels)

Users who are both the Originator and the Chair for a department might see a proposal twice in the Approvals; see Request Change & Changes Made, above.

Originator screen
  • Proposals with Yes in the Pending Changes column are awaiting the Originator to make updates and use the Changes Made action to return it to the Department Chair workflow position. 
  • Users assigned multiple positions in the workflow can use the Position filter to see Approvals for specific positions.
  • Communicate permissions changes to icms@ucdavis.edu. 
  • Use the Report icon to view course form information; see Course Outline, below. 
Approvals screen

Course Outline, Comparison, & Abridged Comparison Reports 

Use Course Outline to see a full text representation of the course.

Use the Comparison or Abridged Comparison reports to see side-by-side the updates; updated information is on the right.

Course Outline

Reviewing Course Forms

When you select a proposal from the Approval list, regardless of its status, the proposal Actions and Approval History screen opens in a new browser tab.

To look at the course form, use your mouse or pointer to open a new browser tab to open View Course Proposal in a new tab

Approval Update screen

The Action Page with history displays in the new tab. The history shows what workflow position the course is on, and who is authorized to work in that position.

Steps and people identified as Members and Optional do not approve forms; they are committee members who can review and comment only. 

For Required approval steps, only one person listed needs to approve or otherwise take action. 

Approval page

To see where a course is in the workflow, select the Status tab; this proposal is with the College Committee.

Status tab

Return to History by selecting the History tab.

Review, Notes, & Action

To review the course form, open the ICMS proposal in a new browser tab allowing both the Action/History and proposal to be open at the same time.

View proposal screen

Members and Chairs of college and senate committees have access to the Notes tab, allowing comments and notes documentation for the Chair and/or staff analyst who ultimately approve or decline the form. 

Notes screen

Notes can be deleted if or when no longer relevant.

Deleting notes screen

The Chair approver usually deletes all notes from the committee before moving the proposal to the next workflow level. 

Taking Action

The actions available depend on the proposal type and what position you hold in the workflow. Remember, when returning a proposal to a department, enter descriptive comments.

Actions screen

VERY IMPORTANT—At the College or Graduate Committee Analyst level:

  • Perform a Tabled action to move the proposal to the committee chair level. 
  • The Approved action bypasses the committee.
  • If no action is taken, the software automatically approves the proposal in 15 business days.
  • Decline returns the form to the department Chair level.
  • At the Analyst level, Approve bypasses the committee review and sends the proposal to the next workflow level.

If you are not ready to take action and wish to review the form again, remember you can use the report menu to review the reports, or select View Course Proposal to see the entire form again. 

  • Use your mouse or pointer to open a new browser tab to open View Course Proposal in a new tab.
  • To return to the Action page, close the tab (if the screen opened in a new tab) or use Back on your browser if no new tab was opened.

Important To Remember

If you play two or more Roles in the system, you may see a courses twice in your Approvals; the Positions will be different.

If you are a Chair and use the Request Changes action, the proposal stays in your Approvals, but displays YES in the Pending Changes column.