Future Ready: Key Changes
What's changing?
With the launch of Workday Student, course numbers will be expanded from 3 digits to 4 digits. The majority of course numbers will be expanded by appending a “0” to the end of course numbers.
Why are we making this change?
As our programs have grown, we’re reaching the limit of available course numbers. Moving to 4 digits gives us the flexibility to add new courses and continue expanding our program and course offerings. Workday enables us to engage in course renumbering, laying a strong foundation for our future growth.
How is this change related to Workday?
While Workday does not require a shift from 3 digit to 4 digit course numbers, it does provide the opportunity to make this change. UMD has been monitoring our available course numbers for some time and the move to Workday is providing the resources and infrastructure to make this transition possible.
See below for more details about this change. As more information comes to light, we will continue to update this page. As we get closer to go-live, please revisit this page for more information about recommended actions for operations and communications.
At a Glance
First Use Date
Fall 2028
Impacted Systems
SIS
CIM
Audiences
Students, faculty, and staff.
All audiences will need to understand the numbering change. For instance, if they are interested in ENGL101, it will now be ENGL1010. Additional audience impacts are outlined below:
Students: Students may need to update their personal 4-year plan to use the new numbering.
Faculty: Course syllabi, materials, and documentation will need to be updated with the new course numbers.
Staff: Department and programs will need to update materials, documentation, 4-year plans, and program curriculum to reflect the new numbering.
Departments planning to offer existing special topics courses that are alpha-suffixed will need to resubmit these in CIM as pilots with non-suffixed four-digit course numbers.
Why it Matters: From Today to Tomorrow
Today: Current State
UMD uses a 3-digit course numbering system with an additional alpha character added, as necessary, for select courses. Course numbers fall in a range of 001 to 899 and are sometimes followed by different letters to identify special topics, music performance courses, honors, scholars, and other special populations.
Tomorrow: Future State
Course numbers will be converted to 4 digits. There also may be some immediate changes to courses with alpha suffixes. Approved GenEd courses will likely be assigned a new number. All courses will fall into a new range of 0001 to 8999. Most courses will have a "0" appended to the end of course numbers.
Alpha-suffixed courses meant to identify special topics and special populations, such as “H” for Honors and “S” for Scholars, will be phased out. These will now be covered by course tags in Workday.
Note: The School of Music will continue to utilize alpha suffixes in course numbering.
Check out the benefits and details about planning for the future on the tabs below.
- The process is automated with no negative impact on course credit, degree audits, or degree progression.
- Provides more available course numbers per department allowing for flexibility in the future.
- Increases flexibility for departments for course number sequences and clustering.
- Expands the availability of numbers for cross-listed and dual listed courses, reducing burden on administrators.
- Creates consistencies between peer institutions using 1000s course numbers.
- Adding a zero after the last digit of the course number retains the original three-digit number, easing the transition at initial go-live.
- Shifting away from a reliance on alpha-suffixed courses allows UMD to capture a more complete public record of our curriculum.
- Updates may be needed to departmental and unit websites or planning materials that reference course numbers and alpha-suffixed courses.
- Downstream changes may need to be made to reports, systems, and integrations if other systems have character limits for course numbers.
- No new suffixed courses with an effective date of Fall 2028 or later can be created or entered in CIM. Any existing suffixed courses in Workday Student that will continue to be offered must be resubmitted in CIM using a non-suffixed, four-digit course number.
Please revisit this site as we approach go-live events in 2027 and 2028 for more planning details.
Learn More
More information related to course number expansion can be found in the following resources:
This website will grow over time with new information, ideas, and topics, so please continue to revisit! To ask a question or request assistance, please contact elevate@umd.edu.