Question: What happens when a new State requirement impacts your course offerings?
Kevin: That was a question that the California Community Colleges (CCC) asked when a new requirement for re-numbering the Course Catalog to a Common Course Numbering (CCN) system was approved by their Chancellor’s Office.
The first step the CCC took was to reach out to Oracle to provide an analysis of this new requirement. Oracle reviewed this new requirement and determined that the current Course Catalog Number Field could not accommodate this new format. In addition to this analysis, Oracle determined that this requirement was not uncommon amongst our customers and that a solution for this type of Course Numbering flexibility was potentially needed by all customers using Campus Solutions. By designing a new and industry leading solution, Oracle led the effort to meet the needs of our customers by quickly and efficiently designing an innovative and flexible solution that introduces the type of configuration that will allow our customers to maintain course history, while introducing new formats that students can use to be more successful. This new configuration design turns the power over to each campus to meet any new requirements while fostering the success of their students in the pursuit of their goals.
For the State of California, the vision of CCN is to achieve intra and intersegmental consistency for articulating commonly numbered courses within the California Community Colleges and between the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU) and the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU) while preserving institutional and faculty autonomy. For Oracle, our vision for this new configurability is to future proof this critical field and allow for any changes that may be required for our customers now, or in the future. Based on the visions highlighted above, this new configurable format will allow our customers to better serve their students who are looking to transfer or take classes at other institutions and be confident that they are choosing the correct course that will enable them to meet their educational goals quickly and efficiently.
Solution:
With the release of PUM Image 35, Oracle is introducing the new Configurable Course Numbering system. This new flexible and fully configurable numbering system will allow campuses to maintain course history while reformatting future offerings of key courses. By using Oracle’s innovative and industry leading design, these Course Catalog numbering changes can be easily implemented by Campus Solutions customers, and will effectively meet the needs of their students as those students navigate the complex requirements that are required to transfer and/or graduate from their institutions.
To meet the needs of all campuses across our customer base, Oracle designed, built and delivered a brand new, flexible, fully configurable Course Numbering system that can be used by any campus, for the purpose of re-numbering their courses to meet any requirements, whether those requirements are internal or external. Preserving history in any student system is critical and this new configurable design approach allows campuses to make changes to the system without impacting key processes that are critical to the success of all past, current and future students.
A new “Course Catalog Number Formats” Setup page has been delivered to allow campuses to establish various Course Catalog Numbering formats to be used on individual Course Catalog Offerings. This new setup page will enable campuses to respond to new requirements in a fully configurable and flexible way.
Question: Does this new flexible course numbering system have to apply to all of my Courses?
Kevin: No, this new, Configurable Course Numbering System can apply to specific courses and course offerings in your catalog. The long standing and delivered Standard Course Numbering field format still exists and will be the default numbering format unless a new Course Numbering Format has been established and used to update/change a specific course offering. The example below highlights the individual Course Offering that a new Catalog Number has been updated with, this strategic update will meet the needs of any campus.
Question: How do I get this exciting new configurable format?
Kevin: The new Configurable Course Numbering System is available now in PUM Image 35 which was released on June 3rd, 2025. For more information please watch our latest Video Feature Overview (Click here for Video) which highlights some of the new features we have delivered in PUM Image 35, including the exciting new Configurable Course Numbering system!