How the University of Arkansas System Tamed the CCN Beast

Building a smarter, student-centered course numbering system with CourseLeaf Commons

When the state of Arkansas set out to overhaul how courses transfer between its public community colleges and universities, the scale of the challenge was enormous—thirty-three institutions, tens of thousands of courses, and no unified infrastructure to speak of.

At the start of the state’s Common Course Numbering (CCN) initiative, employees used a massive Excel file to keep track of 21,000 courses spread across more than 350 tabs. It was not an ideal situation. Computers crashed. Course change requests had to be processed manually, and, more often than not, requests necessitated follow-up emails and phone calls to resolve inconsistencies. Delays were routine.

As demand for uniform statewide course numbering ramped up, so did the urgency to find a software solution that would be sustainable, scalable, and student-centered. Enter CourseLeaf Commons, a new product created primarily to support institutions in meeting evolving CCN requirements while also protecting academic integrity and reducing duplicate efforts across systems.

“We got to a point where it was clear the Excel sheet was not going to cut it,” says Beth Stewart, Student Records Functional Lead for Project One and Common Course Number Lead at the University of Arkansas System (UAS). “We needed software created specifically for this type of project. When we told state leaders about the computer crashes and delays, they gave us the green light to seek help.”

Too many numbers, not enough clarity

Help couldn’t come soon enough.

UAS, a massive system with an annual budget of $4B, has been trying to make student transfers easier since about 2005, when state officials launched the Arkansas Course Transfer System, or ACTS. This initiative created common course numbering for first- and second-year core courses, but the bulk of UAS courses remained unmatched. For example, a course in English composition might have a different number, different credit hours, or a different name at each UAS campus, even if it met the exact requirements. This situation left a lot of guesswork for students and academic advisors.

“Academic advisors were amazing, but they had to rely on binders of 2+2 agreements and years of experience to make it work,” says Stewart. “A first-gen student would assume their Intro to Teaching course at a community college would transfer, only to find out it didn’t meet a requirement at their university. That wasn’t a recipe for student success.”

Student advisors weren't the only ones feeling frustrated. Stewart and her colleague, Nicole Woods, a UAS curriculum analyst, were tasked with handling system-wide course updates via an internal request system that fed the infamous Excel file mentioned above. The women reviewed course updates manually, often emailing administrators across the system to confirm details or resolve conflicts. This work was incredibly time-consuming.

“We were spending a full-time job just trying to keep it current,” recalls Woods. “A single update would spark a series of emails to ensure everyone stayed on the same page. It was constant.”

A nationwide search and a clear winner

When UAS issued a formal RFP for a CCN software solution, Stewart and Woods were elated. However, when the bids from vendors arrived, they were surprised that many of them proposed tools best suited to single-site institutions, not a statewide system with multiple enterprise resource planning platforms (ERPs), unique governance models, and varying levels of tech maturity.

“We’re a system with sixteen very different institutions,” says Stewart. “Some are rural community colleges. Others are major research universities. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, cannot update courses for the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. At the same time, these different institutions need to be able to collaborate. We needed a platform that respected both autonomy and collaboration.”

CourseLeaf was the only vendor that seemed to understand the complexity of Arkansas’s unique situation. Stewart and Woods were impressed with CourseLeaf Commons, their CCN software, because it offered the ability to link equivalent courses across campuses while maintaining strict security and control. Each institution had full governance over its own curriculum. Shared courses could be monitored and managed without stepping on each other’s toes.

Dynamic voting: the feature that changed everything

One of the most helpful tools CourseLeaf Commons offers UAS is dynamic voting. Here’s how it works: When a campus proposes a change to a course that shares a common number with other institutions, those institutions are automatically notified. Each one can review the proposed change and vote on whether it still maintains transfer equivalency. If even one campus votes no, the changing institution retains its change but receives a new course number.

“No one’s blocking the change,” says Stewart. “It’s not about permission. It’s about transparency. If the learning outcomes no longer match, the number changes. Simple.”

From full-time burden to a few hours a week

Before CourseLeaf, keeping the system current took the equivalent of a full-time role. Today, Woods sometimes spends an hour or two max on course changes. Even during busy periods, she rarely spends more than ten hours, which is a total game-changer.

Colleagues across the system are happy, too. Faculty now receive automated notifications when a course they share is being updated. Registrars no longer have to chase down change logs or hunt through spreadsheets. Advisors can trust that the numbering system reflects current, approved course content.

“Our smaller institutions are thrilled,” says Stewart. “They’ve gone from paper forms and email chains to a professional-grade system that elevates their academic operations.”

Making tools accessible to all campuses

Many of UAS’s smaller colleges had never been able to afford a curriculum management platform. But because CourseLeaf Commons is accessible to the entire statewide system, administrators on these campuses now have access to tools that make course governance easier, more transparent, and far less stressful.

Faculty and curriculum teams can log in, track the status of proposals, and view how their courses align with the broader statewide network. The process is smoother. The rules are more straightforward. Institutional knowledge isn’t trapped in someone’s inbox.

Even the CourseLeaf help desk has impressed UAS staff members. Stewart and Woods are part of Project One, a statewide initiative to centralize UAS administrative functions for finance, human capital management, payroll, and student administration on one digital platform. As part of their jobs, they handle help inquiries from across the state.

“We handle support tickets every day,” says Woods. “And CourseLeaf’s customer service has met or exceeded our own internal standards. They respond quickly. They know what they’re doing. It’s been a very positive experience.”

Scaling to the state—and beyond

Since launching CourseLeaf Commons in January, the project has expanded rapidly. State legislation now requires all public colleges and universities in Arkansas to participate in CCN. Seven new institutions are onboarding now. More are preparing for implementation later in 2025. Even private colleges are starting to express interest in joining the CCN system and using CourseLeaf Commons to manage course changes. To support this growth, the contract with CourseLeaf will eventually be assigned to the Arkansas Division of Higher Education.

Looking back at the progress made since 2021, when CCN was first discussed, Stewart and Woods feel immense relief. What was a clunky and frustrating management system has evolved into one that provides thousands of students, advisors, registrars, and faculty members with access to the same course information in real-time, regardless of their location.

As the mother of a rising freshman, Stewart says she feels a certain amount of pride knowing that not just her son but all of Arkansas’s student population will have an easier time getting the best education possible.

“Higher education is hard enough,” she says. “If we can remove even one more barrier for students, we’re doing our job right. CourseLeaf helped us do that.”