ROAD Team

05/15/2026 Update

• WI Act 15 feature release: Support for WI Act 15 Core General Education Requirements (CGER) attributes and course filters has been successfully released in the DARS and CS&E applications. The Registrar’s Office (RO) communicated the availability of these attributes to students, advisors, and faculty on May 12, 2026. Users can now filter courses using General Education criteria in CS&E, including a new accordion section dedicated to Core General Education attribute filtering. A banner within CS&E also highlights the availability of these new attributes. Additionally, course selections based on these attributes are now reflected in DARS degree audit reports. With these enhancements, WI Act 15 Phase 1 has been successfully completed. The RO is currently working to define business requirements for Phase 2.
• Elastic Search (ES) upgrade for the CS&E: A cost analysis was conducted to evaluate migrating Elasticsearch (ES) to AWS-managed serverless OpenSearch. The managed service is estimated at approximately $690 per month across all tiers, making it about $100 per month more cost-effective than the currently used ES solution. Elastic Search (ES) upgrade for the CS&E: The team is also designing and implementing new curricular domain models for the CS&E Indexer to align with the updated ES version. Although these models are internal to the CS&E services, they will help reduce tight coupling across different components of the application.
• CS&E outage: Follow-up to the brief outage experienced by the CS&E app on May 1, 2026: The SIS PS Admin conducted an analysis and determined that the SIS Web Services experienced a surge in traffic, which led to the brief outage. The Registrar’s Office confirmed that communication about business courses being opened to non-business majors at 8:00 AM on May 1 triggered the spike in traffic on CS&E, and subsequently on SIS. Going forward, we will work to proactively identify such events so we can better prepare and keep stakeholders informed about potential increases in service traffic.

Quick links

Roadmap

Status key
Discovery: Documenting and validating a request or use case.
Refining: Planning implementation and estimating effort.
Unreleased: Ready to sprint or sprinting has started.
Released: Completed and deployed to production.

Priority key
Now: Sprinting now or in the next 2 weeks.
Next: Sprinting within the next 1-3 months.
Later: Greater than 3 months away from sprinting.

Discovery, Refining & Unreleased

Name	Status	Priority	Product(s)	Start Date	End Date	Description
WI Act 15 - Implement CGERMQR and CGERCL pseudo courses based on Placement Test Scores	Unreleased	Now	DARS App	04/15/2026	05/26/2026	Similar to how the GERQRA and GERCOMA pseudo courses are created for use within uAchieve/DARS, we will need 2 new pseudo courses created by the SDL to accommodate the new CGER requirements for Fall 2026.
WI Act 15 - Implement Dual Enrollment Transfer Course Credit Handling	Unreleased	Now	DARS App	04/15/2026	05/26/2026	For first-year (FYR) students, who have TRAC coursework earned prior to (less than) Summer 2026, the Student Data Loader (SDL) must override the standard external-term-based attribute logic for CGER Course Condition Codes (CCC).
CS&E Elasticsearch Upgrade - Data model definitions	Unreleased	Now	Course Search & Enroll app	05/13/2026	05/26/2026	Upgrade to latest version of ElasticSearch(ES). The EOL for Elasticsearch 2.3 in AWS is 11/7/2026. After 11/7/2025, we will be paying an additional extended support fee until EOL in 2026. This is to define data models to support the newer version of ES.
CS&E Elasticsearch Upgrade - New data models in Search service	Unreleased	Now	Course Search & Enroll app	05/13/2026	06/16/2026	Upgrade to latest version of ElasticSearch(ES). The EOL for Elasticsearch 2.3 in AWS is 11/7/2026. After 11/7/2025, we will be paying an additional extended support fee until EOL in 2026. This is to use newer data models inside the CS&E search service.
CS&E Elasticsearch Upgrade - New data models in Indexer	Unreleased	Now	Course Search & Enroll app	05/26/2026	06/30/2026	Upgrade to latest version of ElasticSearch(ES). The EOL for Elasticsearch 2.3 in AWS is 11/7/2026. After 11/7/2025, we will be paying an additional extended support fee until EOL in 2026. This is to add support for new data models in the Indexer (ETL process used by the CS&E).
CS&E Elasticsearch Upgrade - Backend upgrades (Scheduler, Enrollment)	Unreleased	Next	Course Search & Enroll app	06/16/2026	08/04/2026	Upgrade to latest version of ElasticSearch(ES). The EOL for Elasticsearch 2.3 in AWS is 11/7/2026. After 11/7/2025, we will be paying an additional extended support fee until EOL in 2026. We will need to update Elasticsearch to a newer version with long term support in AWS.
CS&E Elasticsearch Upgrade - Front End/UX	Unreleased	Next	Course Search & Enroll app			Upgrade CS&E front end to meet the changes from ES upgrades.
Migrate CS&E messaging from AmazonMQ to SQS	Unreleased	Next	AmazonMQ, CAOS ETL, Course Search & Enroll app			Migrate away from AmazonMQ to SQS. SQS will provide more reliability with sub-millisecond latency. Will be able to resolve issues quickly by removing the dependency on API Team (AmazonMQ).
Name	Status	Priority	Product(s)	Start Date	End Date	Description

Source

Released

Name	Status	Product(s)	Start Date	End Date	Description
DARS Post-Release Fixes	Released	DARS API, DARS Web	09/03/2024	04/15/2025	Bug fixes and updates for DARS Request App based on campus user feedback.
WI Act 15 - Implementing support for transfer of CGER credits (course attributes) in DARS app and degree audits (Test tier)	Released	DARS API, DARS App	11/11/2025	04/14/2026	Generalize how general education credits are used. The outcome is student can transfer general education credits across various Universities of Wisconsin institutions without any issue. This is for DARS and SDL apps.
WI Act 15 - Implementing support for transfer of CGER credits (course attributes) in CAOS (Test tier)	Released	CAOS API, CAOS ETL	01/20/2026	03/03/2026	Generalize how general education credits are used. The outcome is student can transfer general education credits across various Universities of Wisconsin institutions without any issue. Add to CAOS Test.
WCAG 2.1 accessibility compliance verification for CS&E, DARS and Res apps.	Released	Course Search & Enroll app, DARS App, Residency app	02/17/2026	03/17/2026	Verfiied and implemented additional CI/CD tooling to make sure apps are in compliance with ADA rule for acessibility (WCAG 2.1).
WI Act 15 - Implementing support for transfer of CGER credits (course attributes) in CS&E (Test tier)	Released	Course Search & Enroll app	03/18/2026	05/06/2026	Generalize how general education credits are used. The outcome is student can transfer general education credits across various Universities of Wisconsin institutions without any issue. This will add the support CS&E.
WI Act 15 - Enable CGER attributes in production tier for DARS app, CAOS and CS&E (Prod tier).	Released	CAOS API, DARS API, DARS App, Course Search & Enroll app	04/15/2026	05/06/2026	Enable WI Act 15 CGER course attributes in production tier across DARS, CAOS and CS&E.
CS&E Security Remediations and Terraform Provisioning	Released	Course Search & Enroll app	11/13/2024	02/03/2026	Address Cybersecurity recommendations and add Terraform support for CS&E. This will enhance disaster recovery capabilities in CS&E.
CSE Accessibility Updates	Released	Course Search & Enroll app	04/29/2025	10/28/2025	To address accessibility issues in CS&E. This will also address new ADA rule recommendation.
Deprecate DARS Web	Released	DARS API, DARS App, DARS Web	06/24/2025	07/22/2025	Migrate all users into new DARS app and deprecate DARS Web
Curricular and Academic API: Discovery, API Specification and Cost Estimation	Released	Curricular and Academic API	07/10/2024	12/10/2024	Work with users, stakeholders, partners to refine curricular and academic API use cases to identify the outcomes. The goal is to design the interfaces such that we can implement a scalable, robust, RESTful/JSON API that's exposed via Apigee. Produce the API specification for the resources. Provide a system design and cost estimation for the implementation.
Residency Application Fall 2024 Application Updates	Released	Residency app	05/28/2024	10/29/2024	Residency App updates for Fall 2024 application cycle.
Advisor/Staff DARS app	Released	DARS API, DARS Web	01/24/2024	09/17/2024	Implement the ability for Advisor/Staff to run DARS Audits.
Cybersecurity Recommendations	Released	Residency app	11/10/2021	01/11/2022	Address Cybersecurity recommendations for Residency Application.
Database Exadata 9 migrations and SIS table re-name	Released		03/01/2023	04/25/2023	Migrate away from synonyms for SYSADM and migration to Exadata 9.
Fall 2023 Updates	Released	CAOS API, Course Search & Enroll app	09/20/2023	12/12/2023	Infrastructure updates before Fall 2023 enrollment period.
Fractional Transfer Credit	Released	Curricular and Academic API	11/16/2022	02/07/2023	Provide a list of RESTful resources for CAOS.
Fractional(exact) Credit Support in CS&E and DARS	Released	Course Search & Enroll app, CAOS API	10/05/2022	04/25/2023	Implement the support for Fractional(exact) Transfer Credits in CS&E and DARS.
Migrate CAOS SOAP endpoint 1.8 to AWS	Released	CAOS API	04/12/2023	09/01/2023	Migrate CAOS SOAP endpoints to AWS managed services. This will free up more operational time from the team to focus on other efforts.
Migrate CAOS-ETL to AWS	Released	DARS API, CAOS ETL, Course Search & Enroll app	01/11/2023	09/01/2023	Migrate CAOS ETL process to AWS managed services. This will free up more operational time from the team to focus on other efforts.
Migrating into AmazonMQ	Released	CAOS API, Course Search & Enroll app	12/22/2021	02/22/2022	Migrate CAOS and CS&E to AmazonMQ from on-prem ActiveMQ. This will free up more operational time from the team to focus on other efforts.
NetID login/SSO for DARS Advisor Audit App	Released	DARS API, DARS Web	10/18/2023	12/26/2023	Implement NetID login for DARS Advisor site (either using AWS Cognito or Apache/Shib).
Non-matriculated students to run DARS Audits, DARS TI grades support and Apigee migration	Released	Course Search & Enroll app	12/22/2021	07/26/2022	This feature will add the ability for a non-matriculated (a student who can't generate a DARS Audit yet) student to generate DARS Audits. By enabling an admitted, non-matriculated student to run a DARS, they will be able to see exactly how their transfer coursework and AP/IB scores will count toward a specific major or certificate. This is valuable insofar as they will be able to see the degree applicability of their transfer coursework. As UW-Madison seeks to increase enrollment in Online undergraduate majors, the ability to show prospective, admitted students exactly how many credits they would need to take to complete the degree is an invaluable recruitment tool. This release will also contain Transfer-In-Progress(TI) grades support in DARS and also DARS API Apigee migration.
Residency app Fall 2023	Released	Residency app	06/28/2023	07/13/2023	Update residency determination logic and correct bugs in preparation for the upcoming fall semester.
Revalidate Cart when Holds are removed	Released	Course Search & Enroll app	03/16/2022	05/04/2022	Implement the functionality to revalidate the CS&E cart when holds are removed. This will reduce the number of support requests on RO.
Spring Boot and Critical Security Fixes v1	Released	CAOS API, Course Search & Enroll app	08/31/2022	12/21/2022	Upgrade Spring Boot version in CS&E and CAOS. This remove possible security vulnerabilities by upgrading to a newest version of a library that's used by CS&E and CAOS.
Spring Boot and Critical Security Fixes v2	Released	CAOS API, Course Search & Enroll app	06/14/2023	12/13/2023	Upgrade Spring Boot version in CS&E and CAOS. This remove possible security vulnerabilities by upgrading to a newest version of a library that's used by CS&E and CAOS.
uAchieve Server in AWS and DARS API Improvements	Released	DARS API, DARS Web	12/27/2023	05/14/2024	To set up infrastructure as code for DARS. This will provide disaster recovery for DARS infrastructure. And also ability to review changes to the same infrastructure. Refactor DARS API to remove NetID based authNZ model. Migrate uAchieve server to AWS.
Name	Status	Product(s)	Start Date	End Date	Description

Source

ROAD Team

Quick links

Roadmap

Discovery, Refining & Unreleased

Released

Staff

Lyle Hanson

Brian Hill

Nuwan Kumarasiri

Ben Nylund

Eric Schoville

Leja Thao

Julian Vandenberg