General Information

What is Atlas?

Atlas displays hundreds of pages of course, instructor, and major profiles, allowing students, faculty, and staff to gain insight into information such as popular courses and grade distribution. Atlas data can be used to make informed decisions regarding planning, reporting, and more.

Where does the data for Atlas come from?

Atlas pulls information from multiple sources. The primary source is the Student Records Data Warehouse, which drives content for most course, instructor, and major profile pages, including grades, evaluation data, and student academic demographics. Additionally, we utilize APIs published by various units within UM for data on class seat availability, course descriptions, and class meeting locations.

How often is data updated in Atlas?

  • Evaluation Data: Updated once per term, shortly after being published to the Student Records Data Warehouse.
  • Course and Section Descriptions: Updated once per term.
  • Course Offerings, Meeting Times, and Locations: Updated nightly, with class seat availability refreshed every few minutes.

When will the next term's info be available?

We follow the course catalog availability set by our upstream data providers at ITS. Class data is typically available once the Wolverine Access class search is published by the Registrar's Office. Please note that there may be adjustments to the class schedule after publication, leading to temporary inconsistencies between Wolverine Access and Schedule Builder until we re-sync the catalog.

Access and Errors

Why am I getting an error when trying to access Atlas?

Errors may occur during peak times, such as registration season. Try refreshing the page, waiting a few moments for dropdowns to load, or checking back later. If issues persist, please contact the Atlas support team.

Atlas Downtimes / Server Updates

Atlas is available 24/7, but the Schedule Builder feature may experience regular downtimes that coincide with scheduled maintenance for Wolverine Access. We indicate these time periods on the Schedule Builder page. If system downtime is necessary, we aim to schedule it during off-peak hours, typically around 7 AM on Fridays.

Course and Instructor Information

Why is a specific instructor not showing up?

Instructors are only visible on Atlas if they are considered full-time and have taught a course in the past five academic years.

What does “Data not available” mean?

To protect individual student and instructor privacy, we have minimum data thresholds established in collaboration with U-M leadership. We show “Data not available” when there isn’t enough data to meet these thresholds.

How can I update information displayed on Atlas?

Data Description/Examples Source Refresh Rate
Course Info Course title, description, prerequisites, median grades Data Warehouse (via M-Pathways) Pulled once schedule is released
Course Descriptions Summary of course Data Warehouse (via M-Pathways) Pulled once schedule is released
Course/Section Info Section descriptions LSA Course Guide Every 24 hours
Meeting Times/Staff Meeting times, instructors Data Warehouse (via M-Pathways) Every 24 hours
Student Info Student records Student Records Data Warehouse Every 24 hours
Staff Info Staff records Staff Record/HR Every 24 hours

When are faculty evaluations updated in Atlas?

Faculty evaluations are typically updated once per term after the evaluation data is published.

Feature Requests and Support

How can I contact the Atlas team?

You can reach the Atlas team in two ways:

  1. Email: atlas-support@umich.edu
  2. Feedback Form: Use the feedback form located on every Atlas page for specific issues. This allows us to gather additional context about your feedback.

I’m interested in Atlas but am not affiliated with the University of Michigan. What should I do?

Start by watching our Atlas Overview and Demo video. If you have further questions, feel free to contact us at atlas-support@umich.edu.