Courseware Code Insights Dashboard

Purpose

Provides a complete picture of operational details related to courseware codes. This insights dashboard provides a summary of courseware code activity, including demand, URL availability, codes available on VitalSource storefronts, code creation, redemption and cancellation, as well as a reference to any VBIDs or ISBNs that have been identified as ‘codeless’ by your organisation.

Report Notes

This report provides a user with five (5) tabs of insights related to courseware codes: 

Tab 1: Summary Insights 
The summary insights provides a courseware codes ‘state of affairs’, including insights into crated codes, redeemed codes, cancelled codes, code demand, URL availability, code usage and code availability in VitalSource Storefronts. 

Tab 2: Courseware Code Demand
This report includes active courseware items that are delivered by an access code and excludes items that are out of distribution and have a forecast of zero. The ‘requested supply’ is built on a combination of historical usage for the item by term, term adoptions and estimated enrolments (from Verba and Barnes & Noble), previous edition and other [similar] courseware items usage. 

🔵 The ‘requested supply’ does not currently account for ‘next edition’ scenarios to simulate drop-off between current and future editions. This is because drop-off between current and future editions will vary depending on individual publisher superseded edition retirement processes (i.e. putting items out of distribution). To prevent excluding items erroneously, ‘next edition’ has not been factored into the logic. To exclude previous edition items from demand, publishers are responsible for ensuring that items are placed ‘out of distribution’, as appropriate. 

 

This report will display current demand, available codes and supply needs for the upcoming (future) term. This means that leading up to:

  • Summer, reports should be reviewed between 1 March and 14 May (e.g. Summer 2025 should be reviewed 1 March 2025 and 14 May 2025).
  • Autumn term, reports should be reviewed between 15 May and 14 September (e.g. Autumn 2025 should be reviewed between 15 May 2025 and 14 September 2025).
  • Winter/Spring, reports should be reviewed between 15 September and 28 February (e.g. Winter/Spring 2026 should be reviewed between 15 September 2025 and 28 February 2026).

Tab 3: Codes in Stores with Low Codes
This report provides a list of courseware items that are currently present in VitalSource Storefronts where the current bank of available access codes is currently 10 or fewer (≤10) codes.

Tab 4: Courseware Bookshelf Code Detail
A view of the Code Detail Report only inclusive of Courseware code activity from Bookshelf. 

Tab 5: Codeless ISBNs
This report is exclusively informational. It provides publishers with a recap of ISBNs they have communicated to VitalSource’s Publisher Enablement team as being ‘codeless’ to exclude from demand reporting. 

Definition of filters

Filter Name Description Usage Notes
Code Creator

Name of the application that generated the code (Manage System User)

🔵 Publishers who are also the distributor (publisher = distributor) will see all user information in this section.

Narrow down the results by user.
Code Distribution Reason Intended use for the Bookshelf code Narrow down the results based on the reason for distributing the code.
Code Distributor Name of the company that distributed the code (Manage Company Name) Narrow down the results by distributor.
Code Status Current state of the Bookshelf code Narrow down the results based on the code status.

Date Range

(Required)

Date range for when a code was created and/or redeemed based on the Filter Criteria selected. Use to set a date range, relative date (e.g. ‘last month’) or specific dates.
Distributor Country Country where the institution is located (two-character code) Narrow down to a specific country.

Filter Criteria

(Required)

A multi-versatile filter used to define the scope for viewing code details.

Defaulted to ‘Code Created (Date) OR Code Redeemed (Date)‘.

Select how you want to view the code details. Options include:

  • Code Created (Date) - narrows down the search to only codes based on Created (Date)
  • Code Redeemed (Date) - narrows down the search to only codes based on Redeemed (Date)
  • Code Created (Date) OR Code Redeemed (Date) - comprehensive search that includes all codes where the Created (Date) or Redeemed (Date) are in the same range.
  • Code Created (Date) AND Code Redeemed (Date) - narrows down the search to include only codes where the Created (Date) and Redeemed (Date) are in the same range (i.e. matching)
Item Name Name of the product accessed using the Bookshelf code Narrow down the results based on a specific name for the code-generating item.
Product Type Indicates the product type that the code was accessed from Narrow down the results based on a specific format for the code-generating item.
Publisher (Parent) Name of the publisher parent company (Manage Company Name)  
Publisher  The content owner for the courseware items. This filter applies to both the Courseware Code Demand and Courseware Bookshelf Code Details tabs. 
Requested Quantity The requested quantity of codes to be added to the access code bank in Manage. This will default to show items where the requested quantity is >0 so that publishers can see the items that they need to take action on. To see items that have enough codes in the Manage code bank, then include where quantity = 0.
SKU Item SKU the Bookshelf code is generated against

Use to search for a specific asset or for many assets.

You can easily copy/paste multiple values. This can be completed by copying a column of ISBNs or SKUs from an Excel-like document or copying ISBNs or SKUs separated by commas.

🔵 Multi-search can support up to 16,000 values

⚠️ Copying ISBNs or SKUs separated by semicolons does not work.

VBID The courseware item VBID from Manage.

You can easily copy/paste multiple values. This can be completed by copying a column of ISBNs or VBIDs from an Excel-like document or copying ISBNs or VBIDs separated by commas. 

🔵 Multi-search can support up to 16,000 values

⚠️ Copying ISBNs or SKUs separated by semicolons does not work.

Definition of tiles

  Tile Name Description Tab Name
1 Access Codes On-Hand vs. Needed Based on anticipated courseware code demand the percentage of access codes available in the Manage Code bank vs. codes still needed. Code Insights
2 Count of Access Codes Used by Term and Year Year-over-year comparison for Autumn and Spring terms of the count of courseware access codes used. Code Insights
3 Courseware URL Availability The number of courseware items that have a URL in the Manage system vs. those that do not. Code Insights
4 Bookshelf Codes for Courseware Created (Last 3 Months) The count of Bookshelf Codes created for courseware materials in the last three months and how many of those were provided a courseware access code with the Bookshelf code. Code Insights
5 Bookshelf Codes for Courseware Redeemed (Last 3 Months) The count of Bookshelf Codes redeemed for courseware materials in the last three months and how many of those were provided a courseware access code with the Bookshelf code. Code Insights
6 Bookshelf Codes for Courseware Cancelled (Last 3 Months) The count of Bookshelf Codes cancelled for courseware materials in the last three months and how many of those were provided a courseware access code with the Bookshelf code. Code Insights

Definition of fields

Field Name Description
Access Code

Publisher’s access code where an access code is required to access the asset (Courseware material only)

🔵 Only populated when Asset Type is ‘Online Resource’ or ‘Online Resource Bundle’.

Access Code Revealed Applies when Publisher’s Access Code is populated and is populated with ‘Yes’ when the publisher’s access code is revealed to the end user; otherwise, ‘null’
Asset Redistributor Name of the company that distributed the asset (if not the Publisher)
Asset Type

Indicates the asset type accessed using the Bookshelf code

🔵 Some values in this list require clarification as they do not represent a specific asset type:

  • Subscription - indicates that the asset is accessed through an Explore subscription.
Bookshelf Code Code generated and delivered to access the asset
Cancelled (Date) Date when the code was cancelled
Code Creator

Name of the application that generated the code (Manage System User)

🔵 Publishers who are also the distributor (publisher = distributor) will see all user information in this section.

Code Distribution Reason Intended use for the Bookshelf code
Code Distributor Name of the company that distributed the code (Manage Company Name)
Code Price

Code level price set when the Bookshelf code is created (where applicable)

📄 This is a cumulative count and includes the subscriptions in the next tile.
Code Status

Current state of the Bookshelf code

Included values:

  • Created - code has been created but not yet redeemed
  • Redeemed - code has been redeemed by an end user
  • Cancelled - code was created and cancelled; no longer needed
Code Tags Used to support additional data mapping (when needed)
Codes On-Hand (Qty) Number of unused, available codes in Manage
Codes Used (-1 Term, To-Date)

Number of codes used to date one term from the forecasting term (i.e. current term)

🔵 When viewing Winter/Spring Forecast, -1 term means Autumn of the prior year (e.g. Winter/Spring 2025 Forecast, -1 Term = Autumn 2024)

When viewing Autumn Forecast, -1 term means Summer Forecast of the same year (e.g. Autumn 2025 Forecast, -1 Term = Summer 2025)

When viewing Summer Forecast, -1 term means Winter/Spring Forecast of the same year (e.g. Summer 2025 Forecast, -1 Term = Winter/Spring 2025)

Codes Used (-2 Terms)

Number of codes used two terms from the forecasting term

🔵 When viewing Winter/Spring Forecast, -2 term means Summer of the prior year (e.g. Winter/Spring 2025 Forecast, -2 Term = Summer 2024)

When viewing Autumn Forecast, -2 term means Winter/Spring Forecast of the same year (e.g. Autumn 2025 Forecast, -2 Term = Winter/Spring 2025)

When viewing Summer Forecast, -2 term means Autumn Forecast of the prior year (e.g. Summer 2025 Forecast, -2 Term = Autumn 2024)

Codes Used (-3 Terms)

Number of codes used three terms from the forecasting term

🔵 When viewing Winter/Spring Forecast, -3 term means Winter/Spring of the prior year (e.g. Winter/Spring 2025 Forecast, -3 Term = Winter/Spring 2024)

When viewing Autumn Forecast, -3 term means Autumn Forecast of the prior year (e.g. Autumn 2025 Forecast, -3 Term = Autumn 2024)

When viewing Summer Forecast, -3 term means Summer Forecast of the prior year (e.g. Summer 2025 Forecast, -3 Term = Summer 2024)

Codes Used (-4 Terms)

Number of codes used 4 terms from the forecasting term

🔵 When viewing Winter/Spring Forecast, -4 term means Autumn of two years prior (e.g. Winter/Spring 2025 Forecast, -4 Term = Autumn 2023)

When viewing Autumn Forecast, -4 term means Summer Forecast of the prior year (e.g. Autumn 2025 Forecast, -4 Term = Summer 2024)

When viewing Summer Forecast, -4 term means Winter/Spring Forecast of the prior year (e.g. Summer 2025 Forecast, -4 Term = Winter/Spring 2024)

Codes Used (-5 Terms)

Number of codes used five terms from the forecasting term

🔵 When viewing Winter/Spring Forecast, -5 term means Summer of two years prior (e.g. Winter/Spring 2025 Forecast, -5 Term = Summer 2023)

When viewing Autumn Forecast, -5 term means Winter/Spring Forecast of the prior year (e.g. Autumn 2025 Forecast, -5 Term = Winter/Spring 2024)

When viewing Summer Forecast, -5 term means Autumn Forecast of two years prior (e.g. Summer 2025 Forecast, -5 Term = Autumn 2023)

Courseware URL Courseware URL
Created (Date) Date when the code was created
Distributor Country Country where the distributor is located (two-character code)
Estimated Demand (Qty) Estimated forecast of expected access code usage
Expiration (Date) Date when the code expires, if a discrete expiration exists
Forecast Term Term for which codes are being forecasted
Library Name Name of the library used to categorise assets based on a taxonomy (where applicable)
Licence Duration (Download) Duration length for access to the downloadable version of the material (in Bookshelf)
Licence Duration (Online) Duration length for access to the online version of the material (in Bookshelf)
Item Name Name of the courseware item 
Publisher Content owner (Manage company name) 
Requested Supply (Qty) Number of codes requested to be added to Manage to meet forecast demand
VBID VitalSource ID associated with the item
SKU Item SKU the Bookshelf code is generated against
Related Print ISBN Related print ISBN of the code generating SKU
Related Digital ISBN Related digital ISBN of the code-generating SKU
Product Type

Indicates the product type that the code was accessed from

Included values:

  • Demo - indicates that the code was generated from a demo or sample-like product
  • Package - indicates that the code was generated from a package-like product
  • Rental - indicates that the code was generated from a rental or subscription-like product
  • Single - indicates that the code was generated from a perpetual-like product
Redeemed (Date) Date when the code was redeemed
Refund Expiration (Date) Date when the code is no longer eligible for refunds
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