Student Purchases Report – VitalSource Success

Overview

The Student Purchases dashboard provides insight into student purchases leading up through course start. It draws from order and fulfillment data within the student choice/retail model and helps users monitor purchasing trends, payment methods, and fulfillment status across their course catalog. For Course Access and Total Access details, see the Student Participation and Materials Report.

Audience	Institutions
Internal vs. External	External
Number of Tabs	1
Last Documentation Update	July 1, 2026

Key Questions This Dashboard Answers

What are students purchasing, and when are they placing those orders relative to course start?
What payment methods are students using, and how many orders include financial aid?
Are there items at risk of not being fulfilled before the course begins?
What is the volume and value of returns and refunds?
How are rental items progressing through their lifecycle stages?

How to Use This Dashboard

Set your filters first — Use the Course Start Date filter to scope purchases to the relevant term. The default view surfaces purchases for courses starting within the next two months from the current date. Apply the Institution filter if you need to narrow results to a specific campus or manage company.
- Order Details tile — Use the Order ID filter to look up a specific transaction within this tile. Use the Student Identifier filter to look up orders for a specific student by their institutional ID.
Review the summary tiles — The top KPI tiles give aggregate counts for orders, items purchased, financial aid usage, and at-risk fulfillment items. Use these to quickly assess the overall health of purchasing activity for the period.
Drill into the detail table — The Order Details tile provides a row-level view of every order line, including shipping status, payment method, and return information. Use the Order Line field to de-duplicate students assigned the same material across multiple courses.
Monitor rentals — Use the Count of Rentals by Stage tile to understand where rental items currently stand in their lifecycle, including those in use, extended, returned on time, late, or returned late.

💡 Tip: The access filter automatically limits results to only products distributed by your institution — no additional filtering is needed to scope by your catalog.

Filters

Filters apply across the entire dashboard unless otherwise noted.

Filter Name	Description	Required?	Default Value	Applies To
Order ID	Unique identifier for the order	No	None	Order Details tile only
Order Date	Date the order was placed	No	None	All tiles
Student Name	Name of the student who purchased items	No	None	All tiles
Student Email	Email address associated with the purchasing student	No	None	All tiles
Student Identifier	Institutional student ID associated with the purchasing student	No	None	All tiles
ISBN	ISBN of the item purchased	No	None	All tiles
Course Start Date	Date the course is expected to begin	No	0 days ago for 2 months (upcoming course starts over the next two months)	All tiles
Institution	Name of the institution (Manage Company Name)	No	None	All tiles
Access Program	Program for the material purchased: SC – Student Choice, CA – Course Access, TA – Total Access	No	None	All tiles
Product Type	Identifies the type of product: Digital – content available through a digital medium; Physical – typically a printed textbook; Non-Book – materials that are not a textbook; Rental – items fulfilled as a rental	No	None	All tiles

Dashboard Tiles

Tiles are numbered top to bottom, left to right.

Tile Name	Tab	Visualization Type	Description
Total Orders Placed	Main	KPI	Total number of orders placed by students
Total Items Purchased	Main	KPI	Net total of items purchased across orders, excluding canceled, substituted, and returned items
Purchases using Financial Aid	Main	KPI	Percentage of orders purchased using financial aid. Orders with split payments (e.g., financial aid and credit card) count toward the total orders using financial aid.
Items At-Risk for Fulfillment	Main	KPI	Count of ordered items at risk of not being fulfilled on time. See the At-Risk Adoptions Report for more detail.
Purchases by Content Type	Main	Bar Chart	Breakdown of items purchased by content type
Total Items Returned	Main	KPI	Total number of items returned
Total Orders with Pending Returns	Main	KPI	Total orders containing items with a return status of "pending" or "on hold," indicating the return has not yet been processed
Average Student Spend	Main	KPI	Average total spend per student across all orders
Average Item Price	Main	KPI	Average price across all items purchased
Purchases by Access Model	Main	Chart	Percentage of orders placed by Day One Access model
Purchases by Payment Method	Main	Chart	Comparison of payment methods used to purchase materials
Count of Rentals by Stage	Main	Chart	Breakdown of rental items by their current lifecycle stage: In Use, Extended, Returned, Late, or Returned (Late)
Order Details	Main	Table	Detailed row-level view of orders and materials purchased by students, including returns, shipping details, and rental dates

Fields & Metrics

All fields on this dashboard, listed alphabetically.

Field Name	Description	Data Type	Example Value
Amount Refunded	Total amount refunded to the student	Number	$45.00
Author(s)	Name(s) of the author(s) associated with the item purchased	Text	Jane Smith
Campus	Name of the campus supplied by the institution, if applicable	Text	North Campus
Content Type	Format of the material purchased	Text	eBook
Course	Name of the course for which materials were purchased. If a student is assigned the same material for two different courses, that item appears for both courses — it does not mean the item was purchased twice. Use Order Line to de-duplicate.	Text	BIOL 101 - Introduction to Biology
Course Start Date	Date the course is expected to begin	Date	08/25/2025
Delivery Date	Date materials were delivered to the student	Date	08/20/2025
Edition	Edition of the item purchased, if applicable	Text	5th
Fulfillment Provider	Name of the party responsible for delivering the material. "Virtual" displays when a student is issued an access code.	Text	Virtual
Institution	Name of the institution (Manage Company Name)	Text	State University
ISBN	ISBN of the item purchased. If a student is assigned the same material for two different courses, that item appears for both courses. Use Order Line to de-duplicate.	Text	9781234567890
Item Name	Title or description of the item purchased	Text	Introduction to Biology, 5th Edition
Material Required?	Indicates whether the material is required for the course based on the course adoption	Text	Yes / No
Order Date	Date the order was placed	Date	08/15/2025
Order ID	Unique identifier for the order	Text	ORD-00123456
Order Line	Unique identifier for the individual line item within an order	Text	ORD-00123456-1
Order Status	Delivery status of the item: Canceled – material was canceled; Late – shipped after 3 days from purchase OR after the course start date; On-Time – shipped within 3 days or by no later than the course start date	Text	On-Time
Payment Method	Method of payment the student used to purchase the material	Text	Financial Aid
Picked Up Date	Date materials were picked up by the student (when delivered to campus)	Date	08/22/2025
Product Type	Type of product purchased: Digital – content available through a digital medium; Physical – typically a printed textbook; Non-Book – materials that are not a textbook; Rental – items fulfilled as a rental	Text	Digital
Purchase Price	Price the student paid for the material	Number	$89.99
Rental Due Date	Date the rental item is due to be returned by the student	Date	12/15/2025
Rental Extended Date	Date through which a rental extension has been granted, if applicable	Date	01/15/2026
Return Initiated Date	Date the return was initiated by the student	Date	09/01/2025
Return Reason	Reason for the return, if available	Text	Dropped Course
Return Status	Process status of the return, if applicable	Text	Pending / Complete
Section ID	Unique identifier for the course section for which materials were purchased	Text	SEC-20250001
Shipping Fee	Cost of shipping charged to the student for the order	Number	$5.99
Shipping Date	Date the material shipped	Date	08/18/2025
Shipping Service Level	Service level selected for the material's shipment	Text	Standard / Expedited
Shipping Tracking Numbers	Tracking number(s) for the shipped material. For digital items, displays the access code where applicable; for physical items, displays the carrier tracking number.	Text	1Z999AA10123456784
Split Payment (Y/N)	Indicates whether the purchase was paid for using multiple payment methods	Text	Y / N
Student Email	Email address associated with the student who purchased items	Text	student@university.edu
Student Identifier	Institutional student ID associated with the purchasing student	Text	STU-000123
Student Name	Name of the student who purchased items	Text	John Doe
Taxes	Tax amount charged on the order	Number	$7.25

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why does the same item appear more than once for a student?
A: If a student is assigned the same material for two different courses, that item will appear for both courses. This does not mean the student purchased it twice. Use the Order Line field to de-duplicate these cases.

Q: Why is the default date range set to the next two months?
A: The default Course Start Date filter is set to show purchases for upcoming course starts over the next two months from the day you are viewing the report. This helps users focus on near-term fulfillment activity without being overwhelmed by historical data.

Q: Why does the Order ID filter only affect the Order Details tile?
A: The Order ID filter is designed to look up a specific transaction and only applies to the Order Details tile. The summary KPI tiles reflect aggregate data across all orders matching the other active filters.

Q: What is the difference between Product Type and Content Type?
A: Product Type identifies the category of product (Digital, Physical, Non-Book, or Rental). Content Type describes the specific format of the material (e.g., eBook, Loose Leaf, Lab Kit). A Physical product might have a Content Type of "Loose Leaf," for example.

Q: What rental stages appear in the Count of Rentals by Stage tile?
A: The tile reflects five stages: In Use – rental is active and within the due date; Extended – the rental period has been extended beyond the original due date; Returned – rental was returned on time; Late – rental has passed its due date and has not been returned; Returned (Late) – rental was returned after the due date.