XB12 Reporting System
A custom-built reporting platform helping Rio Hondo College faculty classify and report instructional material costs across divisions and 117+ course prefixes, in compliance with California's XB12 data mandate.
The Challenge
Rio Hondo College needed a way to comply with a new California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office mandate: the XB12 Instructional-Material-Cost section-level data element, introduced for implementation in summer 2022. Faculty across 14 academic divisions and 117+ course prefixes were required to report the instructional material cost designation for every course section they teach -- classifying each as zero-cost OER, low-cost, no-cost digital, or traditional-cost, among other categories. Without a centralized system, the college faced the prospect of collecting this data through fragmented spreadsheets and manual processes, risking inconsistent reporting, data quality issues, and an unsustainable administrative burden as the mandate became permanent.
Our Approach
We designed and built a purpose-built web application from the ground up, tailored specifically to Rio Hondo College's institutional workflow. Rather than adapting a generic form tool, we created a system that mirrors how faculty actually work -- allowing them to report multiple course sections in a single session using a dynamic repeater interface, with division, term, and course prefix values drawn from administrator-managed option lists to ensure data consistency. The platform was architected around a role-based access model with three tiers, enabling faculty to submit and manage their own data while giving administrators full oversight through dashboards, analytics, bulk import/export, and user management. A public-facing dashboard was also built so institutional stakeholders can review submission data without needing an account.
Key Features
Guided Faculty Submission Workflow
Profile-aware form that pre-fills faculty information and locks division, year, and term selections to curated option lists. A dynamic repeater lets faculty report as many course sections as needed in one sitting, each tagged with the appropriate XB12 cost code.
Role-Based Access Control
Three-tier permission system (User, Standard, Admin) with granular per-user capability overrides. Faculty submit data, Standard users review and export, and Admins manage users, settings, form options, and the full submission lifecycle.
Analytics Dashboard
Administrative analytics surface submission counts by division, term, year, cost code, and course prefix -- giving leadership real-time visibility into reporting progress and textbook affordability trends across the institution.
Bulk Data Operations
CSV import and export functionality enables administrators to share XB12 data with other institutional systems and ingest bulk updates, with CSRF-protected actions and role-based permissions governing all data operations.
Secure Account Lifecycle
Self-registration with Cloudflare Turnstile bot protection, administrator approval workflow with time-limited signed links, email notifications at each lifecycle stage, and self-service password reset and profile management.
Results
- Replaced manual spreadsheet-based collection with a centralized, standardized reporting system serving all 14 academic divisions
- Enabled faculty to report instructional material costs for 117+ course prefixes across multiple terms in a streamlined, self-service workflow
- Delivered real-time institutional visibility into textbook affordability data through administrative analytics and a public dashboard
- Ensured data integrity through managed dropdown options, server-side validation, CSRF protection, and role-based access controls
- Established a sustainable, maintainable platform that scales with each new reporting term without additional administrative overhead