Active moment vs. passive standing state
The same condition has two lives. Treat them differently — same underlying issue, different delivery.
Active — you just caused it
Passive — it's just… like that
Amber count-badges lead you to the exact spotrecommended core
The badge starts on the program, carries into Program Configuration, lands on whichever step is in trouble (People / Schedule / Groups — several can be at once), then points at the exact row. Counts roll up so you find it from the top without knowing where it is; the detail (or a toast) shows only when you arrive.
The trail narrows by level. Program 5 = 2 People + 1 Schedule + 2 Groups; each step badge drills to its exact point — an unassigned section (People), a period with no times (Schedule), a tutorless pod or pod-less students (Groups) — where the detail appears. The detail is a signal, not another dot (see the collision note below).
One place that lists everything outstandingcomplement / alternative
A bell in the top bar with a count; open it for the full list, each row jumping to where the issue lives. Good for "how much is outstanding" at a glance; weaker at pulling you in while you work.
Best paired with the trail: the bell answers "is there anything?" and "how much?"; the trail answers "where?" and walks you there. Recommendation is both — bell for magnitude, trail for wayfinding.
Amber, and mind the dots we already use
Red loses contrast on our chrome and reads as an error; amber says "needs attention" and stands apart from danger-red. The real trap: we already use a dot to mean "this person is in another pod." Putting an attention dot on that same surface is dot-on-dot.
Amber dot leaf only
Smallest footprint. Fine at a tiny leaf — but no magnitude, and collides where occupancy dots live.
Amber count-badge recommend
Carries the fan-out count; unmistakably "attention", not occupancy. Lives on nav chrome, not inside the board.
The collision to avoid
Inside the pod board, don't stack an attention dot on the occupancy dot — surface the issue there as the toast/detail instead.
Rule of thumb: attention count-badge on nav chrome (program · step · cohort row — no dots there) → arrive → the issue shows as a signal/detail, never another dot on the dotted board.
The standing states this covers — spread across the config steps
They can appear with no action to hang a toast on, so passive delivery is the only way they're seen (plus an active toast at the moment, if a user did cause it). Different steps hold different ones:
People: a section not assigned to a Period · Schedule: a period with no times · Groups: a tutorless pod (#343) or pod-less students (#461). All quiet, dismissible-until-resolved, reached via the trail/bell. Any active warning also becomes one of these once dismissed-but-unresolved.
1. Trail, bell, or both? — recommendation: both (bell = magnitude, trail = wayfinding).
2. Marker form — amber count-badge on nav chrome (recommended) vs plain dot; confirm amber over red.
3. When does the detail show? — only in-context (recommended), or also a persistent inline banner on the page (risk: the nag).
4. Dismiss semantics — dismiss = "I've seen it, keep it counted" vs "hide until it changes"? It must never fully disappear while unresolved.