Navigation
What It Is
Navigation is the console's visible map of work. It organizes destinations so that people can move among applications, shared tools and workspace administration without learning a separate interface for each product. The map also accommodates an organization's own record types, making custom work part of the same console experience.
The menu represents destinations rather than business records themselves. A destination has a recognizable name and a place in a group. Its presentation draws on shared catalogues and the person's current context. This gives the product a consistent basis for menu entries, current-position highlighting and planned destinations, while leaving each destination's actual task to its owning module.
What It Is Not
A menu is not a grant of authority. Showing an entry helps a person find work; hiding one reduces confusion. Page and service checks still determine whether the requested work can proceed. A saved address can reach a page without passing through the menu at all.
Navigation is distinct from search and breadcrumbs. Search helps locate a record or page by what the person knows about it. Breadcrumbs explain a position in a hierarchy. Navigation gives a broader set of destinations from which to choose. Custom application records are also separate: metadata defines those records, while navigation presents their placements.
How It Is Used
Customer staff usually begin with the applications relevant to their work and move to a list or tool from there. Administrators enter a settings area when they need to change the workspace rather than operate within it. Rhythm staff have their own destinations when carrying out Rhythm's work and the customer's navigation when entering a customer workspace.
A long menu makes recognition harder, so filtering supports finding a destination by name. The current position helps someone return their attention to the group they are already using. Returning from settings also has a navigation purpose: the person should be able to resume their work with a clear understanding of the destination that is restored.
Its Facets
Groups and destinations. Application sections organize related work, while menu items name individual tasks. Shared tools and links to related services occupy their own positions in that organization.
Administrative and staff contexts. Settings areas replace the daily-work map with an administrative one. Rhythm HQ has a staff map for work outside a customer's workspace. These contexts make the purpose of a destination easier to recognize.
Customer extensions. Custom placements make the organization's own record types visible within an application or a custom grouping. Their labels and grouping are presentation choices supplied by metadata.
Finding and orientation. The filter narrows what a person needs to scan. The active position connects the address being viewed with the destination represented in the menu. These facets serve different needs: choosing somewhere new and understanding the current place.
How It Relates
The console shell provides the space for navigation. Console addresses provide destinations and a way to recognize the current page. Application access determines which product sections are relevant to the workspace and person. Security provides permission answers used in presenting entries.
Metadata owns customer-defined applications and record types. Navigation consumes their placements without taking ownership of their creation or administration. The service behind a destination remains responsible for its data and refusals.
What It Could Become
The product should decide how unfinished destinations appear during customer use. The product should also review the broader information architecture before adding new administrative groups or shared tools. Personal favourites and pinned destinations could reduce repeated navigation, but their persistence and relationship to changing access need an explicit product decision.