Unified Operations Inbox

The Unified Operations Inbox (/inbox) is the communications and triage command center for multi-location restaurant groups. It consolidates operational messages, phone follow-ups, and safety/operational incident reports into a single, high-efficiency feed.

Access & PermissionsCopy Anchor Link

The inbox auto-adapts based on your role and active location scope:

• Managers & Admins: Default to Needs Attention to quickly triage unowned incidents, aging follow-ups, and urgent items across authorized locations.
• Standard Staff Members: Default to My Work to focus on items assigned to, reported by, or owned by them.

Four Canonical ViewsCopy Anchor Link

The Operations Inbox provides four structured views:

1. Needs Attention — Unassigned items, items due or follow-up due, and critical/escalated events requiring management triage.
2. My Work — Items owned, assigned to, or submitted by you across your authorized locations.
3. All Active — All open messages and incidents for the active location scope.
4. History — Terminal records: resolved incidents and completed or dismissed messages with searchable resolution details and date ranges.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [ Needs Attention ] [ My Work ] [ All Active ] [ History ]  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Scope workload: Overdue: X · Unassigned: Y                 │
├────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┤
│  Master List               │  Detail Pane                   │
│  (Filtered cards & rank)   │  (Thread, lifecycle & actions) │
└────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘

At the top of the inbox, you can:

• Scope Workload Metrics: View overdue and unassigned counts scoped strictly to your authorized locations in the feed toolbar, maintaining separate semantics from view totals.
• Search: Filter records by text query or subject. Search filters update the active list without altering workload metrics.
• Filter by Location: Toggle between a single active location or all accessible locations.
• Filter Sheet: Narrow by source (All, Phone), item kind (All, Messages, Incidents), priority/severity (P1, P2, P3), owner (All, My work, Unassigned), and History status or date range. Incompatible filter combinations normalize safely, and clearing filters preserves your view and location scope.

Action Hierarchy & LifecycleCopy Anchor Link

The Operations Inbox provides distinct, explicit lifecycles for messages and incidents.

Message LifecycleCopy Anchor Link

• Unclaimed → In Progress → Waiting → Completed or Dismissed.
• Claim: Assigns the message to you and transitions state to In Progress.
• Wait: Pauses active triage until a future follow-up timestamp (waitingUntil). Requires an explicit reason. Follow-up items return to Needs Attention when the scheduled follow-up time arrives without modifying the original commitment deadline (dueAt).
• Resume: Returns waiting work immediately to In Progress without requiring a reason.
• Complete / Dismiss: Terminal states requiring an explicit outcome reason (e.g. resolved, responded, no_response_needed, cancelled, duplicate, not_reproducible, unassigned).
• Reopen: Restores a completed or dismissed message to In Progress with an audited justification.

Incident LifecycleCopy Anchor Link

• Reported → Investigating → Deferred → Resolved.
• Resolving an incident is explicit and terminal. The inbox does not introduce artificial closed or archived states for incidents.

Adding Updates & AudienceCopy Anchor Link

The detail pane features an Add update composer:

• Audience Transparency: Every update clearly states its authorized visibility:
  • Reporter & Team: Visible to the reporter, involved team members, and management.
  • Internal Management Note: Restricted strictly to authorized managers and administrators.
• Draft Resilience: Form drafts are preserved per record kind and ID. Navigating between records or handling incoming updates preserves in-progress drafts without data loss.

Phone & Voice InteractionsCopy Anchor Link

For records originating from voice calls or phone messages:

• Call Actions: Click-to-call (tel:) buttons and phone number copy actions are available for authorized personnel.
• Explicit Completion: Dialing or copying a phone number does not imply delivery or automatically complete the record. Managers explicitly complete or update phone records after concluding communication.
• Transcript & Recording: Transcripts and recording links are available within authorized detail views when provided by the voice integration.

Canonical Links & Mobile NavigationCopy Anchor Link

• Canonical Item Links: Links formatted as /inbox?id=<id>&kind=<message|incident> open directly into the selected record without leaking query filters or user PII into shared URLs.
• Mobile Experience:
  • On mobile viewports (375px–390px), the inbox presents a clean, single-column feed.
  • Tapping a card opens the detail view in a dedicated full-screen drawer.
  • An accessible Back to list button restores previous list context, scroll position, and keyboard focus without looping.

Mutation States & Conflict ResolutionCopy Anchor Link

• State Feedback: Actions display explicit Saving…, Saved, and error states.
• Safe Write Persistence: If a mutation succeeds on the server but background list refresh encounters network disruption, the UI reports Saved, but the latest view could not be refreshed, guaranteeing confirmed writes are never mislabeled as failures.
• Version Conflict Handling: Simultaneous updates by multiple managers are detected via optimistic locking. When a conflict occurs, you can Review latest to inspect recent changes without losing your local draft text.

Retained Keyboard ShortcutsCopy Anchor Link

For rapid triage on desktop viewports outside form controls:

Note: Keyboard shortcuts are intentionally ignored when typing inside inputs, textareas, comboboxes, open dialogs, or during IME composition.

Incident ConversionCopy Anchor Link

Operational messages can be converted into formal Incidents directly from the detail pane:

• Conversion atomically links the source message and the newly generated incident.
• The source message remains In Progress for operational follow-up.
• Resolving the incident or completing the source message remain independent, ensuring thorough audit trails across both domains.