UX: Design proposal for async process notification

Problem

There are proposals to make part of our basic workflows for groups and projects (creation, transfer) async in order to improve performance of these operations. See &17829, for example.

For some of these operations that are supposed to be handled async, the time frame is probably just a few seconds. For others, these could be longer, for instance during transfer operations. The larger a group or project is, the more likely it is that these operations take longer to be completed.

This raises the problem that we need to communicate to users when such an operation has been completed, in case it lasts minutes or even multiple hours, because it is likely that the user will turn away and focus on other things in the meantime.

Async notification threshold: 3s

We've established a 3-second threshold to determine async notification behavior:

• Actions completing < 3 seconds: Display toast feedback after completion
• Actions completing > 3 seconds: Show both toast feedback and async notifications after action initiation
  • Async notifications will cover: (1) process initiation and (2) process completion
  • For incomplete processes: provide retry options and admin contact functionality

Design proposal

Actions completing < 3 seconds

• Toast feedback

Actions completing > 3 seconds

• Initial toast feedback (e.g. transfer begins)
• Process update (e.g. transfer complete, transfer fails)
  • In-app notifications
    • Option 1 ✅: Enhanced "Items that need your attention" section
      • Add "Long operations" covering:
        • Process completion notifications
        • Error alerts requiring user action
    • Option 2: Dedicated "Process Status" card
    • Option 3: Enhanced Activity Feed integration
    • Option 4: Reuse to-do list to service process update
  • Email notifications (Lower priority fallback option)
    • Consider for failed notification

Design thinking

Home page - option 1 - 3	To-Do List → Activity Feed - option 4

Error scenarios related to transfer process

1. Cannot update the path because there are projects under this group that contain Docker images in their container registry. Please remove the images from your projects first and try again.
2. Validation failed: Group URL has already been taken
3. Group is already a root group.
4. Validation failed: Name has already been taken