*Updated: June 2026*
*Author: Carefree Support*
Navigation in CarefreeSCADA is handled through the collapsible **left sidebar** and the **top bar**. This page describes every navigation section and what you will find there.
![[navigation-overview.svg]]
---
## Top Bar
The top bar runs across the top of every page and contains four controls:
| Icon | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| ☰ | Menu | Collapse or expand the left sidebar |
| 🔔 Active | Alarms | Shows the count of currently active alarms. Click to open the Alarms page. Turns orange/red when alarms are present |
| 🔒 | Session Lock | Locks or unlocks your authenticated session. Controls (setpoints, alarm limits) require an unlocked session |
| 👤 | Account | Opens your account panel — sign out, view connection status, manage preferences |
---
## Left Sidebar
The sidebar groups navigation into three areas: **utility sections** at the top (expandable), **core pages** below those, and your **site pages** at the bottom.
### Analytics ▶
Clicking Analytics expands a sub-menu with the following pages:
- **Alarm Journal** — historical record of every alarm event: when it became active, when it cleared, and who acknowledged it. See [[Alarm Journal]].
- **Tag Historian** — custom multi-tag trend builder. Pull historical data from any site into a single configurable chart. See [[Tag Historian]].
- **Custom Report** — scheduled formatted reports. See [[Custom Report]].
- Additional customer-specific reports may appear here if configured by Carefree Support.
### Help ▶
- **Support Tickets** — submit bugs or feature requests to Carefree Support. See [[Support Tickets]].
- **Carefree Systems Maintenance Schedule** — view upcoming planned maintenance windows. See [[Carefree Systems Maintenance Schedule]].
### Manage Account ▶
*Visible only to users with the Manager role.*
- **User Management** — add, edit, and remove team members. See [[User Management]].
- **On-Call Roster** — configure who receives alarm notifications and at what escalation level. See [[On-Call Roster]].
- **Audit Log** — view a log of all changes made by users: control operations, alarm acknowledgments, configuration changes, and sign-in activity. See [[Audit Log]].
### Alarms
The Alarms page shows a live table of every alarm in the system. Filters at the top let you narrow the view to just Active/Unacknowledged alarms, or any combination of states and priorities. See [[Alarm States]] for a full explanation of what each state means.
### Dashboard
The Dashboard is a fully customizable overview page. You can pull in any display object from any of your Sites — analog values, digital indicators, trend charts, or panels — and arrange them however you like. Multiple dashboard configurations can be saved and one can be set as your default on login. See [[Dashboards]].
### Map
The Map page shows the geographic locations of all your Sites on an interactive map. Clicking a site marker on the map navigates directly to that site's page.
---
## Sites
The lower portion of the sidebar lists all of your sites. Sites with sub-pages (multiple process locations grouped together) have an arrow ▶ indicating they expand. Clicking a site name or a sub-site opens that site's page.
### Site Page Layout
Each site page shows real-time data for a single process location. The layout is:
```
[ Site Name Header ] [ ✏ Pencil ] [ 🔔 Bell + alarm count ] [ ⚙ Gear ]
____________________________________________________________
| Analog Value 1 | Analog Value 2 | Analog Value 3 ... |
|____________________|___________________|______________________|
| Panel (Pump 1) | Panel (Pump 2) | Digital Values |
| | | |
|____________________|___________________|______________________|
| Site Trend (last 12 hrs by default) |
| Multiple pens — Save Trend button |
|_______________________________________________________________|
```
**Top-right icons on a site page:**
- **✏ Pencil** — customize which values appear as Analog Displays, Digital Displays, or Panels. Requires Manager or Operator-L1 role. See [[Customize Site Pages]].
- **🔔 Bell** — view alarms specific to this site. If authenticated, you can modify alarm modes and limits from here. See [[Site Alarm Control]].
- **⚙ Gear** — operate site controls (pump start/stop, setpoint changes). Requires authenticated session and Operator-L1 or Manager role. See [[Site Controls]].
> Icons only appear when the corresponding feature has been configured for that site.
**Clicking an Analog Display** on a site page opens a 12-hour mini-trend popup for that tag (if history is enabled on that tag).
---
## Authentication (Session Lock)
Certain actions — operating controls, modifying alarm limits — require an **authenticated session**. To authenticate:
1. Click the **🔒 padlock icon** in the top-right of any page.
2. Choose your preferred Multi-Factor Authentication delivery method (email or SMS).
3. Enter the 6-digit verification code and click Submit.
Your session remains authenticated until it times out or you manually lock it. See [[Manage User Account]] for full details.
---
*For information on what each role can access, see [[User Permissions]].*
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