> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.meridian.study/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Beacon Overview

> Events, approval routing, stakeholders, and Beacon reporting

# Beacon

Beacon is Meridian’s surface for **campus events as an institutional process**: creation and change, **who must approve**, how requests **route across stakeholders**, and how policy is expressed in software. Engagement feeds and notifications are part of the experience, but the **center of gravity is the event system plus approval routing and the stakeholder model**—not “just a feed.”

Beacon has **its own reporting** (event performance, funnel and RSVP views where productized, approval throughput, and admin analytics). That is separate in intent from **Compass** utilization reports or **Atlas** org-directory and membership reporting, even though all three read from related data.

## Key features

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Event lifecycle" icon="calendar">
    Draft → review → published → RSVP → check-in → wrap-up, with room needs delegated to Compass where applicable
  </Card>

  <Card title="Approval routing" icon="route">
    Multi-step flows, domain-aware routing, and clear ownership at each gate
  </Card>

  <Card title="Stakeholder model" icon="users-gear">
    Roles, domains, and permissions that determine who sees what and who can move work forward
  </Card>

  <Card title="Beacon reporting" icon="chart-column">
    Event- and workflow-oriented analytics and admin dashboards distinct from Compass utilization or Atlas org metrics
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Core capabilities

### Events

* Rich event definitions, collaborators, visibility, and templates (see [Beacon event system](/beacon/events))
* Integration with **Compass** when events need rooms or resources on a schedule
* Integration with **Atlas** when events are owned by or attributed to organizations

### Approvals & policy

* Configurable approval types (required vs notify vs acknowledge)
* Conditional routing by event attributes, location, org, or domain rules
* Audit-friendly progression: who acted, when, and outcome

### Stakeholders

* Institutional roles tied into routing (not only “org officers”)
* Domain management where the product separates areas of responsibility
* Alignment between **Atlas** org permissions and **Beacon** event/stakeholder rules where features intersect

## Architecture

Beacon integrates with:

* **Frontend**: operator and admin surfaces (for example under feature admin for Beacon configuration)
* **Backend**: event and workflow routers in the monolith, plus notification channels (email, in-app, mobile where wired)
* **Compass**: scheduling and rooms for event logistics
* **Atlas**: organization membership and org-scoped policy that gates who can create or sponsor what

## Who uses it

* **Event organizers**: propose work, respond to feedback, publish when clear
* **Approvers & stakeholders**: act inside routing rules without manual email chains
* **Admins**: tune workflows, domains, and reporting for their campus

## Getting started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Event system" icon="calendar" href="/beacon/events">
    Lifecycle, RSVP, check-in, and how Beacon talks to Compass and Atlas
  </Card>

  <Card title="HTTP API" icon="code" href="/api-reference/introduction">
    Event-management and related REST surfaces
  </Card>

  <Card title="Atlas (organizations)" icon="map" href="/atlas/overview">
    Org directory and permissions that often gate event creation
  </Card>

  <Card title="Compass (scheduling)" icon="compass" href="/compass/overview">
    Utilization and room scheduling when events need space
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Related pages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Event management API" icon="calendar" href="/api-reference/event-management">
    REST reference for org events, RSVPs, and assignments Beacon depends on.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Event dashboard (Atlas)" icon="table-columns" href="/atlas/event-dashboard">
    Organizer UI for agendas, readiness, and analytics tabs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Platform analytics" icon="chart-column" href="/backend/analytics-platform">
    Event pipeline powering funnel and RSVP insights in reporting.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Authentication overview" icon="shield" href="/backend/auth/overview">
    How attendees and organizers sign in across tenant subdomains.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Testing" icon="flask" href="/testing">
    Regression tests for event and auth flows before release.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deployment" icon="cloud" href="/deployment">
    Shipping Beacon-related backend changes safely through CI.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>