Methods and systems are presented for indicating the proximity of a process requirement metric to a corresponding system process requirement in a physiological monitor. Metrics are determined based on a received physiological signal, such as a PPG signal. At least one of the metrics is compared to a corresponding system process requirement, such as a threshold, which can be used to trigger a system process, such as an alarm, a recalibration, or a measurement. The proximity of the metric to the corresponding system process requirement is calculated and indicated. Indicating the proximity to a system process requirement may provide valuable information to clinicians and allow them to manually trigger system processes, such as measurements or recalibrations, when a metric is close to a system process requirement for a significant period of time.