Once the project opens, you will see a vertical bar with menu items. See below for an explanation of each of the menu items.
Is this your first time working with BriefBuilder? Our “Introducing BriefBuilder” video goes through all menu items one-by-one, and is a great way to to get an overview of BriefBuilder’s main features.
Please note that the list of menu items is dependent on the modules that are being used in your project. Missing something? Contact your BriefBuilder administrator.
Project home
The project home is the first page you see when accessing a project. On this page you will find basic information about the project:
- Status (are you looking at an active project or one that is archived?)
- Version (is it the working version, in which you can edit, or a ‘frozen’ published version?)
- Project information (e.g. client name or type of tender, click here to see how you can edit this)
- Comments (the comments in the model that are addressed to you personally)
In addition, there is an ‘action button’ on the project home page that is quite crucial:
- the history button that shows the latest changes in the requirements (only visible in the working version) of your project model
If you want to know more about how to check your project’s history, watch this short video on the subject.
Requirements
Under this header, you will find access to all the ‘trees’ that can be used to formulate requirements concerning the project.
General
Here you can find the general requirements that apply to the project as a whole.
 | Objectives & principles | What needs to be achieved? And what are the general ideas and design principles that underpin the project? |
 | Standards (optional) | What are the general standards (e.g. building codes) that apply to the project? |
Project
Here is a set of requirements that relates directly to the design and function of the project that has to be build (and/or maintained).
 | Users (optional) | Who will be the users/occupants of the building? |
 | User activities (optional) | What are the (user) activities that need to be facilitated? |
 | Spaces | What kind of spaces and areas have to be realized? |
 | Systems & elements | What are the relevant technical systems and elements? |
 | User equipment (optional) | What kind of user equipment needs to be placed in the building? |
Services
These are requirements concerning the services (e.g. maintenance) that have to be delivered once the project is completed (if relevant).
 | Services (optional) | What services are part of the contract scope? |
 | Performance failures (optional) | How to deal with possible performance failures? |
 | Quality measurements (optional) | How can the quality of the delivered services be measured? |
Process
These requirements concern the delivery process. The requirements do not concern what has to be delivered, but how it needs to be delivered.
 | Processes & activities | What processes and/or activities need to be performed by the parties that are responsible for delivering the project? |
 | Products | What are the products (e.g. documents, samples) that need to be delivered to the client during the realization of the project? |
Analysis
Under this header, you can find access to a table in which you analyze the set of requirements, or see the results of the analysis (depending on your role).
Please note that the analysis feature can also be viewed/used on the detailview of objects. To do so, click on the second of the four view options in the upper right corner (the button has the icon of a small flag).
Verification
Under this header, you can find the verification table (also often referred to as verification matrix or compliance matrix) that shows all the requirements and the verification data that are related to it.
Please note that the verification feature can also be viewed/used on the detailview of objects. To do so, click on the third of the four view options in the upper right corner (the button has the icon of a checkmark).
Furthermore, there is a button called ‘demonstration documents’ that gives access to a tree/list of the documents that a contractor wants to use as proof/supporting material in the verification process.
Please note that there are alternative ways to deal with demonstration documents. If there is a document management system (DMS), it will be easier to create an extra column in the verification table called “URL demonstration document” (via the verification settings menu), which can then be used to add links to the DMS.
Overviews
Under this header, you find the links to a number of tabular overviews. These overviews can be very handy for getting an overview of the overall set of requirements. For editors, the overviews offer the possibility to work in a more ‘excel-like’ way.
The following overviews are available:
| Cross tables – requirements | This table can showcase a tree’s (1) properties, (2) relations or (3) both at the same time (e.g., spatial object’s sizes and quantities, as well as their relations to technical elements). |
| Area overview | Overview and calculation of the project’s size in terms of square meters and room quantities |
| Comments | Overview all the comments (and responses) that have been made |
TIP: you can easily copy data from Excel sheets into BriefBuilder’s cross tables. Just select the cells that you want to copy from your Excel sheet (CTRL-c) . Then select the cells in your cross table where you want to paste these, and click CTRL-v (paste).
If you want to know more about these overviews, most of them have a dedicated quick guide in our video gallery. Look them up on our tutorial video page.
Diagrams
In BriefBuilder we currently offer two kinds of diagrams, which are mostly relevant for building projects.
| Area diagram | Bubble diagram that depicts the project’s spatial decomposition in a visual way, with each object represented as a circle. |
| Adjacency diagram | Similar to above, but all spatial objects and their interrelations are shown individually. |
Settings
There four kinds of settings. These settings are only visible if your project role allows you to edit these settings.
Requirement settings
Click on “standard properties” to be able to define the standard properties for requirement objects (spaces, systems etc.)
Analysis settings
Click on “standard properties” to be able to define the columns/properties that you want to use for your requirement analysis.
Verification settings
Click on “standard properties” to be able to define the columns/properties that you want to use for your requirements verification and to define the phases in which the verifications have to take place.
Admin settings
Under Admin settings you can define the general set-up of your project model by selecting different kinds of modules.