In BriefBuilder, there are dedicated modules for requirements verification. Verification is the process of checking whether requirements have been met. Are solutions compliant with the defined requirements?
By taking a systematic approach to verification, you can avoid requirements being overlooked or ignored during the design and/or construction process.
Typically, it is the design and engineering team that is responsible for verification. In some projects (e.g. Design & Construct projects), they even have a formal obligation to demonstrate that they are compliant with the client’s requirements.
Please note: verification comes in many different forms. It can be a simple checklist, but it also a more comprehensive set-up, in which requirements are linked to verification methods, verification phases, and demonstration documents. Both are possible in BriefBuilder.
Managing verification data in BriefBuilder
In BriefBuilder, part of the verification can be done inside the application by means of our IFC integration. However, in many cases verification will take place outside of BriefBuilder, e.g. by means of tests, calculations, simulations or inspections. For those verifications, BriefBuilder can be used to manage and administer verification information.
In BriefBuilder, we distinguish between four types of verification information.
- Verification plans: when, how and by whom should requirements be verified.
- Verification results: the outcome of the verification, i.e. compliant or not.
- Demonstation documents: documentation that demonstrates the compliance.
- Verification assessments: an assessment or approval of the verification outcome.
We’ll briefly discuss these four aspects below.
Verification plan
A verification plan is a description of when and how you will verify compliance with a particular requirement. Such a plan usually consists of the following attributes:
- The phase in which verifications will take place (e.g., design phase, construction phase)
- The selection of requirements that should be verified in a phase.
- The verification method that will be used (e.g., calculation, inspection)
- The person or party that is responsible for executing the verification (e.g., architect, electrical engineer).
The verification plan can be made by either the construction client or the contract party (contractor/design/engineering team). In the latter case, the verification plan usually has to be approved by the client before it is executed.
A more detailed explanation of how you can develop a verification plan for your project can be found here.
Verification result
The verification result encompasses information about the actual verification. Typical attributes are:
- The outcome of the verification (e.g., compliant, non-compliant, requires attention)
- Notes concerning the outcome (e.g., “non-compliant because ….”)
The verification results are usually added by the design and/or delivery team that is working on the project.
A more detailed explanation (and a video) of how to capture verification outcomes can be found here.
Demonstration document
Demonstration documents are documents or files that can be linked a verification result to demonstrate compliance. Examples of demonstration documents are test reports, inspection reports, calculations, specification sheets, and compliance certificates.
Demonstration documents can be manually uploaded in the BriefBuilder model or they can be fetched from a document management system (DMS).
A more detailed explanation about the use of demonstration documents can be found here.
Note: working with demonstration documents is optional. If you prefer not to use this in your project, you can easily de-activate this module via the modules button in the settings menu.
Verification assessment (optional)
Verification assessment is the activity of reviewing or approving the verification outcomes and the related demonstration documents. It is an activity that is usually done by the design team’s quality manager or the client’s project manager. The goal of such a ‘four eyes approach’ is to ensure that the verification outcomes are valid and correct.
Typical attributes are:
- Assessment outcomes (e.g. accepted versus rejected)
- Possible follow-up actions (e.g. re-verification, adjustment of requirements, adjustment of the (design)solution)
A more detailed explanation about the use of verification assessments can be found here.
Note: working with verification assessments is optional as well. This modules can easly be (de)activated via the modules button in the settings menu.
Working with verifications in BriefBuilder
In BriefBuilder, there are three places where you find and work with verification data:
(1) on the detail view of an object
(2) in the verification table (aka ‘compliance matrix’)
(3) on the verification dashboard.
All three options will be discussed briefly below.
(1) Verification on detail view
On the detail view of an object, the verification data can be viewed by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner of the BriefBuilder screen.
If you click on this button, you will see several new icons added to each requirement. For each verification phase you’ll see:
Verification plan: this is where you are able to see, or define, whether a requirement has to be verified in a particular phase.
Verification outcome: this is where you are able to see, or add, a an outcome for verification.
If you click on those icons, you are able to edit the data, such as adding an outcome of defining a verification method (assuming that you have the right permissions).
Please note: the attributes of both the verification plan and the verification result can be configured and managed via the verification settings. This is also where you can define verification phases.
Also note: adding verification data will usually not take place via the detail view, but via the verification table and the verification dashboard (see below), as it involves less clicking.
(2) Verification table (aka compliance matrix)
The verification table can be found under the button Verification in the navigation menu.
Good to know: the verification table can also be accessed directly from an object’s detail view. Each block and each table features a More options menu ( ) where you’ll find the option Show in verification table. See screenshot below.
The verification table is a great tool if you want select a particular group of requirements that should all have the same plan or the same result. For example, all the requirements concerning room sizes, or all requirements concerning acoustics.
See below for short explanation. A more extensive explanation can be found here.
1. Use the Selections to focus on a particular set of verification data (e.g., a particular verification phase of a particular set of requirements) and click on Show.
Please note: in the verification table, each requirement is represented by a row, which can easily lead to a very large table with lots of rows. If you would like to have a more compact view, you can use the aggregate button. Each requirement selection (e.g. a requirement type) is then presented as a single row. Read more about the aggregate function here.
2. In the table, use filters in the table to narrow down your data set.
3. Enter the verification data in the Verification columns of the table (e.g. a method or outcome).
TIP: You can use cell dragging to speed up the process of adding data. For this, click on the small blue corner of a cell and drag it down. See the image below.
Other options are to use the earlier mentioned aggregate function or to use the bulk edit option.
TIP: you can download this overview as an excel file by clicking on the button next to the title of the table. More info here.
(3) Verification dashboard
The verification dashboard gives you a quick visual overview of the overall verification process.This dashboard can be found via the navigation menu as well, under the header Verification.
The dashboard’s charts show the different verification data (results, responsibilities, methods, …) per verification phase.
Clicking on any part of the charts will instantly take you to that particular set of requirements in the verification table. It’s an easy way to access certain verifications without needing to set up a filter or selection yourself.
More detailed info about the verification dashboard can be found here.
More info?
Check out the other articles about verification in this section.