FAQs

1. Fit & Value

  • vBrief constrains its AEC optimised AI to defined workflow steps. Users verify every critical output and each decision is logged in a tamper-proof Golden Thread for PI traceability. Generic copilots don’t provide any of this functionality, or level of user input, making them potentially highly risky for professional use.

  • vBrief is not a design professional, it doesn’t replace design judgement, contract admin or cost management.

    vBrief instead accelerates review and capturing of key project requirements, and helps make your decisions easily traceable, so you can spend more time focussing on tasks at add value.

  • Yes. vBrief doesn’t replace responsible BIM or CDE usage. vBrief operates for you, right from the beginning of a project, keeping requirements verified, live, linked to actions, and exportable to Word/Excel/PDF without extensive manual work.

    We are currently exploring integrations with popular CDEs and BIM workflows, please enquire with our team to learn more about our roadmap.

2. Workflow & Features

  • AI flags updates or contradictions based on a combined database of previously-reviewed information and project background data; humans approve changes within context through a streamlined interface before they become live requirements.

  • Much like the schedules in popular BIM software, schedules display live data filtered by your latest approvals. The moment you confirm a change, every linked schedule, view, and export reflects it.

  • We have identified 3 categories which allow users to sufficiently categorise all design items in a project, and allow a wide range of managerial decisions or contractual routes. Each is pre-tagged by vBrief’s AI for speed, and can be adjusted by the user with 1 click if required.

    • Project Risk - Identified when a risk has been highlighted, but no solution or action to solve is provided. Users can also easily flag new risks they spot with professional understanding during the review process.

    • Requirement - A fixed, live design item. Something where the item in isolation is clear, can be actioned, and pre-requisite changes or conflicts have been resolved.

    • Further Exploration - Anything where further input, research, action or exploration is necessary to determine if an item could or should be carried out as a requirement. These can be thought of as studies, or pending confirmation.

  • Document Input → Review → Approval → Live & Continuous Monitoring

    All changes to the project are logged and fully traceable.

  • When any new requirement, risk or further exploration item is added to vBrief, a simple task is created to ensure nothing goes unnoticed. Progress is visible in the Action & Risk Centre, and can be completed in-app.

  • Yes, within our application settings let admin groups or teams set preferences according to company preference and project need.

    • Automation - we provide tools so you can adjust how our AI system prioritises items for human review vs. background ingesting. Critical information like Health & Safety are locked with compulsory human-review, while detailed information can be easily toggled.

    • Approval Flows - you can choose whether all your staff have access to the streamlined review process, or if items of your choosing require compulsory pass-through to the team or managerial review centre.

  • Yes - PDF, Word, or Excel copies of our verified live schedules can be downloaded on demand.

3. Safety & Compliance

  • At all times. All information is stored in a fully encrypted database, accessible only to the users authorised to access it. Our AI systems are hosted in private instances, away from the companies developing the models, so you can rest assured the data won’t be used for training without your explicit permission.

    (Data is AES‑256‑encrypted, stored on secure EU servers, and never used to train external models. Access is limited by granular permissions and SSO).

  • All our systems run on EU single-tenant servers; and data never trains external models. On-premises models are not currently available, though if this is a major decision factor for your business, please speak to vBrief and we can explore how this might fit in to our roadmap.

  • vBrief’s AI is contained to key areas of the workflow, accelerating the user but not making decisions on their behalf. Users verify information before it is converted into output by the AI making it much more traceable. Crucially, it also ensures users can easily review to spot if our AI has missed-out any key information, one of the largest potential PI insurance risks when using end-to-end AI applications.

    Each decision is stored using a tamper‑proof log as a continuous Golden-Thread, helping towards typical PI‑insurer requirements for traceability and auditability.

  • Yes - AI will show you all its understanding in the original context. The AI is restricted from overriding any user-review decisions.

  • Complex design decisions require professional judgement. Most AI agents who complete nuanced tasks for users are still very immature, and have a very high error rate due to hallucinations or major misunderstandings. If the AI makes a mistake, the professional using the system is ultimately liable for any harm that comes from it.

    At vBrief, we understand your project communications are mission critical and your professional liability is not to be taken lightly. Our software uses AI where major efficiency gains are possible, while ensuring major checks and decisions lie with the professionals where the legal liability lies.

vBrief is still under development, and as such this information is for informational purposes only.  Features and timelines are indicative and subject to change. Please contact us for additional queries or information.