BRIEFS
Redesigning the tool campus dispatchers open mid-emergency, so the one line that matters is the first thing they see.
Summer 2026 · University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security
Role
UX Research · Product Design · Information Architecture · AI-Assisted Product Development
Timeline
Summer 2026
Organization
University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security
Tools
Figma · FigJam · Google Apps Script · Google Sheets · U-M GPT Toolkit · ArcGIS
The short version
Building info for emergencies lived in 10-page Dropbox documents. Mid-call, the details that mattered got lost and buried.
I observed dispatchers moving between building PDFs, Dropbox and the staff directory. I designed a building profile that keeps urgent details visible, organized the rest into predictable sections, and handed off a prototype and PRD.
7
Screens per dispatcher workstation
10+
Simultaneous tools in live workflows
4
Fixed profile tabs in the redesign
01 · What BRIEFS is
The page a dispatcher opens when a building has an emergency.
When someone calls U-M Public Safety about a building, the dispatcher opens BRIEFS to see what's inside, how to get in, and who to call.
1
A call comes in about a building
2
The dispatcher opens its BRIEFS profile
3
Hazards, entrances and contacts go to responders
4
Officers arrive knowing what's inside
02 · The problem
The cost of a buried answer.
Before BRIEFS
Building details lived in 10-page documents on Dropbox. Mid-call, dispatchers scrolled and scrolled, and the one line that mattered got lost and buried.
Dropbox · 10-page building doc
↓ guess what it said, then flip it
03 · Research
I watched dispatchers move between building PDFs, Dropbox and other tools. One workstation had seven screens and the lookup involved more than ten tools. Contacts still had to be checked in MCommunity to confirm current employment. I mapped retrieval, verification and maintenance together.
three things I saw in the dispatch center, hover or tap to flip ↴
04 · The redesign
Keep urgent details in view; give the rest a predictable place.
The pinned strip uses space that other information could occupy. I chose it for the mid-call task: hazards, contacts and access details stay visible while the dispatcher moves through the building profile. The recordings below show the proposed structure.
Screen recordings from the working BRIEFS app.
05 · BRIEFS Bot
An AI assistant that's allowed to say "I don't know."
Dispatchers can ask in plain words. It only answers from BRIEFS records and cites them.
quick test: what should it say here? guess, then flip ↴
06 · Fixing the source
AI reads the old documents. A person approves every change.
AI pulls what matters out of old building documents; a person approves every change before it goes live.
1 · IN
10-page building documents from Dropbox, main and supplemental
2 · AI
Model proposes structured fields for dispatch
3 · HUMAN
A reviewer approves each change, one reviewer per building at a time
4 · OUT
The hazard shows first on the profile
↑ remember the buried virus note? this is how it ends up first on the page
07 · Where it stands
Prototype and PRD handed to DPSS. The lookup goal still needs testing with dispatchers.
The next question is whether dispatchers can find a detail, verify it and trust the structure on a real shift. Record ownership also needs an answer: who will keep building information current?
What I learned
Using AI in a workflow
In dispatch, AI is only useful if it's grounded and checked. BRIEFS Bot answers only from BRIEFS records and says when something isn't documented, and every field the AI pulls from an old document waits for a person to approve it.
Building PRDs
The prototype shows what the tool should be. The PRD is what lets the department keep building it after the summer ends, so every screen needed a requirement behind it.
Prioritizing
In an emergency tool, priority isn't a backlog debate. It's what a dispatcher needs in the first seconds of a call. Hazards went above everything; anything that didn't change a response moved down a tab.
Working inside a design system
Designing in Michigan Blue and Maize, with WCAG AA as the floor, meant every color had to carry meaning. That's why red ended up reserved for real hazards and nothing else.