In Part 1 we discussed the goals of the modern department and in Part 2 we discussed the metrics that you can use to measure your progress towards those goals. Here we’ll discuss what reports we need to monitor those metrics?
Business Management
- Business Diversity:
- Businesses By Type (Industry Code or Type (Industrial, Commercial,etc.): Listing, count, revenue and per 1k residents, and created/closed businesses over a date range: This can help a municipality identify any niches they may have within the community.
- Businesses by Neighborhood/Region: This can be very helpful in proactively identifying business opportunities as well as ‘food desert’ areas.
- Business Health
- Business Longevity: Average lifespan from open to close, by type and region
- Economic Contribution: Total business contribution in terms of revenue and economic impact, current year or over time, by business or business type.
It can also be helpful to have a business directory that’s searchable and available online.
Business Accountability
- Contact Currency:
- Contact Auditing (Businesses missing a primary contact name, e-mail address, phone, or mailing address): Do we have all the information we need in case there’s an issue? Have we confirmed permission to email or text them, or share the information with law enforcement in case there’s an incident at the business?
- Age of business contacts (months since last update): Who haven’t we heard from in a while and have we confirmed we have their most recent information?
- Contact Freshness: When is the last time the City has had contact with the business?
- Time Since Last Contact:
Business Friendliness
- Time-to-License: Average time of a new application to license issuance, broken down by type and measured over time.
- Customer Satisfaction:
- Customer Surveys: Measure the applicant’s satisfaction with the speed, ease, and understandability of the process.
- Referrals: Number of businesses referred to Chamber / Downtown Development / CVB / etc.
Cost Sharing
- Revenue:
- Revenues Collections over time, reportable by business type, G/L Account, collection type, and / or region.
- Delinquency/Collections:
- Delinquent Businesses: Listing of active businesses in the system without current year licenses.
- Accuracy:
- Audit Tracking: Breakdown of business audited and results within a time frame
Economic Development
- Entrepreneurship:
- New Business Vitality: Number of new businesses by date range, by type and region.
- Community Strengths & Opportunities:
- In-Need Businesses: Businesses with declining revenues over time that may be a good target for revitalization, filterable by longevity or business type.
- Food Desert Reporting: Based on business types, identify areas in the community without greater than ½ mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store for an urban area or greater than 10 miles for a rural area per USDA guidelines.
Do you need help improving your Business License Department? Reach out to us for a free process check-up and get a report with suggestions on improving your business process.