Situation Assessment

Small Business owners struggle to understand the processes they must go through, the resources available to them, and what it takes to start and run a small business in the City of Chicago.  98% of Chicago businesses are small businesses, making up the significant majority of job growth in this large metropolitan market. 

In order to better assist small businesses, the City of Chicago recognized the need to better inform each small business of the information, resources, and requirements across all departments of the City.  Further, answers to common questions and issues needed to be provided that were meaningful to an individual business, and didn’t require a phone call or visit to City hall.  In short, the City wanted to deliver a means to eliminate bureaucracy and deliver value to all small business owners.

Solution Overview

Risetime created a new model for organizing and delivering the most important information and resources tailored to the needs of each small business.  The Small Business Wizard is a user-friendly Web-based tool which serves as a gateway for the small business community and provides customized information and direct assistance for starting, expanding, and retaining a small business in the City of Chicago. 

The Small Business Wizard uses a simple survey process that directs a small business customer to specific information customized to their needs.  The system eliminates the need for small business owners to wade through irrelevant information from across numerous city departments, and gives each user exactly what they need when they need it.

To achieve this, Risetime led the City through a process that helped analyze and document each of the ways that the City of Chicago worked with or regulated small businesses.  We then established when each item would be relevant, and defined a question or series of questions to determine if it would be relevant to the user. Finally, we created a process to lead each small business owner through that painlessly assesses their needs and provides the most meaningful information.