On each page of SizeUp, please click the “Help” link to get page-specific help and how-to videos.
1. Start
To begin, click on any one of the main features. You will then need to enter your city and industry. When entering your industry, type in the first few characters and then select the closest matching industry from the dropdown box that appears.
When entering your city, in some cases, you may only search for communities in your surrounding area. You can alternately click in the input box to scroll through a list of all possible cities that you may select from.
2. Modifying Your Selection
Your city and industry selections are shown on the top of the screen. If you would like to change the city, click the city; to change the industry, click the industry.
3. Site Navigation
At any time, you can click the home link in the menu to be taken back to the start page. You can also navigate to each one of the features by clicking the link for that feature in the navigation menu.
4. Frequently Asked Questions
What does the business intelligence tool do and who is it meant to help?
The business intelligence tool helps small and medium-sized business owners make intelligent decisions to grow their businesses.
Where does the data come from?
Business data comes from hundreds of data sources including IRS records, county courthouse filings, Yellow Pages and White Pages, business publications, the U.S. Postal Service, and corporate annual reports, which are manually reviewed and maintained. The data is verified through over 25 million phone calls each year by third-party researchers and is constantly updated, which means the competitiveness ranking of businesses is recalculated with every update. This business data is similar to and includes the type of data used by the majority of the Fortune 100 companies, the most used search engines, and even GPS-based auto navigation systems.
Demographic, labor force, consumer, education, innovation, occupation, transportation, environmental, incentive, and entrepreneurship data comes from a wide range of public and private data sources including, but not limited to, the US Census, United States Postal Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau estimates, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Medicare statistics, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Federal Aviation Office, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, ZoomProspector.com, GIS Planning Inc., and commercial data providers. Data is updated on a varying schedule depending on the dataset. Demographic data includes current year projections using proprietary data for most data points.
Because much of the data provided by public sources is not updated frequently enough to make real-time business decisions (such as the US Census), data is projected to the present-year using proprietary methods. The methodology follows rigorous quantitative analysis standards which follow best practices in statistics, economics, demography, geography, corporate site selection, and economic development. In addition, we use our proprietary methodology for analyzing information from all of the datasets.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data comes from a variety of sources. The base map data is provided through Google Maps and its data vendors. However, for business decision success, companies need a much higher level of geographic data accuracy, robustness, and information than is currently provided on any of the major search engine map websites. We overlay this needed business, demographic, and other geo-referenced community characteristics over Google Maps. In addition, local governments have extremely accurate geographic layers of data which is relevant for businesses and can save/make businesses a lot of money in better decision making and time-savings, but this data has been locked away in the computers of government engineers.
What industries are included?
Information is included on thousands of industries. To be included, an industry must be one in which the typical business produces revenue. This excludes many industries primarily funded by government and religious institutions. Industries included must also comprise at least 1,000 businesses nationwide.
What do the graphs mean?
There are a variety of charts and graphs created for you. One of the most common is a chart that compares your business to the performance of similar businesses in your industry located in your same city, county, metro, and state compared to the nation. You can use this graph to compare your business to how similar businesses which compete in your industry are performing in different locations.
Is my company’s information kept confidential?
All individual information you submit to evaluate the competitiveness of your company is kept completely confidential and is only for your use. For more information about this please see our Privacy Policy.