A User-Centered Approach to Business Permitting

City and County of San Francisco, IS Business Analyst & Content Strategist, 2015

My Role: Analyst & Content strategist · Timeline: ~18 months · Impact: 10X daily users vs. predecessor; 7 national awards including Webby Finalist and Harvard Bright Ideas Award

The Challenge

Starting or running a business in San Francisco means navigating a labyrinth of permits, requirements, and agencies. The Office of Small Business had tried to simplify before — with spreadsheets and off-the-shelf tools — but nothing could capture the complexity of 18 departments and 400+ permits. Business owners were left on their own to figure out what they needed, often getting incomplete or contradictory information depending on who they asked.

The Solution

The San Francisco Business Portal was a joint project of the Mayor's Office and Department of Technology, designed to aggregate business permitting information and walk prospective and existing business owners through the steps required to start, manage, and grow a business in San Francisco.

We worked with a local design firm to conduct qualitative research with both internal users (city staff) and external users (business owners at every stage of the lifecycle). The findings revealed barriers to entrepreneurship — inaccurate information, process inefficiencies, unequal access to resources — and produced a clearer picture of the customer journey along with design principles to guide the build.

I collected and consolidated information from 18 departments and 400+ permits, then wrote all portal content in plain language designed to translate easily to the city's eight official languages, with emphasis on Spanish and Chinese. I created eleven Starter Guides — visual, step-by-step guides for popular business types like restaurants, food trucks, and retail — conducting research on local, state, and federal requirements for each and compiling the necessary forms and instructions. Throughout development, our team continually tested with business owners and city staff to ensure accuracy and usability.

The Outcome

When the Portal launched in 2014, it saw more than 10X the daily users of the city's previous online permitting resource. User feedback described it as "a pleasure to explore" that made it "easier to do business in San Francisco." The project was recognized with seven national awards, validating that regulatory information can be clear, accessible, and even well-designed.

Awards

Webby Finalist, City & Urban Innovation, 2015 · Start-Up in a Day Prize, White House & SBA, 2015 · Breaking Barriers Award, California Governor's Office, 2015 · Bright Ideas Award, Harvard Ash Center, 2015 · CIO 100 Award, CIO Magazine, 2015 · Excellence in Customer Experience, Excellence.gov, 2015 · Spark Award (Gold), Screen Design, 2014

San Francisco Permits: The website was designed with images from local businesses and included a database that users could search for permit information and forms based on their business type, issuing agency, or level of government.

Starter Kits: Created 11 Starter Guides to guide prospective business owners through the process of creating certain popular business types. For each business type, I conducted research on local, state, and federal requirements, compiled the necessary permit forms and instructions, and wrote a short visual guide explaining each step. The guides exist in digital form and as a downloadable PDF.