EDSAT FAQs
Benefits of EDSAT and the Self Assessment Process
- What is the Economic Development Self Assessment Tool?
It is an analysis of a municipality's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding its ability to attract new businesses and retain and grow existing ones. The self assessment consists of 250+ questions that are accessible online and cover the following topics:
- Access to Customers/Markets
- Concentration of Businesses and Services
- Cost of Land
- Labor
- Municipal Processes
- Quality of Life (in the municipality)
- Quality of Life (amenities near development sites)
- Tax Incentives
- Tax Rates
- Access to Information
- Why should my municipality use the EDSAT? With the uncertainty of economic cycles, every town or city needs to take its economic and fiscal health into its own hands by attracting businesses and jobs and generating tax revenues to fund public services. EDSAT helps municipal leaders understand what businesses are looking for in a location - and some of those location factors may surprise you. By understanding which location factors are more or less important, municipal leaders will know better how to promote their municipality's strengths, and how to mitigate or eliminate weaknesses.
- What kinds of cities and towns should participate in the EDSAT? Any municipality that is interested in economic development should take the assessment. Use it as a vehicle to kickoff the economic development strategic planning process or as an opportunity to review or benchmark an on-going economic development strategy.
- How does my municipality access the EDSAT? The self assessment is available online. Contact (email or form goes to Nancy Lee) Dukakis Center at Northeastern University to initiate the process.
- How much does EDSAT cost? The licensing fee is $5,000. There is a 10% discount for municipalities that are direct members of the National League of Cities.
- Because of the current economic downturn, my municipality does not have the funds to pay the licensing fee. How can we find funding for EDSAT?
Banks, corporations, chambers of commerce, and economic or community development organizations and foundations have an interest in seeing local economics thrive and may be willing to be a funding partner. Regional or state planning agencies or economic development agencies may also be funding partners. This document offers some guidance on approaching a funding partner.
The NLC and the Dukakis Center are working closely with some state municipal leagues as well to identify clusters of communities to participate in EDSAT. Check with your state municipal league to see what opportunities are in your state.
- What do I get if my municipality takes the EDSAT?
- Technical support from the Dukakis Center staff before and during the self assessment process
- Documentation of all responses recorded during the assessment and a color coded comparison of a municipality's responses to all the municipalities that have participated in the EDSAT process
- An individualized, written SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis based on your responses
- Hard copies and electronic copy of the final assessment
- An on-going relationship between your municipality and the NLC/Dukakis Center research team to provide support and technical assistance related to economic development
- Who should be involved in the assessment process?
We suggest that the mayor or city/town manager convene a meeting with
- Municipal department heads
- Local business leaders
- Representatives from business and industry organizations
- Representatives from the chamber of commerce
- Representatives from regional and state planning agencies
- Representatives from economic development agencies
The group works together to answer the EDSAT questions. There are advantages to involving a larger working group rather than asking one or two staff to complete the questionnaire. The working group learns how the various parts of municipal government operate and local businesses can affect economic development. The group also begins talking about development strategies, exchanging information, and sharing resources.
- How long does it take to complete the assessment? It should take no more than a few hours with the working group. However, it may take additional time to gather specific pieces of data from various municipal offices such as the assessor's office or the school board.
- How have other municipalities used their EDSAT results?
Common uses of the EDSAT results are:
- Identifying strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunity and threats to economic development; EDSAT is essentially a SWOT analysis
- Knowing and emphasizing strengths in recruiting and marketing efforts
- Knowing and implementing actions to mitigate or eliminate weaknesses
- Defining or updating economic development strategies and goals
- Integrating the self assessment into a master planning process
- Learning more about the municipality and how each department can affect economic development
- What support is offered by the Dukakis Center during the assessment process and after we get our results? Dukakis Center staff is available via phone and email to provide guidance during the assessment process as well as reviewing findings afterwards. Under certain circumstances, staff may be available in person during key points of the assessment and delivery of the results. Contact the Dukakis Center for more information.
- What happens after we submit our assessment? How long before we get the written analysis? After a municipality submits its assessment, Dukakis Center staff will review the responses and contact the municipality if there are any questions. A draft report is prepared and reviewed by the municipality. Depending on how quickly the municipality reviews the draft, a final report is produced about 4-6 weeks after a municipality submits its completed EDSAT questionnaire.
- What will the Dukakis Center do with my municipality's data? All data are kept confidential by the Dukakis Center. No individual municipality is identified without permission. Data are aggregated for comparison purposes or used in related research.
- Will my municipality's data be kept confidential? Absolutely.
- How do I sign up for EDSAT? You may begin by reviewing the Licensing Agreement or contact the Dukakis Center.
- Can we take the assessment again? Yes. Updating your municipality's assessment every few years is one means of tracking progress in implementation your economic development strategy. Contact the Dukakis Center for details about updating your assessment.
- Does it make sense for several municipalities within a region to take the assessment at the same time? Absolutely and there are benefits to doing so. Arrangements may be made with the Dukakis Center for a written regional analysis in addition to the individual municipal analyses. Under certain situations, the Dukakis Center may provide a workshop on economic development tailored for the participating municipalities. Please contact the Center to discuss the details of your region's participation.
- What municipalities have taken the EDSAT? Click here to see the latest list
History of EDSAT
- What does EDSAT stand for? Economic Development Self Assessment Tool
- How was EDSAT developed? It is based on work by the Dukakis Center on revitalizing older industrial cities and a survey of location and commercial property experts from the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and CoreNet Global. The experts ranked the importance of numerous site and location characteristics to developers and businesses and the rankings were integrated into EDSAT. In March of 2010, the Dukakis Center and the NLC created a partnership to offer the Economic Development Self Assessment Tool to its member cities as well as training and other resources related to economic development.
- What is the Economic Development Toolkit? The Economic Development Toolkit is a suite of assessments and practical tools that is under development by the Dukakis Center. It is developed for use by municipal leaders to examine and enhance economic development in their towns and cities.
- What is the Dukakis Center? The Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy is a research center within the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Please click here for the Center's Mission Statement and website.
- What is the National League of Cities? The National League of Cities is the oldest and largest national organization devoted to strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership, and governance. For more information, visit the NLC website at www.nlc.org.
Who do I contact if I still want more information?
Nancy Lee
Research Associate Dukakis Center Northeastern University 617-373-7868 n.lee@neu.eduChristy McFarland Program Director, Dukakis Center Finance and Economic Development National League of Cities 202-626-3036 mcfarland@nlc.org
