The Challenge

When starting a business, entrepreneurs are often uncertain how to structure it. Like most jurisdictions there are three common types of business structure in British Colombia—sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation. Complicating matters, there are many sub-categories within each type of business structure. British Columbia’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation needed a firm with experience in assessment design and scoring to build a user-friendly website tool design that helps business owners choose the right structure when registering their business.

“I am very pleased with 4Forward’s work. They were exceptionally collaborative, flexible, and client-focused. They went to great lengths to customize their products and services to our needs, and seemed driven to fully understand our business needs and environment.“

Rebecca Macaulay, Former Director, Human Resources
Saskatchewan Polytechnic

The Process

We reviewed provincial statues and legislation and consulted with legal and financial experts, laying the foundation to develop a set of criteria for selecting the appropriate business structure. We then wrote short descriptions of each business structure (including pros and cons of operating each type) and assessed the importance of each of the decision-making criteria. From there, we made a mock-up of the website tool design that included all the content, and the “response matrix” that drives the tool’s recommendations.

The Result

A free website tool design is available to British Columbia’s business owners and entrepreneurs, providing an accurate, informative and reliable method of determining the business structure that best suits their venture.

Project Snapshot

BC’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation provides services in support of British Columbia’s strong and diverse economy. It champions innovation, nurtures small businesses, supports the growth of BC’s tech sector, and promotes BC internationally as a preferred place to invest and do business.

Industry
Government

Services
Research, Needs Analysis

Skills Demonstrated
Instructional Design, Project Management