Local government in general operates in an information vacuum in relation to the types and locations of businesses in their local government area. This issue was central to the development of a business location and information and analysis solution and platform for the Hills Shire in the north-western region of Sydney. The solution, which combines a business intelligence tool with GIS capability, was developed to enable to economic development unit of the Hills Shire Council to undertake a range of activities including business cluster identification, highly-segmented communications programmes, develop industry specific business attraction strategies and respond to information requests from both internal and external stakeholders. The project developed business data collection and cleansing methodologies to provide accurate and timely information to address the fluid nature of business composition. The final solution also has wider council applications including strategic planning, environmental risk assessment and has the capacity to develop further including the inclusion of zoning maps to assist with home-based business identification.