Single Automated Business Exchange for Reporting Institute

The business status program engaged in the no-cost collection, processing, and dissemination of business status information during two major hurricanes and an earthquake in addition to continuous, daily monitoring of business status of a major retailer. In the two hurricanes, three states were affected and approximately 60,000 businesses were actively monitored throughout the several days of the hurricanes. To track recovery, those businesses were monitored for business status changes weekly through the end of 2022 and monthly through the first quarter of 2023 (these latter activities in support of the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation following the transfer of SABER to the Foundation). Each business status data point was represented on the SABER Status Map as a geographically located point containing current status as well as a list of status details. Numerous analyses, charts, graphs, and summaries were available to organizations enrolled in SABER at no cost. The business status data was shared with any of the 30+ states that have registered to receive data and ingest it into their own geographic mapping systems. There the data is combined with local and state disaster conditions and resource allocations to depict for decision-makers the capacity of businesses to support community recovery and the need for outside, government resources to augment existing business resources. In the hurricanes, the states of Florida and Georgia especially used the SABER business status data to help understand their response. Both states published their maps containing SABER business status for use by the public. The earthquake in California required monitoring and reporting of approximately 2500 businesses which was done daily for the first week after the earthquake and monthly for the remainder of 2022. Numerous government agencies utilized the data and, as desired, incorporated the data into their own geospatial viewing applications and other analytical applications to support their response and recovery decisions. The business status data was incorporated into software used by the California Public Utilities Commission for support of their transportation inspections. All recipients of the business status data received it as frequently as their systems desired at no cost. SABER operates every day, not just during disasters, and receives status updates from businesses all across the country for non-emergency or small incidents that cause a change in their status. Thus, every day the SABER map shows business status that helps communities monitor the capacity of business to fulfill community needs for food, water, fuel, and commodities of daily life.