Performance Reporting — Continued

Goal 8: Elimination of liquor regulations that do not support public safety and community standards

Objective	Strategy
Reduce cost to business of obtaining a liquor licence	Streamline and automate the licensing process

Another important goal for the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch is the elimination of liquor regulations that do not support public safety and community standards. Reducing the cost to business of obtaining a liquor licence is one step in the process of achieving this goal.

The liquor licensing process is a rigorous process that obliges applicants to meet a number of eligibility requirements. The longer the licensing process takes the more uncertainty businesses face in terms of constructing and opening establishments, causing delays and adding to their start-up costs. By streamlining and automating the liquor licensing process, the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch can shorten the time it takes to process a liquor licence, thereby reducing the cost to businesses of obtaining a liquor licence.

Performance Measure	2001/02 Actual	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual
Time to acquire a liquor primary licence (excluding processing by applicant or local government)	6 months	5 months	5 months (estimate)  Target Met

A reduction in the time required to acquire a liquor primary licence indicates progress toward streamlining and automating the licensing process. The target that was established for 2002/03 was a reduction from six to five months; this target was met.¹¹

As the implementation of a new branch computer system is completed, and staff become increasingly skilled at using the new system and applying the recently revised regulations, applicants should experience improved customer service and reduced uncertainty in making business decisions concerning the liquor licensing process. Shorter application times mean lower costs to business.

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Several data sources informed this measure: the main tracking spreadsheet for new liquor licence applications, the new POSSE computer system, and individual case files. To calculate the estimated result, 80 per cent of records were reviewed, the time the branch took to process an application, at various stages, was estimated, all cases were summed and divided by the total number of cases reviewed to produce an estimate of average timelines. The time when an application was held by an applicant or local government was not included in this calculation. The data sources used are considered reliable.