Methodology

Principles

• Real data only. Every figure, listing and opportunity links to the source it came from.
• Where no source covers something, the page says “Unknown” or “Not yet assessed” rather than guessing.
• Low counts usually mean low coverage in our data, not a lack of businesses.

Official figures

District and national figures are copied from the cited table of each publication (DCS, SLTDA, CBSL, CEB and others), stored with the table reference and the period covered, and shown with the publication and year. Percentage changes are worked out from two published values in the same release. See sources and editions.

Business listings and places

Listings come from OpenStreetMap, the SLTDA list of licensed tourist establishments, the contractor register and the Export Development Board exporters directory. A listing from OpenStreetMap stays Unverified until it is checked; a register or licence entry is shown as on that register, not as visited. Mapped places on the sector pages are named places in the OpenStreetMap extract that are not yet directory listings. Each business appears once, even when it belongs to more than one sector. Phone numbers from registers are not shown.

Business profile fields

Ownership, legal form, size, value-chain roles, branches, service area and products are filled only where a source shows them, and each value names its source: the EDB directory marks exporters, a register entry marks a contractor, an SLTDA licence marks an operator, and OpenStreetMap tags such as brand, operator or shop give branches, ownership and roles. Legal form is read from the registered name. Owners can propose values, which the backend team checks before they appear. Everything else shows “Unknown”.

Size bands. National Policy Framework for SME Development (Ministry of Industry and Commerce, 2016): micro up to 10 employees or Rs. 15 million annual turnover; small 11 to 50 employees or Rs. 16 to 250 million; medium 51 to 300 employees (manufacturing) or 51 to 200 (services) or Rs. 251 to 750 million; large above that.

Opportunities

Each opportunity rests on at least one official or primary document, with its date, the date we retrieved it and what it supports. Only the backend team can publish or change a record. Every record carries a type and three separate ratings:

• Readiness score (0 to 100) adds up facts on the record: status open 40 or announced 20; a stated way to take part 15; dates in the sources 15; a named divisional secretariat division 10; high confidence 20 or medium 10. Closed, awarded and withdrawn records score 0. It says how ready the record is to act on, not whether it will pay off.
• Confidence counts five checks: the main document is from an official publisher; it is less than 180 days older than our last check; more than one document backs the record; we kept a checksum of the main document; and the record was checked in the last 30 days. Four or five is high, three is medium, fewer is low.
• Risk is set only by the backend team, and only with at least one risk taken from the linked documents. Until then it reads "Not yet assessed".
• Evidence for repeats what each linked document supports. Evidence against and unknowns are drawn from the record (status, dates, missing details) or added by the backend team from the same documents. Empty lists read "Not yet assessed".

No record gives a projected return, payback period or investment advice.

Reviews and corrections

A Reviewed badge means the backend team has checked the record against its sources, on the date shown. A published opportunity counts as reviewed on its last-checked date, because the team checks it before publishing. Other records show Not yet reviewed until that happens.

Every business, place, opportunity and sector page has a “Report an error” button. Reports go to the backend team only; the public can send a report but cannot read any. Each report is marked fixed, not an error or duplicate, and the change is logged.

Coverage

The pilot covers Galle and Matara. What we hold for each district and sector is listed on the data coverage page.