GREENVILLE -- AdvanceSC, funded with profits from Duke Energy's Bulk Power Marketing program and managed by an independent board of directors, recently provided a $200,075 grant to the Upstate Alliance for the development of an “Online Decision Support System.” This grant will enable the Upstate Alliance to create and maintain, with assistance from the Appalachian Council of Governments, a state of the art web site to support the marketing efforts of the Alliance.

The Upstate Alliance will be working in partnership with the Appalachian Council of Governments on the re-development of the site. It will take this team approach to make sure that the site offers the latest technology available for potential site consultants or company executives. These updates mark the fourth time the Upstate Alliance web site, www.upstatealliance.com, has undergone a complete overhaul in the last eight years. The majority of the revisions will focus on the GIS capabilities of the website to ensure greater functionality and relevance.

“Our web site is one of the best economic development tools we have and to compete in today’s economy, we must put everything at the finger tips of company executives and site consultants,” stated Upstate Alliance President and CEO Hal Johnson. He continued by noting that decisions on project locations are done via the web before the first visit to a potential location is made. “Our goal is to be the last one standing through the site elimination process.”

The Upstate Alliance contributes having a great web site to landing the Gordon Foods Services project. This significant business investment was made into the Upstate region because the company was able to access necessary information via the web. Gordon Foods was a $10 million dollar project that located in Greenville County and was announced in 2006.

“When you can directly contribute a big time deal like that to our website, it shows that the web site is a valuable tool that we must continue to upgrade in our toolbox,” added Johnson.