LEAP is an integrated set of tools, organized in terms of three parts:

1. Economic Base Profile. The first is an assessment tool for profiling local economic patterns and performance. It provides baseline growth trends and projections for 71 industries, based on the North American Industrial Classification System. In addition, each industry is classified according to whether there is a potential for business attraction in the local area and the magnitude of the business attraction potential for each of these industries. (The magnitude for business attraction is measured in number of jobs.) An area is classified as having a potential for business attraction if employment in an industry is lower than in a comparable area or if employment in an industry has grown more slowly than in other areas of the country.

The magnitude of the business growth/attraction potential for each industry in the local area is then assessed by considering the local area's advantages or disadvantages concerning: (1) costs and qualities of the local sewer/water utilities, broadband telecom technologies, industrial parks infrastructure, business support services, and taxes, and the sensitivity of each industry to those various factors; (2) scale and education characteristics of the local area's workforce, and the sensitivity of each industry to these factors; and (3) the availability, size and cost of access for different transportation modes (i.e., highway, air, rail, and marine services), and the sensitivity of each industry to these factors.

2. Diagnose Targets and Barriers. The second is a diagnostic tool for identifying economic development targets for economic development, and actions needed to enhance opportunities for further economic development. It builds on the Assessment tool to provide a complete set of area diagnostics, based on an assessment of the local area's competitiveness (relative to a comparison area chosen by the user) for each industry. In addition, more detailed diagnostics are presented for each industry for which there is potential business growth/attraction, as identified in the assessment portion of the model.

This set of diagnostics identifies "critical" and "important" weaknesses that need to be addressed if the area is to fulfill some of the growth potential identified in the local area assessment. The diagnostics presented in LEAP are developed by looking at each industry's sensitivity to different factors and for the factors most important to an industry, the strength of the local area relative to the comparison area. Factors assessed in the diagnostic portion of the model include total production costs; labor costs; energy costs; tax burdens; availability of labor (i.e., "work base"); availability of skilled workers; water transportation; air transportation; rail transportation; highway transportation; and availability of broadband internet access.

3. Policy Scenario. The third is a policy analysis tool for assessing the effects of future programs and new investments that will affect the attractiveness of an area for economic development. It builds on the Diagnostic tool to analyze how changes in local conditions would affect the diagnostic analysis of target business growth and attraction opportunities. Users can estimate the likely business attraction impacts of changes in availability or quality of key inputs including labor force size and skill levels; broadband access; tax policy; availability of commercial land, industrial parks and office sites, as well as changes in highway conditions and access to airports, water ports and rail facilities. Estimates of these impacts presented as estimated new jobs associated with improved business attraction potential.