Activewear Online will enable small printers and embroiderers to conduct business-to-business transactions on the World Wide Web 24 hours a day. They previously were limited to ordering by telephone during business hours.
"Compuware's support with the client/server architecture was absolutely critical to the project," said Charles Kirk, Fruit of the Loom's chief information officer. "They also made a significant contribution on the project management side, and, since speed is essential in an Internet project, Compuware's people were critical in allowing us to complete it in two months."
Developers from Compuware's Professional Services Division, who are experts in combining Internet technology and business needs, worked on Activewear Online.
"What makes this application unique is that it is a full, business-to- business Internet application," said Frank Heinzelman, Compuware's project manager. "The combination of our client/server and Internet experience allowed us to design a system with a powerful technology foundation that will provide Fruit of the Loom the flexibility they require to operate in a rapidly changing Internet environment."
Two other software development leaders, Connect Inc. and Snickelways Interactive, completed other aspects of the project.
One of Activewear Online's innovations is the server, which allows wholesalers to create their own homepage. The wholesalers store their inventory information in the database and access the server through their own uniform resource locator (URL). Fruit of the Loom plans to provide software and training to about 50 of its biggest wholesalers, who then will create their own homepages on the server.
"The potential is there for Activewear Online to be of huge importance," said Todd Turkin, Executive Vice-President of Michigan-based Broder Bros., the national supplier of blank sportswear to screen printers and embroiderers. "Time is a problem for everyone today. Our customers can access the Web site 24 hours a day, at their convenience, so it will end up being a big time- saver."