[The data in this form is either fictitious or has been adapted with a firm's permission.]

Company: Comfort Apparel
Contact Person: Sam Talbott
Title: Marketing Manager
Telephone: 336.555.1234 Fax: 336.555.1234
Fax: (336) 745-7025
Address: 1234 Comfort Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27123

Background

Comfort Apparel manufactures and markets high-quality, high-value apparel using screen printing and embroidery. Comfort holds exclusive contracts with several boards of education in the Southeast to provide shirts, hats and sweatshirts with school logos for state championships in all major sports. Other boards are being pursued for contracts. A significant volume of business is obtained through short-term contracts with colleges, universities and sports associations to provide logo apparel for ceremonies and sporting events. Comfort provides consumer value by offering a high-quality embroidery look at prices comparable to regular screen-printed products with quick turnaround on short notice.

The Project To Be Studied

At Comfort, ordering, scheduling, invoicing, inventory control and shipping are done manually. Management decided to switch to an electronic system because of frequent and often unanticipated surges in volume, as well as recent overall growth. Several of Comfort’s accounts have requested EDI systems and other electronic media, including use of the Internet, to process orders and shipping. The study group will be responsible for determining what system could capitalize on emerging technology and be most appropriate for the company and how best to implement the system. The study will look at three main operating areas:

• Information systems between Comfort and our manufacturing operations
• Information systems between Comfort and our customers
• Information systems between Comfort and our suppliers

The team must propose whether members will focus on one, two or all of the above applications.

Outputs Desired

• Provide Comfort with a list of information systems that capitalize on the latest technology and that could be installed and implemented, along with pros and cons of each
• Propose a schematic design and determine the costs and benefits of each alternative
• Recommend the best alternative and provide a plan for implementation