Thinking Strategically

A Lot of Great TechnologyAn extensive search of electronic-procurement products ultimately led Cullinan and MasterCard to Clarus.
"We did evaluations of who had product out there, and more importantly who had product that was actually working," says Cullinan. "Clarus was a company that was very aligned with our strategy, very willing to work with us. They were committed to our project, and it was as important for them for this to be a success as it was for us."
The decision to run Clarus E-Procurement under Microsoft Internet and server technologies was in keeping with MasterCard's strategic direction. "We are standardized on Microsoft products, including Microsoft Windows NT® and Microsoft SQL Server™," says Cullinan. "That was a corporate initiative. Our internal technology folks did research a number of years ago and made that decision."
Automated and OnlinePowered by Windows NT Server and its built-in Web server, Microsoft Internet Information Server, as well as SQL Server, MasterCard's Clarus solution runs on a Hewlett Packard Kayak 3000 server. Together, those technologies have formed a remarkably reliable combination. "We haven't had one system outage," says Cullinan.
Through MasterCard's corporate intranet, Clarus E-Procurement solution enables users (running Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on their desktop computers) to comparison shop from a cross-supplier product index containing more than 10,000 items. Clarus E-Procurement made building the catalog an easy process, allowing suppliers to submit data in almost any form, from CD-ROM to Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The system uses a collaborative approach, storing catalog content in a local database, with links to supplier Web pages that allow access to extended descriptions and pictures of products.
When the user makes a selection, the system automatically creates requisitions, routes them for approval, and submits them electronically to the relevant supplier. Buyers pay for products online as well, using the MasterCard Corporate Purchasing Card.