The project, originally dubbed 'Mendocino' when it was unveiled a year ago, has been rebranded 'Duet,' the companies announced today. Duet, which is intended to allow users to access and interact with their back-end SAP ERP and other applications via a familiar Microsoft Outlook interface, already has some 100 joint customers and partners working with it. The two companies hope the union will boost worker productivity without additional training and, because of the easy access to key back-end data, assist SAP/Microsoft users in making more informed business decisions.

SAP has been hyping Duet in recent months as a major project. Among the tasks Duet is designed to better support are budget monitoring, employee time and leave management, and organization management. For instance, an employee can record work and billable hours in Microsoft Outlook, which will then synchronize that data with the mySAP ERP module.

'When people are unaware that information exists or lack the time to find what is needed, they risk making bad decisions,' IDC analyst Mark Levitt said in a statement. 'With Duet, SAP will be easier to access and more relevant for many more users who spend their workdays in the 'Microsoft' Office.'

Both Microsoft and SAP will market the Duet technology. Sometime later this year, the companies also expect to release enhancements to Duet that will offer support for additional business processes, including those built around SAP's CRM and supplier relationship management applications. There will also be support for additional languages.

In other related news, SAP Public Services Inc. today also announced a human capital management application geared specifically for federal agencies. Dubbed SAP HCM for U.S. Federal Government Organizations, it's meant to assist agencies with benefits administration, workforce planning and talent management functions. A phased rollout will start in the third quarter this year.