By installing Duet with the mySAP ERP 2005 applications, the commission expects to avoid the need for extensive user training in SAP, said Jeff Mesaric, CIO of the Harrisburg, Pa.-based agency.

"The training is going to be less complex," he said. "The information [in SAP] will be accessible throughout the organization to information workers [via Microsoft applications]. That will be a tremendous asset."

Duet, formerly called Mendocino, was jointly developed by SAP and Microsoft to let users access and interact with back-end SAP ERP and other applications via a Microsoft Outlook interface and Exchange e-mail software.

The turnpike commission oversees more than 530 miles of highway, has 2,300 employees and collects $580 million in tolls annually.

Although the agency has bought 1,100 licenses for Duet, exactly how the technology will be deployed is still an open question, said Mesaric, noting that the project is still in the blueprint phase. He did say that the agency has more than 1,000 PCs, many used by a "younger workforce" well versed in Microsoft Office.