SAP AG and Microsoft have announced that 'Project Mendocino', a joint product announced 12 months ago to enable efficient interaction with SAP business processes and data through Microsoft Office applications, will be shipped on time in June 2006.
It is officially named Duet software. The two companies have also announced further product enhancement plans later this year. These will consist of value packs including five additional scenarios (recruitment management, travel management, analytics, purchasing management and sales activity management) in MS Office coming from mySAP ERP and mySAP Business Suite applications for CRM and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM).
Duet allows information workers to use their familiar Microsoft Office environment to access selected SAP business processes and data will prove beneficial in terms of improved efficiency, process compliance and decision-making. This is possible due to a quickly deployable familiar environment that doesn't require any training.
Salient features of Duet include:
* Budget monitoring: Gives seamless access to financial data needed to make better decisions.
* Time management: Enables employees to record work and billable hours using MS Outlook calendar, automatically synchronizing and updating MS Outlook appointments with mySAP ERP.
* Leave management: Enables employees to submit personal leave requests and handle management approvals processes through MS Outlook, enabling data synchronization and process compliance between the desktop and mySAP ERP.
* Organization management: Allows employees and managers to access organization information and human resources-related tasks in Outlook environment.
Nearly 100 customers and partners participated in the Duet preview program, including partners of both SAP and Microsoft in the systems integrators and solution providers' space.
"At Infosys, we have tested and implemented the Duet software within our own business, which runs on Microsoft and SAP software. With our long-standing alliance partners, Microsoft and SAP, Infosys is uniquely positioned and ready to offer Duet-based solutions to our clients to address their business needs," said Chandrashekar Kakal, Head - enterprise solutions business unit, Infosys.
"With Duet, SAP and Microsoft are delivering a people-ready solution for our joint customers, which gives decision makers improved access to the information they need to be effective. Duet allows for both online and offline access to SAP business processes from a ubiquitous, easy-to-use Office environment," said Jeff Raikes, President of Microsoft Business Division.
