SAP and Microsoft later this year plan to deliver a jointly developed product that links SAP's software and Microsoft's Office products, giving users a familiar user interface to more complex ERP applications.

Code-named Mendocino, it is the first joint product from SAP and Microsoft and stems from an agreement that SAP and Microsoft struck last year to integrate their respective NetWeaver and .Net software platforms. Microsoft and SAP have been partners for many years and have discussed a merger. The joint product is one of the most significant results of that partnership since merger talks broke off last year, and it could help SAP and Microsoft compete better against Oracle and IBM.

Desktop and enterprise applications are "almost seen as being disconnected," Jeff Raikes, group vice president of information worker business at Microsoft, told users at the Sapphire event in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week. Much of the information stored in desktops doesn't find its way into enterprise applications because it has to be rekeyed, he said.

As a result, workers waste time looking for information. The aim of Mendocino is to provide the "right information at the right time" and to make tasks transparent and simple, Raikes said.

Mendocino will connect Office 2003 and the current version of MySAP ERP. Users in a consulting firm, for example, will be able to instantly book time against a specific client in the SAP time-tracking system when they schedule an appointment in Microsoft Outlook.

The joint product will integrate SAP's time management, budget monitoring, organizational management, and travel and expense management directly into Office, the companies said in a statement. With the new product, information workers would be able to use extended application menus and select process options and information in the SAP smart panel, synchronize information between Microsoft Exchange Server and SAP, retrieve SAP information in Microsoft Excel, and submit data via Microsoft Office InfoPath forms, they said.

Both SAP and Microsoft will sell Mendocino and some underlying SAP technology on which it is being built.

Pricing has yet to be determined.

SAP also announced a deal with Macromedia that, like the Microsoft partnership, aims to enhance end-user interfaces.