SAP is a computer software company set up in 1972 by 5 former IBM employees - the original SAP idea was to provide customers with the ability to interact with a common corporate database for a comprehensive range of applications. Gradually, the applications have been assembled and today many corporations, including IBM and Microsoft, are using SAP products to run their own businesses. SAP applications provide the capability to manage financial, asset, and cost accounting, production operations and materials, personnel, plants, and archived documents. SAP has recently recast its product offerings under a comprehensive Web interface, called mySAP.com, and added new e-business applications, including customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM).