Personal employee information recently has been stolen from or lost by numerous federal agencies, including the theft of a Department of Veterans Affairs laptop that contained sensitive data on 26.5 million veterans. The laptop was recovered last month and both the VA and FBI said the employee information was not accessed.

Nearly 11,000 employees in the New York City area already use the new Postal Service system and 30,000 more users will be added in the next two months in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and California.

Maribeth Norman, a senior manager for post office operations in Columbus, Ohio, has used the new system to post job vacancies. That process, which includes going through the local HR department to fill out forms and receive approval from a district manager, usually takes at least three weeks to complete but can be done in one week on PostalPEOPLE, she said.

"It's really streamlined the processes," said Norman, 53, a 28-year Postal Service employee who oversees hiring for about 1,000 positions. She described the system as being "easy to use," and said she likes that it offers an interactive voice recognition help service for those less computer savvy.

All Postal Service employees will have access to basic functions by the end of October via the Internet or the 519 kiosks located at postal facilities around the country. The system is scheduled to be fully operational next year, Partenheimer said.

In 2004, the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors approved $102 million for PostalPEOPLE, which includes the $76.7 million SAP contract to provide software and consulting services. SAP and the Postal Service say the system is on schedule and on budget.

The largest obstacle to installing such a massive system is training, either because it is done poorly or with the wrong set of users, said Joshua Greenbaum, an industry analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting in Berkeley, Calif.