What is SAP Joule? 3 Key Facts About SAP’s AI Copilot

In this blog, we’ll explore SAP Joule and understand how it helps businesses streamline processes, improve decision-making, and increase productivity of the business users. 

SAP Joule is more than just an AI tool—it’s a game changer. It can provide real-time, contextual insights directly within SAP applications. Let’s dive deeper into its functionality, architecture, and its potential for business transformation. 

What is SAP Joule? 

SAP Joule is a generative AI assistant embedded across SAP’s enterprise software ecosystem. It acts as SAP’s AI copilot, allowing users to interact with SAP systems through natural language—just like you would chat with a colleague or friend. 

You can ask SAP Joule to retrieve information, execute transactions, or provide insights, all within the context of your SAP environment, whether it’s SAP SuccessFactors or SAP S/4HANA Cloud. 

SAP Joule is provided out of the box and natively integrated in SAP’s cloud applications. It comes with pre-configured content that is active right away for customers with limited configuration effort. 

Currently, Joule is embedded in SAP cloud applications like SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA Public and Private Cloud, and more applications to follow. However, keep in mind that Joule is available only for cloud solutions, not on-premises customers.

Why SAP Joule is a Game-Changer?

Remember the days when SAP users had to memorize complex Tcodes? Later, Fiori apps simplified things. Now, SAP Joule takes it to the next level. 

So, what makes SAP Joule stand out? 

• Context awareness: Joule provides intelligent responses based on the user specific SAP transactions, and customer business data. It can maintain the context across different SAP products, whether you’re accessing Joule through SAP Start or directly within an application like SAP Successfactors. 

• Grounded on business documents: SAP Joule uses techniques like Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to link to relevant sources, such as internal policies or business records, to provide accurate information and prevent AI from making things up. 

• Security and compliance: SAP Joule follows user authorization and authentication rules, keeping sensitive data safe and ensuring everything stays compliant. 

• Guardrails for responsible AI: It’s designed with safeguards against inappropriate use, including bias or hate speech. 

• Seamless Integration: Joule is built into the existing SAP environment, meaning it requires minimal setup and training. It integrates naturally with the systems you’re already using, making it highly accessible. 

How Does SAP Joule Work? 

Lets understand the high-level architecture of SAP Joule.  

The user starts with their query in the Joule client in respective SAP application. 

Each incoming request is processed based on 3 categories: 

1. Scenario Catalog: Joule analyzes if the user-prompt is relevant for Joule’s Scenario Catalog. This catalog contains metadata of all available scenarios, functions, and skills of SAP cloud applications.  
2. Knowledge Catalog: Then it conducts an informational filtering based on the Knowledge Catalog. This contains SAP-knowledge as well as the customer-owned knowledge. This process is based on Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). 
3. Context: SAP Joule is aware of the user’s context and history. This information includes which SAP cloud application the user is using and which additional SAP license the customer has. Also, Joule is aware of the user’s role(s) and permissions. This means a user cannot access information or execute business processes which they are not authorized to do. Lastly, SAP Joule understands a user’s chat history and context. 

Next, SAP Joule takes all of this information and gives a much richer query to the LLM which is responsible for the dialog management. 

The LLM provides a grounded response back to the Joule service. 

In this case, Joule calls the respective SAP backend system to proceed with the requested query, for example requesting for leave in successfactors. 

The response is then filtered, and the customer gets a reply with full details that the conversation and output have been handled securely, with enterprise-level security and data privacy in place. 

Great, now we understand that SAP Joule is an AI Copilot that’s integrated with SAP solutions to chat with it to retrieve information or perform tasks.

Use Case: AI Assisted Person Insights

An easy to understand use case of SAP Joule is the AI feature in SAP’s HR solution SAP SuccessFactors – AI-Assisted Person Insights.

As a manager, salary discussions can be one of the most challenging tasks. And, SAP SuccessFactors helps managers navigate these tough conversations with AI-assisted insights, ensuring they are well-prepared and confident. 

For instance, SAP Joule, the AI co-pilot, helps managers review detailed insights on employees. It provides details about the employee’s compensation history, promotion record, bonus eligibility, and career development. The AI can even compare the compensation with market rates, making salary discussions more data-driven and balanced. 

SAP Joule is much more than that, it can even help software developers write code and accelerate productivity using Generative AI. Let’s see a demo!

Demo

Let’s dive into a practical example of SAP Joule’s Generative AI and show you how to use it with SAP Build to develop a full-stack application. 

By the end of this demo, you’ll know how to: 

• Create a full-stack project using a template,
• Develop data entities and services with Joule’s Generative AI,
• Generate application logic using Joule’s AI capabilities, and
• Add a UI to the application and perform testing. 

Watch the demo here:

So, What’s Next? Joule Extensibility

Many customers are asking to extend Joule’s capabilities. SAP is enabling users to create their own Joule AI skills via SAP Build, offering a low-code approach to developing custom skills. 

Here are some exciting developments coming soon: 

• Joule Studio in SAP Build: Joule Studio is planned for Q1 2025. allowing users to create and manage their own skills. It is a new tool offering drag-and-drop simplicity for building, deploying, and managing custom skills.
• Third-Party Integration: Joule will be able to integrate third-party systems, offering a fully integrated conversational experience.
• Autonomous AI Agents: Soon, you’ll be able to build custom autonomous AI agents to solve complex workflows and collaborate with other agents in Joule.

Summary

SAP Joule is transforming the way businesses operate, offering AI-driven solutions that go beyond simple automation. SAP Joule is at the heart of SAP’s AI strategy, and as we move forward, its role will only become more critical in shaping the future of enterprise operations. Whether you’re in HR, finance, supply chain, or customer experience, Joule has something to offer that can radically change how you work. 

Thank you, and we will see you in the next blog!