Businesses today are looking for smarter ways to get work done—and that’s where SAP Joule, SAP’s AI assistant, comes in. Built to simplify how people interact with SAP cloud systems, Joule brings the power of AI directly into SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud, helping teams make better decisions, faster. In this post, we’ll look at how SAP Joule in S/4HANA Private Cloud brings AI functionalities into business process and what it means for companies aiming to work more efficiently and stay ahead.
Table of Contents
What is Joule?
Joule is SAP’s generative AI copilot, embedded across their cloud enterprise portfolio to revolutionize user interaction with SAP applications and beyond. Users can ask questions, request information, and initiate actions using 13 different languages. Leveraging generative AI, Joule can understand context, provide relevant information, suggest actions, and automate workflows. It is currently available with many of SAP’s cloud applications including S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, SuccessFactors etc.
Joule in S/4HANA Private Cloud
SAP Joule in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Cloud offers three distinct types of capabilities from version , designed to enhance user productivity and streamline workflows.
- Navigational capabilities act as a smart guide, directing users to the relevant SAP Fiori applications needed to achieve their goals. This is particularly beneficial for new or infrequent users who may not be familiar with the specific Fiori apps required for certain tasks. Instead of manually searching, users can ask Joule to perform an action, and Joule will navigate them to the appropriate app where they can leverage its full features.
- Transactional capabilities take efficiency a step further by allowing users to execute tasks directly within the Joule interface, eliminating the need to open separate SAP Fiori applications. For example, users might be able to create purchase requisitions or display sales orders through a conversational interaction with Joule.
- Finally, informational capabilities provide users with quick access to a wealth of knowledge by retrieving information from the SAP Help Portal and other relevant resources. This allows users to ask questions and receive direct answers or links to documentation without having to manually search through extensive help content.
These three capabilities are only available from SAP S/4HANA version 2023 FPS01 onwards
List of AI functionalities available in Joule
Here’s an overview of AI functionalities available in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition starting with the 2021 release and is specifically for eligible RISE customers (SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition).
The AI functionalities are categorized by different business areas:
Sales
- AI-assisted sales order fulfillment monitoring (Available since 2023)
- Enables chatting with Joule and accessing various SD (Sales & Distribution) functionalities
- Reference: SAP Note 3459573
BRIM (Billing and Revenue Innovation Management)
- AI-assisted behavioral insights for contract accounting (Available since 2021)
- Allows analysis of customer behavior and generates risk scores for multiple scenarios
- Reference: SAP Note 3577116
Extended Warehouse Management (EWM)
- AI/ML based predictive labor demand planning (Available since 2023 FPS03)
- Provides prediction on planned workload data for picking and packing outbound processes
- Reference: SAP Note 3577311
Master Data Governance
- AI-assisted change request (Available since 2023 FPS2)
- Allows using the prompt field in the Assisted Changes tab to change master data attributes
- Reference: SAP Note 3573659
- AI-generated summary (Available since 2023 FPS2)
- Enables requesting a summary of changes recorded in change requests
- Reference: SAP Note 3574007
Transportation Management
- AI-assisted conversational planning (Available since 2023 FPS02)
- Allows performing planning operations using natural language within the transportation cockpit
- Reference: SAP Note 3573759
- AI-assisted goods receipt processing (Available since 2023)
- Automates checking of delivery documents using AI, reducing manual checks
- Reference: SAP Note 3570467
BTP AI Services for S/4HANA Private Cloud
- ESM – Next Generation Shared Services Automation with GenAI (Available since 2023 FPS2)
Costs and Licensing
AI-assisted features require additional entitlement, authorization, and commercialization, and customers should consult their account executives for more information.
Conclusion
Joule in S/4HANA Cloud Private Cloud offers capabilities collectively aim to make interacting with SAP S/4HANA system more intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly. Companies using AI tools like SAP Joule have seen up to 40% gains in productivity, thanks to features like natural language search, real-time recommendations, and task automation.
