Discovering SAP AI Features

Before Joule, users typically opened apps directly in the Fiori Launchpad or navigated through Spaces and Pages. With Joule, users can now search for apps and receive explanations about their functionality. For example, when asking how to create a material bill of material, Joule recommends the appropriate app or role and explains the available creation and change options. Users can also access online help through the provided sources and view the individual steps Joule performs during the search process. If the required app is already available in the Favorites area, the Joule search can simply be canceled.

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence models designed to generate new content in the form of written text, audio, images, or videos. Applications and use cases are far and wide. Generative AI can be used to create a short story based on the style of a particular author, generate a realistic image of a person who doesn't exist, compose a symphony in the style of a famous composer, or create a video clip from a simple textual description.

To better understand the uniqueness of generative AI, it is helpful to understand how it differs from other types of AI, programming, and machine learning:

• Traditional AI refers to AI systems that can perform specific tasks by following predetermined rules or algorithms. They are primarily rule-based systems that can't learn from data or improve over time. Generative AI, on the other hand, can learn from data and generate new data instances
• Machine Learning enables a system to learn from data rather than through explicit programming. In other words, machine learning is the process where a computer program can adapt to and learn from new data independently, resulting in the discovery of trends and insights. Generative AI makes use of machine learning techniques to learn from and create new data.
• Conversational AI enables machines to understand and respond to human language in a human-like manner. While generative AI and conversational AI may seem similar - particularly when generative AI is used to generate human-like text - their primary difference lies in their purpose. Conversational AI is used to create interactive systems that can engage in human-like dialogue, whereas generative AI is broader, encompassing the creation of various data types, not just text.
• Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) refers to highly autonomous systems - currently hypothetical - that can outperform humans at most economically valuable work. If realized, AGI would be able to understand, learn, adapt, and implement knowledge across a wide range of tasks. While generative AI can be a component of such systems, it's not equivalent to AGI. Generative AI focuses on creating new data instances, whereas AGI denotes a broader level of autonomy and capability.

Predictive AI in PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) uses machine learning and statistical models to forecast future outcomes based on historical and real-time product data.

In a PLM context, Predictive AI helps companies move from reactive to proactive product management by predicting:

• Product quality issues before they occur
• Component or asset failures to enable predictive maintenance
• Demand and supply risks affecting product availability
• Engineering change impacts across BOMs, requirements, and manufacturing
• Compliance and regulatory risks throughout the product lifecycle
• Project delays and cost overruns during product development

For example, in SAP’s PLM vision, AI is increasingly used to support product development and manufacturing handovers, supplier quality checks, compliance validation, and product improvement recommendations.

Joule provides a conversational interface between users and enterprise applications, simplifying access to product-related information and helping automate PLM processes. By using natural language, engineers, product managers, manufacturing specialists, and other stakeholders can quickly find information, navigate to relevant applications, and complete tasks more efficiently throughout the product lifecycle.

Joule can guide users to the appropriate PLM application, support them in executing specific product development tasks, and provide fast access to relevant product data and documentation.

For example, users can ask Joule to display or retrieve PLM- related business objects using natural language, such as:

• Product
• Material
• Bill of Material (BOM)
• Engineering Change Record (ECR)
• Document Info Record (DIR)
• Specification
• Requirement
• Product Structure
• Supplier Component

In the context of Product Lifecycle Management, Joule supports the following areas:

• Navigational Capabilities

  Quickly navigate to relevant PLM applications, product records, engineering changes, specifications, or product structures.

  During your conversation with Joule, you can receive grounded responses to your questions about apps, product functions, or other queries.

• Informational Capabilities

  Retrieve product information, design data, change histories, specifications, compliance information, and other lifecycle-related content using natural language.

• Transactional Capabilities

  Support lifecycle processes such as creating or updating product data, initiating engineering changes, managing workflows, and collaborating across development teams.

In your requests to Joule, you can describe the tasks you need to perform or the objects you are looking for. For example, you can type "How can I find Material BOMs?" Joule is able to identify and propose the apps that are most suitable for your request. You can then choose a specific app and open it to proceed with your task.

Joule can search and analyze the information available on the SAP Help Portal, providing a concise summary of its findings e.g. information on the app Maintain Material Bill of Material.

Transactional capabilities allow you to complete business tasks by interacting with Joule in a natural and intuitive way.

You can use transactional capabilities to view and manage business objects directly in your Joule conversation and navigate to the related SAP Fiori apps to perform further actions on these business objects.

Insight Cards in the SAP Fiori Launchpad are personalized information cards that provide direct access to filtered business data, reports, or application results from the My Home page. They can be created from SAP Fiori applications and display relevant information such as lists, tables, or analytical data without requiring users to open the app first. Users can define search criteria (for example, plant, material, or BOM usage) and save the result as a card. The cards can then be added, arranged, refreshed, or managed directly on the launchpad, creating a customized workspace with quick access to frequently used information.

In the context of Joule, Insight Cards complement AI-assisted navigation by giving users immediate visibility into key business information while Joule helps them find apps, answer questions, and guide them to the appropriate processes

To learn more about Joule capabilities available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition refer to the following link: Joule in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition | SAP Help Portal

After completing this lesson, you're able to:

• give a brief overview of AI features and functions for SAP Product Lifecycle Management
• explain the existing Joule capabilities