Activating Joule

You have seen what Joule is, what it delivers, and how its ecosystem works. The natural next question is: how does Joule get switched on in your organization?

SAP-Managed Joule is the new standard activation path. Under this model, SAP manages the full provisioning and integration process on your behalf. You initiate the request through SAP for Me. SAP does the rest. This lesson explains what that model means for your organization, what SAP manages, and what happens after provisioning.

Before SAP can provision your Joule environment, your organization must hold a valid entitlement. SAP Business AI operates across two access tiers.

Joule Base.

Included at no additional cost with your SAP cloud subscription. Joule Base provides foundational, conversational AI experiences to surface business data insights and automate everyday tasks. No additional purchase is required.

Premium AI (AI Units).

A separate purchase that unlocks advanced capabilities including Joule Agents, assistants, and enterprise AI features. AI Units are purchased separately and activated directly in SAP for Me.

If you are unsure of your entitlement status, check your SAP for Me portfolio or contact your SAP Account Executive before initiating activation.

SAP announced SAP-Managed Joule at SAP Sapphire 2026 as the standard activation path for new Joule deployments. Under this model, SAP handles setup, application integrations, and maintenance on your behalf. General Availability is planned during H2 2026.

Customers initiate activation through a set of simple guided steps in SAP for Me, SAP's customer portal, via the Portfolio and Products dashboard. Once activation is complete, SAP handles all BTP configuration, integrates Joule with your connected SAP applications, and ensures you are always running the latest capabilities automatically. What previously took months to set up can now be done in hours.

This shift has two significant implications for your organization.

Faster time to value.

SAP handles the setup, application integrations, and maintenance. Your IT team stays focused on higher-value work, not infrastructure.

Always-on innovation access.

You get continuous access to new Joule innovations as SAP delivers them, including capabilities in Joule Base and premium AI with AI Units, without requiring IT involvement for every update.

Under the SAP-Managed model, the following are fully handled by SAP.

Infrastructure and runtime.

The underlying SAP Business Technology Platform environment, AI services, model connectivity, and Joule runtime are provisioned and maintained by SAP. No customer-side infrastructure is required.

Application integration.

Line-of-business integrations are handled through a guided process in SAP for Me, where SAP configures all BTP settings on your behalf. Business AI Platform components are set up directly alongside Joule. The set of supported integrations is expanding as the transition to SAP-Managed Joule progresses. Confirm availability for your specific application portfolio with your SAP Account Executive.

Identity and role management.

Identity configuration and role management are handled by SAP as part of the managed setup, so your users have the right access from day one.

Lifecycle and updates.

SAP monitors the health of your Joule environment, applies updates, and ensures continuity of service.

A customer-managed deployment path remains available for organizations that established their Joule instance before SAP-Managed became the standard.

For most organizations starting their Joule journey today, SAP-Managed Joule is the right path. If your organization is already running a customer-managed instance, SAP provides dedicated migration assistance. For private cloud ERP environments, refer to the SAP Help Portal for the applicable activation path.

SAP-Managed Joule is the standard activation path. Customers initiate activation through simple guided steps in SAP for Me. SAP handles setup, application integrations, and maintenance.

SAP-Managed Joule means faster time to value and automatic access to every new Joule capability as it releases, without managing update cycles.

A customer-managed path remains available for existing deployments. Migration assistance is available for organizations moving to the managed model.