Unlock new levels of productivity with AI in SAP Build

[thomas_volmering]

Why do we need more AI in SAP Build?

For a very simple reason: our users want to be even more efficient in delivering innovations and SAP extensions. Our customers want to accelerate application development and process automation with the help of AI to get more time to focus on what really matters instead of spilling time on tedious and repetitive tasks.

Let me outline some of the problems our customers describe:

• “As a business process expert, I want to get assistance to automate my processes and critical workflow much faster”.
• “I’m an application developer, and I'd like to stop spending time on tedious tasks like creating data models and sample data to test my apps. And if AI could help me create some basic JavaScript code, not rocket science, that would be great!”
• “For a software developer like me, it would be great if we could efficiently code applications and concentrate on the value-add coding part, so I can deliver on my projects faster”

At SAP, we’re committed to delivering AI capabilities that make it even better to develop with SAP Build. Just a month ago, we announced the general availability of our Joule copilot for ABAP developers: now Joule speaks ABAP!  Today we proudly announced new Joule capabilities for developers. In the next few paragraphs, I will take you on a deep dive into the new capabilities you can leverage to benefit from the power of (generative) Artificial Intelligence for building applications or automating business processes.

First, we identified a few key themes where AI has a significant impact in the realm of app development and process automation:

• Application Generation: Generate CAP & RAP applications from scratch including data models, sample data, unit tests and more
• Code Optimization: Generate and optimize JavaScript, Fiori/UI5 code with predictive code completion, code search, and code explanation
• Artifacts Generation: Generate and summarize complex artifacts such as processes, data types, scripts, decisions, as well as approval recommendations

All these capabilities significantly accelerate application development and process automation and – let’s be honest – make it more fun, also.

Now let’s explore together how AI will assist you across all SAP Build.

SAP Build Process Automation

The purpose of AI and generative AI capabilities in SAP Build Process Automation is very simple yet powerful: assisting our customers in the implementation of their process automations. For that, the design capabilities leverage generative AI to allow users to interactively generate and edit artifacts from natural language description, as well as generating summaries of existing artifacts.

With that, we create immediate value for our customers:

• Building artefacts such as processes, forms and business rules, and automating processes with the help of AI based on natural language input help increase developer productivity, improve quality and enable further innovations.

• Summarizing processes, workflows and complex artefacts such as Business Decisions (Rules) using natural business language enables a quicker handover and reduced time for documenting processes.

We also added two additional AI-based capabilities that make process automation better:

• DOX Premium service is integrated with SAP Build bringing a paradigm shift in document processing automation world. Generative Al-based document understanding not only integrates cutting-edge natural language processing capabilities but also holds the promise of eliminating the necessity for the laborious and costly endeavor of template creation and maintenance.
• SAP Task Center's intelligent approval recommendation capability enables faster and better decisions based on machine learning, streamlining operations, and improving efficiency with AI-driven insights based on patterns observed in other approval tasks.

To get a concrete view on how AI works in SAP Build Process Automation, watch our 7 minutes video demo on Intelligent Processing of Sales Orders with Enterprise Automation.

SAP Build Apps

There is also a new AI-based capability in our no-code development environment. In SAP Build Apps we now have UI generation from data. The UI of an application is often directly related to the structure of the data handled by the application, so AI can propose Us based on data. In the screenshot below you can see data entities that are part of the application – in this case, Books, Authors and Genres – and right next to these, the UI pages were created by AI.

In order to activate this Generative AI capability in SAP Build Apps, you have to 

1. Click on the "Generative AI" tile in your SAP Build tenant configuration:
   
   
2. Enable Generative AI feature with the toggle:
   
   
   
   

SAP Build Code

Many AI capabilities have been introduced during the last months in SAP Build Code. Let me share a recap with you:

Joule supports complex multi-steps tasks for advanced CAP application generation

As of early 2025, the optimal approach for professional developers working with Generative AI involves creating project skeletons that cover general requirements, followed by incremental enhancements. SAP Build Code Joule expands on this practice with multi-tasks support, allowing developers to use a single prompt to engage specialized agents for various tasks. By coordinating these agents, Joule creates more comprehensive project foundations, thereby streamlining the development process. This approach enables developers to focus more on refining and customizing their applications, improving productivity and efficiency.

As an example, when a developer asks Joule for assistance in creating an application, an execution plan is displayed. The complex requirements are broken down into subtasks to generate

1. the data model
2. the sample data
3. the application logic

and we apply our best practices for each step. The developer can review the improved user requirements and enhance them manually, via the pencil button.

For more details, read our blog post SAP Build Code Joule Evolves: Unveiling Multi-Agent Support for Advanced CAP Application Generation.

Joule for mobile app development

Joule now also supports mobile app development in SAP Build Code: it uses mobile services, like MDK action generation.

Find more in this blog post from Jitendra Kansal: “Streamline SAP MDK Development with the Power of Generative AI and Joule” and for additional details, read this technical documentation. 

Joule for searching and analyzing existing code

With Joule copilot, you can now use natural language queries to quickly and easily locate specific code snippets. You can simply ask Joule what you're looking for, and it will instantly show you the files relevant to your search criteria, saving you time and effort in your coding journey.

For more details, read our blog post Product Updates for SAP Build Code – October 2024 Edition.

Joule for SAP HANA Machine Learning

The SQL console provided by the SAP HANA Database Explorer extension in SAP Build Code supports SQL statement generation via natural language. Users can enter a text prompt and use the new run method “Run Prompt” to generate a SQL statement that can be executed on the SAP HANA Cloud database. The generated statement can be executed like any other statement directly from the SQL console.

For more details, read our blog post Product Updates for SAP Build Code – October 2024 Edition

Joule for Fiori tools and UI5 guided development

SAP Build Code also offers a variety of generative AI functionalities to support UI5 development. Joule can now be used to both accelerate the development and provide support for those who may not be UI5 experts.

For more details, read our blog posts UI5 freestyle development in SAP Build Code with Joule and SAPUI5 Meets TypeScript: A Smooth Migration Journey with Joule. 

The business user view: SAP Build Work Zone and AI

Of course, beyond the developer, we also investigate how we can make the SAP Build business user more efficient with the help of AI. So, while the below update is not part of our Joule for Developers capabilities, I still wanted to mention this and provide our readers the chance to dive deeper.

Joule is now integrated into SAP Build Work Zone Standard Edition, enhancing the workspace with AI-powered capabilities

This enables users to interact with Joule and get answers from all connected systems​. An example would be that you're trying to track the status of a purchase order. Instead of navigating through multiple screens, you simply ask Joule, “Has my purchase order been approved?”. Joule instantly provides the status and key details directly within its window in SAP Build Work Zone, this seamless interaction eliminates the need to switch between applications, saving time and effort.

For more examples of how Joule can transform your workspaces, read @Yumnahabbasi's blog post: “Joule is Now Integrated into SAP Build Work Zone!”

Feedback from Early Adopters: Up to 40% cost reduction!

Now, back to the developer view. We gathered feedback from beta users to understand the impact these capabilities have on their application development and process automation.  The results they achieved in terms of productivity speak for themselves:

• Up to 40%​ cost reduction for ERP extension migration: it enables customers to review and transition existing extensions faster and more efficiently into the cloud. It simplifies future upgrades by providing side-by-side extensions that keep the ERP core clean
• Up to 30% reduction in low-code process automation effort: building and automating processes based on natural language input, allows for increased developer productivity, improved quality and more innovations.
• Up to 30%​ cost reduction for pro-code application development: generating code based on natural-language input and pre-trained code, and data generation model, allows for faster development, quicker migration to newer digital environments and improved development capacity for innovations.
• Up to 10% time savings for process developers: summarizing processes and complex artefacts using natural language enables a quicker handover and reduced time for understanding processes.
• Up to 10% faster time to market for new low-code applications: empowering developers to build applications and automate processes faster based on natural language input accelerates projects.

Join our Webcast

We've set up a webcast where I'll have the pleasure to be showing you AI in SAP Build in action, plus you'll have the chance to bring me and other product managers any questions you might have.

Join us on April 10, 2025!

• APJ: 2:00 PM SGT (Singapore) / 4:00 PM AEST (Sydney)
• EMEA: 2:00 PM CET (Central Europe) / 1:00 PM GMT (UK)
• NA: 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST (Pacific)

You can also

• Watch our Joule for Developers video
• Attend our LinkedIn Live event on March 25th at 9AM PST
• Participate in our SAP Community contest 
• Check out the official FAQs on Joule for developers
• Attend our SAP Community Ask Me Anything session in April (link to come soon)

Enjoy AI and Joule in SAP Build!