Lesson 2 of 6
Joule in the apps, Joule Work and Joule agents
9 min
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For a business user, Joule appears in three ways: as an assistant inside SAP applications, as the new Joule Work experience, and as assistants and agents that do work on the user's behalf. This lesson explains each from the user's chair, using Ana's accounts payable work and Maria's order-to-cash work at Contoso.
Joule in the apps
In SAP S/4HANA, Joule sits in the Fiori launchpad shell. Users type or speak a request and Joule responds with one of a few skill types: navigational ("open Manage Supplier Line Items"), informational ("how does the three-way match work?"), transactional ("show me blocked invoices for Lakeside Components") and analytical answers. Joule only shows what the user's business roles allow: if Ana lacks a role for an app, Joule cannot open it for her. Many of these skills are base AI, included with the cloud subscription; SAP's Joule documentation lets you filter use cases by a commercial model column of Base or Premium.
Joule Work
At SAP Sapphire in May 2026, SAP introduced Joule Work, a redesigned experience that brings apps, agents and workflows into everyday work on desktop, mobile and voice. On 8 October 2026 SAP said Joule Work was beginning its customer rollout after an Early Adopter Program for the desktop app. For Contoso this means: real, but new. Treat it as a pilot topic, not a big-bang change of how clerks work.
Joule Assistants and Joule Agents
A Joule Assistant is role-aware and is what a user addresses, such as an Accounts Receivable Assistant. A Joule Agent works behind it on a multi-step task, for example preparing a dispute case or collections work, using tools that call SAP APIs. SAP describes the relationship as many-to-many: an assistant can coordinate several agents, and an agent can serve several assistants. SAP's AR agents ask the user to confirm before changing data. Agents are premium AI and consume AI Units. Course sap-ai-201 covers how to evaluate them.
| Aspect | Joule skill | Joule Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Behavior | Fixed steps, predictable result | Plans steps and chooses tools; results vary |
| Example at Contoso | Open Manage Supplier Line Items for 17300001 | Prepare a dispute case for Great Lakes Fleet Services from an email |
| Data changes | Only if the skill is built to, usually with confirmation | Through tools; SAP's AR agents confirm first |
| Typical commercial model | Often base AI | Premium AI (AI Units) |
| How to test | Like any function: input, expected output | With a set of cases run several times |
| User | First Joule use worth trying | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ana, AP clerk | Navigate to supplier line items and blocked invoices by asking | Saves app hunting; base capability |
| Maria, O2C key user | Ask for incomplete sales orders in sales area 1710 / 10 / 00 | Fast answer from live data |
| Omar, buyer | Find open purchase orders for Lakeside Components above $25,000 | Ties into the approval threshold he manages |
| Dan, finance owner | Review an AR assistant pilot with Priya | Premium; needs evaluation before use |
Start with simple base capabilities in daily work; treat premium agents as a project.
What would you do?
Ana asks Joule to open an app and Joule replies that it cannot find it, although Priya, testing with an administrator, opened it through Joule yesterday. What is the most likely reason?
Piloting Joule Work at Contoso
Maria proposes a small Joule Work pilot rather than a switch for everyone. Six O2C clerks use it for four weeks alongside the Fiori launchpad. Before the pilot, Priya agrees what will be measured: which daily tasks the clerks complete through Joule Work, where they fall back to the launchpad and why, any request Joule could not route, and any answer that was wrong. Sam confirms that the clerks’ business roles are the same in both experiences, so differences come from the experience and not from authorizations. The pilot ends with a short report and a decision: extend, adjust or wait for the next release. A new experience changes habits, so the training plan and the help desk script are part of the pilot, not an afterthought.
- Joule in the apps navigates, informs and acts through skills, always within the user's roles.
- Joule Work is SAP's new experience; its customer rollout began in October 2026, so pilot it.
- Assistants coordinate agents; agents do multi-step work, are premium AI, and SAP's AR agents confirm before changes.
- Test Joule with business roles, including refusals.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What decides which apps Joule can open for a user?
2. What did SAP say about Joule Work on 8 October 2026?
3. How do Joule Assistants and Joule Agents relate?
4. Why should Joule be tested with business roles rather than an administrator?