As I am writing this blog post, I cannot help but feel excited about showing you some real use cases featuring Generative AI (GenAI) that has already been incorporated into SAP Automation Pilot.
Currently this functionality is released as a Beta feature meaning that it is accessible for any customer after accepting an online Test and Evaluation Agreement (TEA) – more details are shared in this blogpost. Regarding the General Availability (GA) release please consult our public roadmap here: Generative AI command generation.
Context: What we would like to achieve with GenAI
As we know, SAP Automation Pilot has emerged as a solid and competitive cloud application within the SAP DevOps portfolio, revolutionizing the way DevOps teams streamline their Ops processes. Briefly, SAP Automation pilot offers low-code / no-code automation engine capabilities that allow these teams to automate sequences of Ops steps, use catalogs of automated commands provided by SAP, build custom executions (if needed) and run scripts in a serverless manner.
However, throughout the adoption process, following numerous webinars and calls with clients, our team has consistently received a common piece of feedback from customers. They express that our tool is fantastic but also highlight that there is a steep learning curve involved. That is because users need to first understand the main no-code concepts incorporated within SAP Automation Pilot such as: command properties, inputs, data types, etc.; before being able to create their own DevOps automation flows for their specific needs and use cases. As expected, our team undertook a lot of activities to improved product onboarding and provide more learning materials such as:
- Introducing Public GitHub Automation Pilot sample use cases;
- A new DevOps Learning journey (see Discovering DevOps with SAP BTP @Learning SAP), etc.
- Introduction of detailed execution log for the executions and new FAQ page;
Solution: GenAI into SAP Automation Pilot
Nevertheless, what I believe is the optimal way to go forward to significantly improve customers’ onboarding is incorporating GenAI into SAP Automation Pilot. The solution itself is to make GenAI (via SAP AI Core) available to customers via a simple prompt so that it:
- Generates fully working DevOps automation flows for customers’ SAP landscapes that can be implemented immediately;
- Enhances the variety and the quality of the commands delivered as coding knowledge (bash, python, etc.) is fully utilized;
- Extends the Ops use cases even further as the knowledge of different public APIs (e.g. GitHub, Jira, Dynatrace) is also fully utilized.
PoC findings, Beta release and users’ benefits
After running a PoC the results were quite promising and all our assumptions about fully utilizing the GenAI coding knowledge were validated. We trained and powered an AI agent (Powered by SAP AI Core) which is used to generate SAP Automation Pilot Commands.
As a next step, we have released the beta version of the functionality – a sample use case for generating a recovery automation command generated by the GenAI Assistant on SAP Automation Pilot. You can see this visualized in the diagram shared below:
Personally, I was positively surprised by the accuracy and the quality of the automated flows generated in SAP Automation Pilot by GenAI - see screenshots below from a sample GenAI user’s prompt and the automation flow generated by it.
The benefits of introducing GenAI into Automation Pilot are plenty but as of now, the most significant are:
- Reduced time for onboarding - customers can start generating Ops commands and gain value from the tool almost immediately.
- Increased usage and variety of use cases covered - more complex use cases can be covered with simplicity by customers considering the additional knowledge about programming languages and public APIs brought by GenAI.
How to use it
As already mentioned, the GenAI feature of SAP Automation Pilot is released as a beta version. Here you can find details on how to enable it: Generative AI in SAP Automation Pilot (Beta).
As you will notice, using the GenAI command is quite simple. All you need to do is:
- Navigate to the Create Command dialog and enable the feature "Bootstrap with Generative AI".
- Provide your input in a simple user's prompt describing the ops command you would like to be generated.
- Click on the "Create" button.
As a result you will get your ops automation flow generated by the Content Generation Assistant which is ready to be tested and implemented.
Note: Generative AI in SAP Automation Pilot (Beta) is available to any SAP customers for 90 days after accepting online Test and Evaluation Agreement (TEA). To accept this agreement, please contact the SAP Support team by creating a support ticket and selecting the “BC-CP-LCM-AP" component into it.
In case you are interested in the topic, please do not hesitate to reach out to me and / or leave a comment down below.
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