The following tables provide information about the types of changes that you can make
within a release, the release types, and the release management process to follow based on
the types of changes that you want to deploy.
Types of changes within a release
Change type | Technical changes | Activates by access group | Activates immediately | Activation requires restart | Release frequency | Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud Services only) |
Rules (including non-rule-resolved rules) | Rule- Rule-Application-Rule Rule-Obj-Class Rule-Ruleset-Name Rule-Ruleset-Version Rule-Access-Role-Obj Rule-Access-Deny-Obj | Yes | Yes | No | Daily/Weekly | No |
Data instances | Data- | No | Yes | No | Weekly | No |
Dynamic system settings | Data-Admin-System-Settings | No | YesCertain dynamic system settings activate only on system
restart and require you to follow the Environment release
process. | NoCertain dynamic system settings activate only on system
restart and require you to follow the Environment release
process. | MonthlyCertain dynamic system settings activate only on
system restart and require you to follow the Environment release
process. | No |
Functional | Rule-Utility-Function Rule-Utility-Library | Yes | Yes
Treat functional changes that reference code as a Code
release, which requires a system restart to activate if you
are making code changes. - Change type – This column lists the high-level
category of changes that you can make in a release.
- Technical changes – Technical changes describe
the rule types or artifacts for a change type. Rule- and
Data- include all subtypes under that parent type,
unless specifically identified for a different change
type.
- Activates by access group – Rule resolution for
this change type is controlled by the access groups of
an operator.
- Activates immediately – Rule resolution uses this
change type immediately after deployment.
- Activation requires restart – This change type
requires a system restart before it is available to the
rule resolution process.
- Release frequency – Release frequency indicates
the period in which you can deploy this type of change
to production.
- Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud only) – As
a Pega Cloud customer, you are responsible for any
application changes that you make; however, as a best
practice, inform and engage Pega Support before
releasing application changes. You can open a Support
Request on My Support Portal. For more information, see
My Support Portal
FAQ.
| No
Treat functional changes that reference code as a Code
release, which requires a system restart to activate if you
are making code changes. - Change type – This column lists the high-level
category of changes that you can make in a release.
- Technical changes – Technical changes describe
the rule types or artifacts for a change type. Rule- and
Data- include all subtypes under that parent type,
unless specifically identified for a different change
type.
- Activates by access group – Rule resolution for
this change type is controlled by the access groups of
an operator.
- Activates immediately – Rule resolution uses this
change type immediately after deployment.
- Activation requires restart – This change type
requires a system restart before it is available to the
rule resolution process.
- Release frequency – Release frequency indicates
the period in which you can deploy this type of change
to production.
- Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud only) – As
a Pega Cloud customer, you are responsible for any
application changes that you make; however, as a best
practice, inform and engage Pega Support before
releasing application changes. You can open a Support
Request on My Support Portal. For more information, see
My Support Portal
FAQ.
| Monthly | Yes |
Data model | SQL | No | Yes | No | Monthly | Yes |
Code | Java JAR file Java .class file | No | No | Yes | Monthly | Yes |
Environment | Changes outside of Pega (JVM, XML configuration) | No | No | Yes | Quarterly | Yes |
Understanding release types
Release type | Activates for users | Application users affected | Significant UX impact | Release frequency | New application version | Self-service | Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud only) |
Bug fix | Immediately | All | No | Daily | No | Yes | No |
Standard release | On access group update | By access group | No | Weekly | Yes | Yes | No |
Database release | Immediately | All | No | Monthly | Yes | No | Yes |
Code release | After restart | All | No | Monthly | Yes | No | Yes |
Environment release | After restart | All | No | Quarterly | Yes | No | Yes |
Major release | Per change type
Activation of a Major release occurs based on the change
types that the release contains. For information about how
each change type is activated, see Table 1. - Release type – This column lists the high-level
category of releases that you can deploy.
- Activates for users – This column indicates when
this release type takes effect for users.
- Application users affected – This column provides
the scope of application users that see the effect of
this release type.
- Significant UX impact – This release type might
require users to significantly relearn a process or has
significant layout changes.
- Release frequency – This column provides the
frequency of this type of release.
- New application version – This column indicates
whether you must create a new application version for
this release.
- Self-service – A user with appropriate
permissions can execute this release type using the Pega
Platform, and a Pega System Administrator is not
required to roll back changes.
- Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud Services
only) – As a Pega Cloud Services customer, you
are responsible for any application changes that you
make; however, as a best practice, inform and engage
Pega Support before releasing application changes. You
can open a Support Request on My Support Portal. For
more information, see My Support Portal
FAQ.
| Per change type
Activation of a Major release occurs based on the change
types that the release contains. For information about how
each change type is activated, see Table 1. - Release type – This column lists the high-level
category of releases that you can deploy.
- Activates for users – This column indicates when
this release type takes effect for users.
- Application users affected – This column provides
the scope of application users that see the effect of
this release type.
- Significant UX impact – This release type might
require users to significantly relearn a process or has
significant layout changes.
- Release frequency – This column provides the
frequency of this type of release.
- New application version – This column indicates
whether you must create a new application version for
this release.
- Self-service – A user with appropriate
permissions can execute this release type using the Pega
Platform, and a Pega System Administrator is not
required to roll back changes.
- Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud Services
only) – As a Pega Cloud Services customer, you
are responsible for any application changes that you
make; however, as a best practice, inform and engage
Pega Support before releasing application changes. You
can open a Support Request on My Support Portal. For
more information, see My Support Portal
FAQ.
| Yes | Quarterly | Yes | No | Yes |
Understanding the process to follow based on types of changes
Does your release contain the following
changes? | Follow this release process | Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud Services only) |
Rules | Data instances | Dynamic system settings | Functional | Data model | Code | Environment | Significant UX impact | | |
X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | Bug fix | No |
X | X | X | X | - | - | - | - | Standard release | No |
- | X | - | - | X | - | - | - | Database release | Yes |
- | - | - | -
Treat functional changes that reference code as a Code
release, which requires a system restart to activate if you
are making code changes. - Rules – Are you deploying Rules- records in this
release?
- Data instances – Are you deploying Data- records
in this release?
- Dynamic System Settings – Are you loading
Data-Admin-System-Settings records in this release?
- Significant UX impact – Will users need to
significantly relearn a process, or are there
significant layout changes?
- Code – Are you loading JAR files as part of this
release?
- Data model – Are there changes to your data model
in this release (SQL)?
- Environment changes – Will there be operating
system or application server changes in this
release?
- Follow this release process – Based on your
answers to these questions, follow this release
process.
- Requires a Support Request (Pega Cloud Services
only) – As a Pega Cloud Services customer, you
are responsible for any application changes that you
make; however, as a best practice, inform and engage
Pega Support before releasing application changes. You
can open a Support Request on My Support Portal. For
more information, see My Support Portal
FAQ.
| - | X | - | - | Code release | Yes |
- | - | -
Certain Dynamic System Settings activate only on system
restart and require you to follow the Environment release
process. | - | - | - | X | - | Environment release | Yes |
X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | Major release | Yes |