Summary

Prior to Version 5.4, an agent activity handled all transactional processing as well as all business processing – the activity not only had to run the task (“update the work object with a new SLA”), but also handle all the transaction details:  get a lock on the work object, commit the changes to the database, etc. 

Beginning in Version 5.4, the transactional functionality is provided by the system, which automatically locks the appropriate work object, handles the commits to the database, or handles the rollbacks. 

To take advantage of this optional functionality, you must make several changes in your agent setup after upgrading your system to Version 5.4.

Suggested Approach

Agents that are upgraded from a system prior to Version 5.4 have a Queue Mode setting of Legacy in their Agents rule definition.  This allows the old activity to run without changes and correctly process the agent task. If you resave these Legacy agents rules, you will see a warning at the bottom of the rule form:

>>Warning>>:  One or more agents are in Legacy Mode.  Please see “Upgrading an Existing Agent to Version 5.4 ” on the PDN to upgrade these.

This warning will also appear on the Agent Schedule instances associated with this Agents rule.

NOTES: 

• This Legacy setting is not valid for new agents; it will only appear as the default for existing agents which are upgraded to Version 5.4 or later.

• Some of the Pega- agents are still Legacy agents, and will have this warning.  The Pega- agents are in the process of being upgraded; you may ignore the warning for those agents.

This warning will not prevent you from saving the Agents rule, nor will it prevent the agents from running.  It is just a note to you to upgrade your existing agents to use the improved Version 5.4 agent functionality.

To use the agent queue functionality, you must make several changes in your system: 

1.  Rewrite the agent activity to remove all the transactional processing; the agent activity should now only contain business logic.  (See How to write an agent activity. )

2.  Adjust the application processing so that the tasks for this agent are entered into the agent queue.  (See How to enter items into an agent queue. )

3.  Change the Agents rule to reference the new agent activity and class.  Change the Queue Mode of this agent from Legacy to Standard, and check the Auto Queue Manager field. 

NOTE:  Since this agent is now Standard mode, the Access Group information is no longer necessary.  If an Access Group is specified in this field, it will be ignored.

4.  Save all changes to the Agents rule.

(For more details on the agent queue, see Understanding the Agent Queue.)