Summary

RuleSets versions have a three-part key, which affects how the system searches for rules during rule resolution.

Suggested Approach

• RuleSet Versions have a three-part numeric key:

              01-02-03

  where:

• 01 is the major version number
• 02 is the minor version number
• 03 is the patch, revision, or change number

Major version changes are an initial or subsequent significant release of an application.  For releases of Process Commander itself, a major version change encompasses extensive changes to the product. 

Since rule resolution looks only at a rules in a single major version, when making major version changes, you need to copy forward all the original rules, as a starting point. You can accomplish this by “skimming,” which is the process where only the most recent revision of all the rules are collected from all existing versions, and duplicates are removed. 

Moving from one major version to another (for example, from 04-nn-nn to 05-01-01) does not require skimming the rules. However, skimming is generally done with such a move. 

As stated above, rule resolution does not look for rules across multiple major version numbers.  If your system includes the following RuleSets:

• Pega-RULES:05-01-10
• Pega-RULES:04-02-52
• Pega-RULES:03-12-03

and your Profile shows:

            ACME:01-01-01

            Pega-ProCom:04-02

            Pega-WB:04-02

            Pega-IntSvcs:04-02

           Pega-RULES:04-02

then you can only execute the rules in Version 04-02-52.  Any rules in either the 05-01 RuleSet or the 03-12 RuleSet are not accessible.

Minor version changes generally relate to interim releases, to isolate ongoing development and customization from the locked master ruleset.  These are usually updates to the product, with new functionality added.  There should be no upgrade issues for data.

It may be necessary to change users’ profiles to see minor version changes.  If your operator profile which includes Pega-RULES:05-01, and release 05-02 is added to your system, you would not be able to execute any of the new 05-02 rules until your profile is changed to reference Pega-RULES:05-02.  You would then have access to rules in Pega-RULES:05-01andPega-RULES:05-02.

Revision or Change versions usually contain bug fixes and interim changes.  There may be several revisions within a minor version release (05-01-10, 05-01-50, 05-01-53, etc.).

As a best practice, use only the major and minor version numbers in access groups .  This gives enough version specificity that pilot groups can be created for minor releases (before rolling out to the entire user community), but that quick bug fixes may be applied without changing all user Profiles. 

RuleSets and Versions - User availability

There are many RuleSets, and individual users may not have access to all the RuleSets in the system.  Also, within each RuleSet, there can be multiple Versions, some of which may not be available to users, depending upon what access rights they have been granted. 

The information on what RuleSets and Versions are available for a user (requestor) is obtained from the user’s profile, typically established during login.

Beginning in Version 5.1, the RuleSets available to a user are based on application rules, specified in an access group.