Business issue

Government applications require modern web behaviors, consistent with the mainstream web applications to minimize operator training and shorten their learning curve. The Pega UI-Kit Design System uses traditional web mechanics like iFrame; full page refreshes and avoids modern browser capabilities, for example, back button and tabs.

Pega Government Platform solution

In addition to the traditional PegaGP application stack based on the UI-Kit design system, Pega Government Platform 8.6 offers the PegaGPCosmos and the new PGPICMCosmos application stacks based on the new Cosmos design system of Pega.

Pega Government Platform 8.6 solution scope

In Pega Government Platform 8.6, the PGP Core application features are available in the PegaGPCosmos application stack and the Investigative Case Management features are available in the PGPICMCosmos application stack.

Customer use

In App Studio, use the New Application Wizard and select PegaGPCosmos as the built-on application type for a new implementation layer application. Follow the design guidance available on the Pega Cosmos design system website.

Key Cosmos topics

Transition from UI-Kit

There is no automated path to transition from the UI-Kit design system to the Cosmos design system. A UI-Kit based application must be manually migrated to the new design system through developer effort. If your Pega 8.4 or earlier application does not override or extend Platform UI rules and uses Design Templates and Views to implement its UI, it easily transitions to the Cosmos design system. For more information, see the Cosmos Development Articles.

Differences in design systems

UI-Kit	Cosmos
In UI-Kit you can use Dev Studio sections with the full section editor.	In Cosmos, you can use App Studio friendly design templates and views.
In UI-Kit and Pega 8.4 and earlier applications, you can override and extend unconfirmed platform rules that do not meet your implementation layer requirements.	In Cosmos applications, you configure platform rules to meet your requirements and rigorously avoid overriding them.

Development approach

Starting in Pega Platform version 8.5, a case types can have an initial stage: Create Stage. Cosmos uses this new stage to control the initial presentation dialog when a case type creates new work. The existing case types that are migrated from the UI-Kit to Cosmos must have this Create Stage manually added.

When overriding a Platform UI rule is unavoidable, you must keep a track of the rule. For example, in separate Platform-overrides ruleset, and detail the reason(s) this override could not be avoided in the rule Usage. With each subsequent release of the Pega Platform and Pega Government Platform reevaluate the overridden rules and seek to withdraw them.

Pega Government Platform 8.6 Cosmos developer notes

PGP Core Application stack comparison

Traditional PegaGP:8 applicationstack	New PegaGPCosmos:8 applicationstack
Built-On UIKit:15.01	Built-On Theme-Cosmos:02.01
Built-On PegaRULES:8	Built-On PegaRULES:8

Traditional PegaGP:8 applicationstack	New PegaGPCosmos:8 applicationstack
	PGPCosmos:08-06
PGPOverride:08-06	PGPCosmosOverride:08-06
PegaPSPortals:08-06	PegaPSPortals:08-06
PegaPSUserServices:08-06	PegaPSUserServices:08-06
PegaPS:08-06	PegaPS:08-06
PegaPSInt:08-06	PegaPSInt:08-06
PegaPSUI:08-06	PegaPSUI:08-06
PegaPSIntConnectors:08-06	PegaPSIntConnectors:08-06
PegaPSConnectors:08-06	PegaPSConnectors:08-06
PegaPSGDPR:08-06	PegaPSGDPR:08-06

ICM Core Application Stack Comparison

Traditional PGPICM:8 applicationstack	New PGPICMCosmos:8 applicationstack
Built-On PegaGP:8	PegaGPCosmos:8

Traditional PGPICM:8 applicationstack	New PGPICMCosmos:8 applicationstack
	ICMCosmos:08-06
ICMOverride:08-06	ICMCosmosOverride:08-06
PegaPSICM:08-06	PegaPSICM:08-06
PegaPSICMInt:08-06	PegaICMInt:08-06
PegaPSICMPortals:08-06	PegaPSPortals:08-06

In Pega Government Platform 8.6, two application rules are provided for PGP Core, and two application rules are provided for ICM: one application rule supports building traditional UI-Kit-based applications and the other supports building new Cosmos-based applications.

PegaGP:8 – provides the UI-Kit based ruleset stack that is consistent and backward compatible with previous versions of Pega Government Platform.

PegaGPCosmos:8 – provides the same feature set as PegaGP but with Cosmos-themed user interface rules.

PGPICM:8 – provides the UI-Kit based ruleset stack that is consistent and backward compatible with previous versions of PGP Investigative Case Management.

PGPICMCosmos:8 – provides the same feature set as PGPICM but with Cosmos-themed user interface rules.

Both application stacks share the common rulesets for Pega Government Platform data model, PGP connector, and PGP work processing rules, also known as, PGP Core.

The Cosmos application contains two additional rulesets:

<app>Cosmos:08-06 – this ruleset contains user interface rules that Pega Government Platform has overridden (copied) from the UI-Kit design system and extended for specific purposes within Pega Government Platform.

<app>CosmosOverride:08-06 – this ruleset contains user interface rules overridden from Theme- Cosmos to follow the implementation guidance from the Pega User Experience team.

Specific overrides

Specific UI overrides interfere with future UI upgrades and should be avoided. The rules in the PGPCosmosOverride ruleset are purposefully isolated from the Pega Government Platform application rules. In the future releases, Pega Platform and the common Cosmos design include the features that the rules in the PGPCosmosOverride ruleset provide.

pyWorkCommonActions navigation rule

This navigation rule was overridden on Pega Government Platform entity view case types to customize the list of actions available. Pega Platform 8 does not offer a mechanism to configure and extend a navigation rule except to override.

pyCaseMainInner section rule

This section rule was overridden to add Pega Government Platform entity-specific tabs on the left panel and Pega Government Platform utility widgets to the right panel. Pega Platform 8 does not offer a mechanism to configure included widgets on a section rule except to override.

pyCaseConfirm section rule

This section rule was overridden to provide a Pega Government Platform specialized Toast Message in the case completion view.

CaseActionHeader section rule

This section rule was overridden to add an Edit button for entity view case types, and to add a View More button for entity add case types.

pyRefresh navigation rule

This navigation rule was overridden on entity work classes to invoke the Pega Government Platform PegaPS-Work ClearHomeDataPages data transform rule passing the EntityType and EntityID parameters which causes the removal of data pages related to the current entity before the default Refresh action occurs.

HomeMain section rule

This section rule was overridden and circumstanced for mobile to remove the pulse display on the Home Page of the Cosmos User Portal.

CaseDetails section rule

This section rule is overridden for the Pega Government Platform Event case type to customize the Primary Case Data section details.

WelcomeBanner section rule

This section rule was overridden to add Pega Government Platform specific welcome text to the Cosmos welcome screen on the User Portal.

pyDefaultUserDashboard data transform rule

This data transform rule was overridden in order to add Pega Government Platform Event status information to the Cosmos User dashboard.