Published Release Notes

Support for case references added to Pulse

You can now reference a case in a comment or post that you add to Pulse. By including a link in your message that opens a relevant work item, you can add context to a conversation.

For more information, see Enhancing a message in Pulse.

Quicker approach for reusing processes in a stage

You can now reuse processes more quickly in a stage when you define the life cycle for a case type. Reusing processes saves time and makes it easier to define processes for a stage instead of creating new ones. You can also reuse processes faster when you add parallel processes to a stage.

For more information, see Quick access for reusing processes in a stage.

Ability to annotate case attachments

Pega^® Platform application users can now add annotations to images that are attached to cases. For example, users can draw around an area of an image to highlight a faulty element of the device. Users can annotate all images, except for signature images or attachments that are stored in Pega Cloud or other external data stores. The annotated case attachments replace the original ones.

For more information, see Case attachment annotations.

Improve application test coverage by running multiple sessions

You can improve the test coverage of your application by using a new test coverage method - Application Coverage. Multiple users can perform coverage sessions which are aggregated into a single report. By using report metrics that show the number of rules that are covered and are not covered by tests, developers can identify which areas of the application need more test coverage.

For more information, see the Test Coverage landing page.

Pega Survey documentation refers to deprecated field

The documentation for Pega^® Survey refers to the Answer Layout field on the Complex Question form, but this field is no longer supported. For more information about the question layout formats that Pega Survey supports, see Pega Survey.

Data pages can source information from a robotic desktop automation

You can now configure data pages to source information from robotic desktop automations (RDA). Using an RDA to source a data page allows you to connect your Pega Platform™ application to any application that is accessible from an end-user's desktop. By using automations to retrieve data and load it into a data page, you can use data virtualization to separate your Pega Platform data model from the physical interface of a legacy system against which the automation is running.

For more information, see Obtaining information from robotic automations.

Unit testing support for more rule types

You can now create unit tests for the following additional rule types. You can also create assertions to validate activity status. The expanded rule types for unit testing enable developers to more thoroughly perform regression testing of their application, thereby improving application quality.

• Collection
• Declare expression
• Map value
• Report definition

For more information about unit testing rules, see Pega unit test cases.

Upgrade impact

With the four new rule types, unit test execution and unit test compliance metrics will change. Reports on automated unit testing of the customer application decrease due to the increased pool of supported rules.

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

After a successful upgrade, create Pega unit test cases for the newly supported rules to see updated and accurate unit test metrics.

View application quality metrics by data type

You can now view application quality metrics by data type on the Application Quality landing page. The new Data Types tab displays metrics for data types grouped by data objects, which enables you to more quickly understand the overall coverage of the application's integrations and interfaces.

For more information about data type metrics, see Application Quality landing page.

Scenario tests are reusable

Existing scenario tests are now reusable in different business scenarios. Before Pega 8.3, you had to create a new test every time a user interface or process flow changed significantly. Now, scenario tests are editable to help you maintain the test stack more effectively.

For more information, see Updating scenario tests.

Business logic-based routing to process cases more efficiently

Process cases more efficiently by defining business logic-based routing options to route tasks to customer service representatives (CSRs) who have a specified availability or skillset. For example, you can ensure that a task is routed to a CSR with a high level of a German language if it is your business need. You can also create custom lists of operators and work queues to filter CSRs who can receive an assignment.

For more information, see Choosing an assignee at run time in Dev Studio, Choosing an assignee at run time in App Studio, Configuring business logic-based routing APIs.