Published Release Notes

New formats for styling report data grids

When you view a report, the data grid that is displayed is now styled by using either the List report format or the Summarized report format, depending on the report type. With this enhancement, you can display report data differently, and perhaps more effectively, than other grids in your portal. In the skin of your application, these new formats will be added and upgraded automatically by copying the Default format for the Trees & grids layout type, which was previously used to style reports.

For more information, see Modifying data grid formats for reports.

BIX -I command-line option fails for unexposed properties

Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX) command-line extractions fail when the extract has a filter that uses unexposed property references that are passed in by the input file that you specified in the -I command-line option. Previously, the BIX extraction ignored the filter and the extraction did not fail.

BIX filtering now works like report filtering

Filtering for Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX) extracts has been enhanced to work like report filtering, making it easier to use. Existing filters that use the Contains/DoesNotContain filter operation will be converted to use the Equals/NotEquals filter operation.

New PEGA0084 alert - Search node count

The PEGA0084 alert is generated when the number of available index host nodes does not meet the quorum ((replicas/2) + 1) required for index writes to succeed. This alert can occur when some of the index nodes go down, causing the number of available index host nodes to be less than the quorum. For more information, see PEGA0084 - Search node count.

Style charts in the application skin

You can now style charts in your application skin by selecting Charts in the Controls section and setting a theme. When you style charts by using a theme, charts that are generated for report definition reports and the autogenerated chart control are styled consistently, and you do not need to style charts individually. In addition, you can preview chart themes in the Skin form to see how different charts look without launching an application.

For more information, see Styling charts in the application skin.

Conversation flow and smart shapes for the Digital Messaging chatbots

When creating Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) for Digital Messaging, chatbot developers can now use new conversation smart shapes in a dedicated flow, making the design process simpler, more robust, and intuitive. With the new smart shapes, the chatbot displays text messages or asks questions to users in one of several ways. In addition, developers do not have to create additional rules, switch tabs, or perform manual validation. You can associate the conversation flow that you create for your IVA with a business case, use the flow on its own, or reuse it in another conversation flow, improving the overall chatbot design process.

For more information, see Adding a stand-alone conversation process for a conversational channel, Adding a case type conversation process for a conversational channel, Editing the conversation smart shapes and Flow shapes.

Ability to forward emails in triage cases

When working on customer emails in the Email Manager or Case Manager portal, customer service representatives (CSRs) can now forward emails to additional stakeholders, for example, third-party vendors or sellers. As a result, CSRs that work with Pega Email Bot™ save time, improve responsiveness to customer inquiries, and make email triaging more efficient. The email bot keeps each forwarded email conversation in a separate email thread from the customer conversation, making the system more consistent and secure.

For more information, see Communicate with stakeholders on a customer query by forwarding emails and Forwarding emails to other stakeholders for an email bot.

Outbound email templates for email bots

Pega Email Bot™ now provides built-in templates for outbound email and an option to create your own, custom templates. You can use this feature to standardize branding for your applications and the company through your communication channels. For example, customer service representatives (CSRs), who use the Email Manager or Case Manager portals, can apply these templates to strengthen your brand's presence in every email that they send or that the email bot automatically sends as an acknowledgment for a user email.

You select an outbound email template when you configure the Email channel. The system provides you with three built-in outbound email templates that you can select or modify to fit the requirements of your organization.

For more information, see Creating an Email channel and Creating outbound email templates.

Association of incoming emails with triage cases

Customer service representatives (CSRs) can now associate an email triage case with existing business cases or service requests. As a result, CSRs can respond more quickly to information about the same issue reported by customers several times. The system displays a list of related service cases for the same customer that CSRs can then associate or disassociate from the open email triage case in the Email Manager or Case Manager portal.

For more information, see Associating service requests with a triage case and Keep related incoming emails together for a triage case.

Secure email threading mechanism in email bots

Pega Email Bot™ now uses a secure built-in threading mechanism to ensure that all email communication between customer service representatives (CSRs), customers, and other stakeholders is secure and organized in separate threads for a triage case. For this purpose, the system embeds a unique encrypted security code in the body of outbound emails that identifies related triage cases, service requests, and forwarded emails.

For more information, see Understanding email triage process and Use a secure threading mechanism for emails.