Published Release Notes

DCO

This release focused on improving the user experience of creating new rules and tightening up the use of specifications in the Case Designer.  The layout of the New and Save As forms were made more intuitive and intelligent.  Specification actions were made to be more consistent across various aspects of the Case Designer.

• After removing specification references, users can create and save a new specification.
• Developers may now choose either an existing specification or create a new one for subflows and Split-For-Each shapes.
• If a specification is not associated with flow shapes such as sub flows, Utilities, or Split-For-Each, it is possible to import speciications with the same names, and the flow shapes will default to using those imported specs.
• In the outline view, specification changes will be preserved when switching from tab to tab.
• The View Full Details functionality from either Configure Step or the Outline View will display all details, including the specification requirement links.

Reporting & Data

This release fixed many existing unlocalizable elements in 7.1 reporting interfaces (The Report Viewer, Report Editor, Chart Editor, and the Report Browser) and now they are fully localizable. Changes were made to make Listview, summaryview,  and report viewer display possible WCAG 2.0 level A and AA support.

• Parameters may now be used in a sub-report join condition.
• Report Definition localization has been enhanced.
• Standalone ListViews with embedded SmartInfo have been improved to resize appropriately when the SmartInfo section is expanded.
• The data section of a report will now display in all of the available space when a fixed header option is selected.
• When localizing a listview with filters, tool tips are translated.

Tracked changes persist between client sessions

The Microsoft Word native change tracking feature persists between client sessions for specifications. Enable this feature to facilitate collaborative reviews of your specifications with project stakeholders.

Inserting your specification updates as tracked changes allows you to:

• Provide visible markup to the next reviewer.
• Correlate edits to a specific user and time.
• Generate documents that include markup and comments.

Local settings, such as the colors you specify for markup, do not persist between clients.

For instructions on how to prevent markup and comments from appearing in generated documents, see Advanced options for editing specifications.

Add multiple attachments at once

You can now add more than one attachment to a requirement or specification at a time, without closing the Add/Edit Attachment modal dialog box. Use the traditional browse method to upload an attachment or drag and drop a local file, based on your needs. View and access your attachments from the Application Profile landing page, Requirement form, or Specification form.

Plan projects using release data

Requirements and specifications can now be mapped to a target release and iteration within a specific release. Populating these fields allows you to set and publish a release schedule through worksheets generated by the Sizing wizard. Access these fields from the Application Profile landing page or by opening any requirement or specification.

The Release and Iteration fields as they appear in a specification and a corresponding worksheet

The Sizing wizard incorporates values from the Release and Iteration fields for specifications only.

Specification type extended for decisioning users

Specifications now support a Decision Strategy Manager (DSM) type. This allows you to map your specifications to a decisioning component, such as a strategy or model. After you select an appropriate subtype and provide relevant metadata, you can run the Sizing wizard to incorporate these details into project sizing worksheets.

DSM specification details as they appear in the Specification form and Sizing wizard output

You must have access to Decision Management rulesets to create DSM specifications. For more information on specification types, refer to the Details tab of the Specification form. To view all specifications in your application, filtered by type, refer to the Application Profile landing page.

Add collections as linked implementations

You can now identify a collection or individual steps within a collection as an implementation of a specification. Linking specifications to rules allows you to more accurately convey your application design to project stakeholders. Use the Specifications tab on the Collection form to create these links.

To see all implementations for a given specification, refer to the Application Profile landing page or the Implementations tab of the Specification form.

Add project branding to generated documents

The standard Word Template for specification descriptions is now extensible. Using a customized template allows you to brand your generated documents with project-specific elements.

Specialize the Rule-Application-UseCase.pySpecificationDescription rule to:

• Include relevant images such as company logos.
• Define static text.
• Insert dynamic elements by merging clipboard values into field codes.

Generated document with custom company logo

Refer to Advanced options for editing specifications for instructions on how to override this template.

Report Viewer provides simplified user experience

In the Report Viewer, improvements simplify the user experience when working with reports. Column headers display initial sort order and type, and you can hover over a column header to display and use its context menu, which includes options for ad-hoc sorting and filtering. Developers can specify various pagination modes and set an option to keep the header in view while users scroll through the report.

For more information, see Report Viewer.

Enhanced BIX file naming

To help clarify file names, BIX extract output files and manifest files can now contain parameters. Parameters can include the rule name, the extract's run time and date, and a unique run sequence number. Special characters such as spaces, hyphens, or number signs (#) in the output or manifest file name are converted to underscores. In addition, the pxExtractIdentifier and pxExtractDateTime columns have been added to the .csv output file.

For more information, see Extracting data with BIX and Extract rules - completing the File Specification tab.