Published Release Notes

Post files and links with pxPostMessage API

The pxPostMessageAPI now supports text messages, file attachments, and hyperlinks. You can programmatically update Pulse streams using this API from activities or SLA rules.

Case Management

This release has continued to focus on improving the functionality of the design environment with improvements to the Case Designer and stage configuration. Additional end user capabilities were also added to allow for processing a wider variety of cases, for those with and without stages and improved bulk processing handling.

• Flow action processing now uses the primary page instead of the interest page when using case/stage local actions, so that embedded flows are properly populated.
• Case-wide local actions rely on pzInternalStageFlow when there are no active, non-hidden assignments on the case. These case-wide local actions will now appear on a stage-less flow with no assignments.
• If a (valid) error is displayed in the outline view, saving or clicking around will not delete the error - the error will remain as a reminder to the developer to solve whatever problem is being flagged.
• May now add Cascading Approval validation and edit the parameters from the Case Designer Stage and Step page.
• Page labelling ("Page 1 of X") appears in the history list presented in the audit tab.
• The bulk processing feature has been enhanced.
• The Outline View functionality was changed so that the visible page will no longer refresh each time a flow is edited.
• The Post value was added to the instructions text field, so data isn't lost between nodes in the outline View.
• When Assign to Operator or workbasket is included as a filter, the bulk processing gadget is supposed to get a list of assignments. The UI for the results was enhanced for assignments to include a column for instructions so that the different assignments on the same work item can be distinguished.
• When designing a case type’s stages, it is no longer possible to skip the last stage (by using the "skip stage when" setting). When creating or editing the last stage, developers may no longer set a skip when rule; if tried, the system will display a warning and prevent that. If a Skip When rule is set up for a stage, and then all the intervening stages are deleted so that this stage becomes the last stage, the warning will display, and the Skip When rule will not be visible. If another stage is then added after that, the Skip When rule becomes visible again.
• When one or more locked work objects are processed using the Process Selected Items button, the action will be performed on the selected work objects. If the action is successful, a green tick appears on the work object. If it is not successful, a red cross will appear.
• When the topmost RuleSet in the RuleSet Stack is locked, customers may now open up Outline View by clicking "Configure Process Details" and make exploratory changes to experiment. Because the RuleSet is locked, these changes may not be saved, but the experiment can be tried.

Quickly create ad-hoc cases

The My Cases work area on the Case Manager portal introduces a Quick Create feature that lets users create cases and assign tasks that are not included in the processing of business cases (instances of case types defined in the Cases Explorer).  For example, a manager can create a case and a task to set up a phone conference with her staff, or a reminder to enroll in an online seminar. Users can also set up a series of tasks to represent all they work they need to do to accomplish a specific goal.

SAML single sign-on is easier to configure

Implementing SAML single sign-on (SSO) login authentication in your application is now less complex. You can now configure most requirements that used custom activities or Java code in previous releases from the Authentication services form.

For more information, see Creating an authentication service.

Stakeholder management extended to case followers

You can now control which users follow a case. By actively involving the people with relevant skills and roles in your application, you can resolve cases more quickly.

For more information, see Case followers.

Configure role dependencies to grant access rights

You can configure role dependencies in a role to grant access rights, which are inherited from the role. Role dependencies are relationships between roles that mirror an organization hierarchy or a more complex relationship among groups of operators, roles, or functional areas. Use role dependencies to simplify role configuration, minimize the number of roles needed by an access group, and minimize the number of privileges that you have to manually define for roles in your application.

For more information, see Access Role rules, Access Role form – Using the Role tab.

Improved operator security

To improve security, Pega® Platform now requires the following:

• During deployment, you must configure a password for [email protected].
• The administrator must enable new out-of-the-box operators.
• The administrator and new Pega-supplied operators must change their passwords after the first login.

These requirements replace the optional secured mode in earlier versions of Pega Platform.

Pulse enhancements

The enhanced layout of the Pulse interface provides a better user experience for posting messages, adding attachments, bookmarking content, and so on. You can now post messages in your activity feed, format messages, add inline images and links to messages, reference cases, and view the list of users who like messages. The Pulse email templates have also been improved to display email content in a coherent and structured format.

For more information, see:

• Pega Express 7.4 – Communicating with Pulse
• Pega Platform 7.4 – Pulse enhancements for social collaboration

Multifactor authentication now supports SMS

Multifactor authentication now supports short message service (SMS) as well as email. Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) is supported as a provider.

For more information, see Security policies settings.

Operator provisioning is supported by SAML and OpenID Connect authentication services

When you use SAML and OpenID authentication services, operators can be automatically provisioned without the need to write custom activities. Users can now be authenticated and provisioned from authentication providers that adhere to the OpenID Connect specification, such as Auth0, NetIQ, and Google.

For more information, see Configuring operator provisioning for a SAML SSO authentication service and Configuring operator provisioning for an OpenID Connect authentication service.