Published Release Notes

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.

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.

User Interface

This release had a focus around improving support for accessibility for all the PRPC UI Components as well as extending capabilities for responsive design with grids and tabs. A series of cosmetic changes and fixes are included.

• Improvements have been made for action items being opened in a dynamic container.
• Row repeat functionality in sections has been improved to better handle source properties.
• Screen layouts have been optimized for the iPhone platform
• The display on dynamic containers has been enhanced to provide the same behavior for both single-mode and multi-mode.
• The Launch Harness feature has been improved to launch into a pop-up window.
• The operator menu will now display from the Case Manager portal.
• The Primary Page functionality has been enhanced for control-defined Repeating Tab Headers.
• Using local actions defined as modal windows has been enhanced to work in an iPAD using a Safari browser.
• When using a modal dialog to open a flow action in a repeat grid, to add an item to the list, users may now cancel out of this dialog if no changes are needed.

Case Management

This release had a focus on extending key capabilities to improve the ease of configuration based on early adopter feedback.  Improvements were made in run-time performance, especially in high volume situations with complex case configurations.  A series of cosmetic changes and fixes are included.

• The Wait shape now supports dynamic references.
• Issues were addressed with the CreatePDF and the CascadingApproval Smartshapes.
• Attachments have been improved.
• Issues with the Create Case Type functionality were addressed.
• The Pega Pulse functionality has been improved, including its performance.
• When auditing a work item, History is now the default tab.

DCO

In this release, specification support in Case Designer was improved.  Also, improvements and fixes were made to the New Application Wizard.

• Changes were made to support a split schema environment
• Shared and Component RuleSets can be copied.
• Can edit in Word from either Grids or Lists.
• More than 50 case types are now supported for an application.

User Interface

Issues for cross-browser support for Designer Studio have been addressed. Improvements were made in run-time performance for data pages with grids, and a number of cosmetic changes and fixes were made.

• Improved loading of Javascript files during saving Harness rules.
• Login Performance improvements
• A cursor pointer issue was addressed in Case Manager.
• In reports, data in columns will now right-align.
• Improved section validation functionality
• Harnesses with screen layouts will now save when there is a refresh condition on a panel.
• Outline View tree has been improved.
• Improvements to Repeat Grids using Data Pages as a source.
• Formatted text cells can be put into a grid to display the value of a property retrieved from a Report Definition join.
• Designer Studio changes to support IE9 and IE10.
• Improved designer studio layout
• Designer Studio changes to support quirks mode in IE8 and IE9.
• Improvements to SmartLabels in Data Pages
• Tab groups will take parameters for pre-activities in a defer load setup.
• Sections support nested dynamic layouts.

Improved UI accessibility

Pega Platform™ now supports W3C Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines more fully, which creates a better user experience for people who rely on assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

The user interface now features the following enhancements:

• Improved keyboard navigation and updated ARIA attributes for layouts, including dynamic, repeating, and table layouts.
• Updated navigation for AJAX and dynamic containers.
• More precise keyboard navigation and focus control for pop-up components, such as SmartTips.
• Fixed accessibility gaps in out-of-the-box actionable controls and form components, such as buttons and text fields.
• More accessible error messages with improved color schemes and focus control. To meet the WCAG ARIA guidelines, the Show next Error bar has been retired and substituted with more accessible error symbols.
• Accessibility code included in the Pega Platform ruleset by default, without the need for additional configuration.

For more information, see Supported keyboard navigation.

Improved scroll functionality in vertical tabs

When you scroll content in an application that uses the Cosmos theme, the UI now remembers the scroll position even if you switch between vertical tabs, for example, in the case details section. Previously, the application reset the page to the topmost position every time you switched tabs. This update improves the user experience by reducing context switching.

Embedded properties in DX API v2 requests are no longer removed

In Pega Platform version 8.5, when you use the POST and PATCH v2 DX API methods with an embedded page property included in the content element of the request, the system removes all properties in the embedded page that are included in the case but are not a part of the request. Now, the merge logic has been modified to update embedded page fields sent up in the request, and keep other fields unchanged.

This feature simplifies client code and prevents data corruption.