Published Release Notes

Decision Strategy Manager

Fixes were made that improve the configuration and execution of Batch Decisions. In particular,  the capability to use Structured Data has been enhanced. Some notable improvements have also been made to the UI of Visual Business Director.

• The structured data input configuration will now work even though there is no data.
• VBD has been enhanced to work with Version 7.1.
• The structured data input configuration will now work with nested structures.
• Association rules from Version 6.3 will now work with 7.1 structured data.

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.

New options to manage proposition validity

Manage your decisioning strategy more effectively with proposition validity settings. You can now set your propositions as always active, inactive, or active only within a defined time period. Setting a validity period for your propositions helps you to plan your strategy and automatically activate or deactivate propositions in the future.

For more information, see Proposition validity.

Device preview includes a configurable list of common mobile devices

Pega Express device preview displays your application in a simulated mobile device. By previewing your application, you can view the user experience on a desktop, tablet, or phone. You can select from a list of common devices or add devices to the list by editing Pega-DevicePreview-Device.

For more information, see Previewing an application on a mobile device.

Define adaptive model context

You can define model identifiers in the Adaptive Model rule instance, which serve as partitioning keys, by selecting properties from the top-level SR class of your application. The Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM) server uses model identifiers to create adaptive models that use the same configuration, but collect different adaptive statistics. Use model identifiers in the Adaptive Model rule to create adaptive models for your purposes.

For more information, see the Context tab on the Adaptive Model form.

DSM rulesets become part of the PegaRULES application

The Pega-DecisionArchitect, Pega-DecisionEngine, Pega-BigData, and Pega-NLP rulesets were moved from the PegaDM application record to the PegaRULES application record. This change makes decision management functionality available for Pega 7 Platform users by default without any additional configuration required.

For more information, see DSM rulesets become part of the PegaRULES application.

HDFS data sets support Parquet files

The Parquet file format has been added to the list of supported file formats for data storage in the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) data set record. On the Pega 7 Platform, you can now access an HDFS data set that stores data in the Parquet file format and perform various operations on that data set.

For more information, see Big Data enhancements in decision management.

New rule type: External Data Flow

You can now create External Data Flow rules on the Pega 7 Platform. By using this rule type, you run predictive models outside of the Pega 7 Platform and directly in the external Hadoop data set infrastructure. Processing large amounts of data on an external infrastructure improves overall performance on the Pega 7 Platform by reducing data transfer between the Hadoop cluster and the platform.

For more information, see Big Data enhancements in decision management.

New graphical framework for the Event Strategy rule form

The Event Strategy rule form introduces a new graphical framework that includes redesigned strategy shapes, improved navigation, and faster response time when building a strategy. These changes contribute to creating a more functional and engaging environment that allows strategy designers to successfully develop and maintain event strategy rules.

For more information, see Event Strategy rule type enhancements.

New shapes in the Event Strategy rule type

The Event Strategy rule type supports branching and merging of the data stream by using the new Split and Split and Join strategy shapes. You can now split your event strategy into several paths to identify multiple types of events with a single rule instance.

In addition, the Lookup shape replaces the Static Data shape. You can add static data anywhere in the strategy. For example, you can filter out irrelevant events, and then evoke static data for only the events that are relevant to the strategy.

For more information, see Event Strategy rule type enhancements.