Published Release Notes

Support for configuring and saving external data in App Studio

You can now configure a savable data plan to easily replace or update related data directly from App Studio, and persist those changes during the case lifecycle. This enhancement allows you to work directly in App Studio, without being limited to read-only access of data from case types.

Automation performance enhancements

To improve the performance of automation-based REST services and DX APIs, you can now configure JSON inputs and outputs in automation rules. The automation passes the JSON object directly to an automation-based REST service or DX API, eliminating the need to transform data on a page to JSON first. You can also take advantage of this enhancement if you are calling an automation from an activity. Additionally, you can simulate a JSON response in the automation rule and update the JSON sample if needed.

For more information, see <link TBD> and <link TBD>.

Support for creating automations

You can now create automations in Pega Platform. By creating an automation, you clearly define a contract to perform a specific task. For example, you can create an automation that retrieves a list of data objects that are available in the application.  

For more information, see Creating an automation.

Support for filtering requests and responses in activity-based REST services

You can now use a JSON data transform to filter inputs and outputs in activity-based REST services. With this enhancement, you maintain high performance by filtering unnecessary properties from the REST service request and response.

For more information, see Creating a request for POST, PUT, and PATCH methods by using an activity implementation and Creating a response for Service REST methods by using an activity implementation.

Support for configuring data sources by using OpenAPI Specification

The Integration Designer in App Studio now supports OpenAPI Specification. You can provide an OpenAPI Specification endpoint or upload a YAML file to automatically generate data sources according to the specification. With this enhancement, you avoid having to manually create a representative sample JSON request and response, saving you time and increasing productivity.

For more information, see Integrating with a REST API by using OpenAPI Specification.

Questionnaires available in App Studio

App Studio now supports authoring questionnaires, which in previous releases of Pega Platform™ were known as surveys. You can create questionnaires, add question pages, and populate the pages with questions of different types so that you can collect the exact data that your business processes require. For more efficient data management and reuse, data objects from a data model now store answers to questions, instead of autogenerated properties. For example, when a customer provides a date of birth in a questionnaire, and your application stores the date as a data object, you can conveniently reuse that data object in related cases. For greater flexibility, both standard Pega Platform and Cosmos React applications support questionnaires, however, some question types are unavailable in Cosmos React.

For more information, see:

• Create questionnaires in a low-code way in App Studio (8.6)
• Creating a questionnaire

Improved resiliency and observability of email infrastructure

Pega Platform now has several enhancements to improve the resiliency and observability of its email infrastructure. With the following enhancements, you can improve service quality and reduce maintenance costs:

• Pega Predictive Diagnostic Cloud alerts notify you of connection timeouts and help you troubleshoot more quickly.
• Default values for email settings ensure that your email configuration is optimal and follows best practices.
• Email listeners automatically retry test connectivity upon start-up if the connection fails or authentication fails.
• Improved logging provides meaningful messages and log categorization to support debugging.

For more information, see List of events and notifications in PDC.

Remote case types in App Studio

App Studio now supports remote case types for applications that you build on Cosmos React. With remote case types, you can create a case type inside one application, and then work on cases based on this case type in another, remote application. As a result, users can perform work from multiple applications on one screen without the need to switch between applications, which results in increased efficiency and faster case resolution.

For more information, see:

• Increase efficiency by sharing remote case types between applications (8.6)
• Remote case types  

Support for calling a data transform from a case life cycle in App Studio and initializing data at case creation

You can now call a data transform from a case life cycle in a low-code way in App Studio. For example, when a customer wants to order the same product again, your application can reuse the shipping information from their previous order. Additionally, by configuring data initialization for a case type, you can prepopulate fields at case creation. For example, an application for a delivery service can apply the customer's preferred delivery options when a new case starts. These enhancements save time for developers because the system can initialize data and prepopulate fields in a case by reusing existing logic, and for customers, who do not need to manually enter their details every time.

For more information, see Calling a data transform from a case and Initializing data at case creation.

Data propagation for questionnaires in case types

Pega Platform™ now provides a tool to prepopulate answers in a questionnaire that runs in a case by propagating data from a parent case. At run time, specified questions in a questionnaire that users complete as part of case processing, can display answers by using information that users already provided in the parent case. As a result, you speed up the development of your application and help users process cases and complete questionnaires faster.

For more information, see:

• Deliver user-friendly questionnaires by prepopulating answers (8.6)
• Running a questionnaire in a case