Published Release Notes

Response timeout configuration for predictions

You can now set a response timeout for your predictions in Prediction Studio. By setting a response timeout, you control how Prediction Studio registers customer responses that later serve as feedback data for your predictions.

For more information, see Customizing predictions.

External data flow rules are deprecated

External data flows are now deprecated and no longer supported. To improve your user experience with Pega Platform™, the user interface elements associated with these rules are hidden from view by default. Identifying unused features allows Pega to focus on developing and supporting the features that you need.

For more information, see Deprecated: External data flows.

Visual Business Director data is automatically cleaned after a retention period expires

To avoid negative impact on system resources, such as memory and disk space, Pega Platform™ automatically cleans out collections data accumulated in Visual Business Director after the time period specified in the vbd/dataRetentionTimeout dynamic system setting.

Upgrade impact

In versions of Pega Platform earlier than 8.5, collections data was not automatically removed. From version 8.5, the data is removed after 465 days (15 months) by default.

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

If the default data retention period does not meet your requirements, you can change it by editing the vbd/dataRetentionTimeout setting.

For more information, see "Configuring the data retention period for Visual Business Director" in the Pega Customer Decision Hub 8.5 Upgrade Guide on the Pega Customer Decision Hub product page.

Optimization check utility available for legacy strategies

Ensure that your strategies are compatible with the optimized strategy execution engine introduced in Pega Platform™ 8.1 by running a post-upgrade utility that checks strategies within your application for areas that you can optimize, for example, by reducing the number of page properties that are copied from one shape to another. Running the utility produces a report that you can use to plan the required updates to your strategies.

For more information, see Make your strategies compatible with the optimized strategy execution engine by using a check utility.

Uploading customer responses into adaptive models is no longer available

The option to train adaptive models by uploading a static list of historical interaction records has been deprecated in Pega Platform™ 8.5.

Upgrade impact

In versions of Pega Platform earlier than 8.5, it was possible to train an adaptive model by uploading historical data of customer interaction. After the upgrade to version 8.5, this option is no longer available.

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

Use data from a report definition to train adaptive models. For more information, see Training adaptive models.

More flexibility for Date Time predictors in adaptive models

You can configure adaptive model predictors that indicate the amount of time that has elapsed since a particular event. In versions of Pega Platform™ earlier than 8.5, you could only specify the absolute date and time, for example, the date when a subscriber last visited one of your brick-and-mortar store locations. In Pega Platform 8.5, you can also indicate the amount of time that has passed, for example, the number of days since a subscriber purchased a new service plan.

For more information, see Adding a predictor to an adaptive model.

Add subspaces within spaces

You can now create subspaces within spaces. By adding a subspace, you can collaborate on a subtopic that is related to the topic of the parent space. For example, you can create an Annual Day subspace within the Events space.

For more information, see Creating a subspace.

Support for sourcing case and Pulse attachments from repositories

You can now source case and Pulse attachments from repositories, which provides a complete solution for attachment management. In addition, unlike other external sourcing solutions, repositories do not require OAuth 2.0 authentication, so that you can connect to repositories that use non-interactive authentication.

For more information, see Configuring external sourcing options for attachments. 

Add varied content to a case with Recent content gadget

In an end user portal such as Case Manager, you can now add any type of file to your case by using a Recent content gadget. You can create documents by using a rich text editor, uploading existing files, or attaching URL addresses. Collaborate on all types of content with other members of your team by providing the necessary documents for your case.

For more information, see Adding content to a space (for App Studio), Adding content to a space (for Dev Studio).

Predictive models monitoring

In Prediction Studio, you can now monitor the predictive performance of your models to validate that they make accurate predictions. Based on that information, you can re-create or adjust the models to provide better business results, such as higher accept rates or decreased customer churn.

For more information, see Monitoring predictive models.