Published Release Notes

Automate business process tracking by importing Excel files

To track business processes status and data, you can now import Excel files when you create a case or data object in App Studio. This functionality provides the following enhancements:

• You can now upload a CSV file when you create a case or data object in App Studio. By importing a CSV file, you can use the data in your spreadsheet to define your data model.
• You can generate a data import template that you can use to import a file in its original format during production.
• You can upload .xlsx files to avoid resaving your Excel file as a CSV file.

For more information, see Creating a data model from a spreadsheet.

Consistent search experience in App Studio

Pega Platform™ now supports a unified search mechanism in App Studio. Instead of manually locating a single item, such as a case type, a channel, or a data object, you can simply use the Search option in the navigation pane. You can also use Search in case types and personas landing pages, to conveniently access the information that you need, for example channels and case types associated with a persona.  

For more information, see Plan your Microjourneys more conveniently in an improved Case Designer (8.5), Creating a Microjourney for customer success.

Data APIs support data exploration in React UI tables

Data APIs have been enhanced to support filtering, sorting, paging, and aggregation in React UI tables. You can use that functionality to access your data quickly and intuitively. For example, by using paging, you can query a data page to retrieve the second page of an employee contact list and specify the number of results that are displayed on the page.

For more information, see Data API performance and limitations.

Support for application-specific REST API calls

You can now call an authenticated REST API in the context of any application that is listed on an operator record by using the application alias URL. With the application alias URL, you can also develop REST services without changing the access group in the service package. REST services run in the context of the access group that points to the provided application, instead of the access group that is specified in the service package.

For more information, see Invoking a REST service rule.

Automated project estimation in App Studio

App Studio now supports estimating projects in an intuitive and automated way, so that you can plan your work with greater efficiency and accuracy. Estimations include the number of hours that you will need to deliver an application, based on multiple factors such as the delivery methodology, the number and complexity of features to implement, and the number of teams involved. After you provide the required data, the project estimator calculates the expected duration of application development. To share your project estimates outside Pega Platform™, for example with your stakeholders, you can also export estimates to an .xlsx file.

For more information, see Estimate projects automatically in App Studio (8.5), Estimating application development.

Enhanced application inventory to support features

Now the application inventory in App Studio also includes features that represent elements of your application to implement, such as language packs, along with personas and data objects. The inventory provides the option to add new features or reuse existing features from built-on applications. With the enhanced inventory, application development planning and tracking is faster and more intuitive because you can now easily check the features that your development team needs to implement. For greater clarity, the inventory supports different methods of grouping features, for example, by release or complexity.     

For more information, see Managing application inventory.

Enhanced Case Designer in App Studio

For greater clarity when visualizing your business processes, App Studio now has an improved Case Designer. In Pega Platform™ 8.5, every persona displays a list of associated channels, and every data object lists associated systems, instead of showing multiple entities for different channels or systems. Additionally, for better distinction every channel and system displays a unique icon. To fully convey your business process using just one screen, Case Designer now also supports visualizing attachments required for your microjourney, as well as creating draft associations between personas and channels.

For more information, see Plan your Microjourneys more conveniently in an improved Case Designer (8.5), Creating a Microjourney for customer success.

Failed Robotic Assignments work queue type changed to Standard

The default Failed Robotic Assignments work queue type is now Standard. In previous releases, the default type was Robotic. For usage information, see Configuring a work queue for robotic automation.

Upgrade impact

After upgrading to Pega Platform 8.5 and later, you cannot save case types in which you configure the Queue for robot smart shape to route new assignments to the Failed Robotic Assignments work queue. Existing assignments that you routed to the Failed Robotic Assignments work queue are not affected.

How do I update my application to be compatible with this change?

As a best practice, do not use the Failed Robotic Assignments work queue in your custom implementations. Instead, configure the Queue for robot smart shape to route new assignments to a Robotic work queue. When possible, update existing case types to use the robotic work queues that you created in your application.

Savable data pages support loading pages individually from a page list

You can now load individual pages in a page list from single object data pages to your case and data types. This functionality allows you to save autopopulated properties with the Load each page individually option using a flow action, save data page smart shape, or the activity method.

For more information, see Saving data in a data page as part of a flow.

Searching for Pulse messages available in spaces

Pega Platform™ now supports searching for Pulse messages within a space. For greater accuracy of the results, you can search by applying different filters, such as keywords, message authors, and a time range for posting of the messages. The results return private and public posts, comments, and attachments that match the search filters. When the result is a comment, Pulse displays the whole message thread for full context.

For more information, see Search for Pulse messages in spaces (8.5), Searching for Pulse messages in spaces.