Published Release Notes

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.

Kafka custom serializer

In Kafka data sets, you can now create and receive messages in your custom formats, as well as in the default JSON format. To use custom logic and formats for serializing and deserializing ClipboardPage objects, create and implement a Java class. When you create a Kafka data set, you can choose to apply JSON or your custom format that uses a PegaSerde implementation.

For more information, see Creating a Kafka data set and Kafka custom serializer/deserialized implementation.

Additional configuration options for File data sets

You can now create File data sets for more advanced scenarios by adding custom Java classes for data encryption and decryption, and by defining a file set in a manifest file.

Additionally, you can improve data management by viewing detailed information in the dedicated meta file for every file that is saved, or by automatically extending the filenames with the creation date and time.

For more information, see Creating a File data set for files on repositories and Requirements for custom stream processing in File data sets.

Simplified testing of event strategies

Evaluate event strategies by creating test runs. During each run, you can enter a number of sample events with simulated property values, such as the event time, the event key, and so on. By testing a strategy against sample data, you can understand the strategy configuration better and troubleshoot potential issues.

For more information, see Evaluate event strategies through test runs.

Data flow life cycle monitoring

You can now generate a report from the Run details section of a Data Flow rule that provides information about run events. The report includes reasons for specific events which you can analyze to troubleshoot and debug issues more quickly. You can export the report and share it with others, such as Global Customer Support.

For more information about accessing event details, see Creating a real-time run for data flows and Creating a batch run for data flows.

Data flow runs retry connections that fail

Real-time and batch data flow runs now retry dataset connections that fail when the related service is temporarily unavailable, for example, when a connection to a Cassandra database times out. With the automatic retries, you no longer need to run data-heavy and CPU-intensive jobs multiple times and the maintenance of data flow runs diminishes significantly.

For more information about accessing event details, see Creating a real-time run for data flows and Creating a batch run for data flows.

Optimized performance of decision strategies

Strategies that are part of data flows are now automatically optimized to achieve the best performance. You can also choose the properties that a strategy outputs to further increase the efficiency without additional strain on your hardware. 

For more information, see Adding strategies to dataflows. 

Analyze decision components with simulation tests

Gain a better understanding of how strategy components influence decision outcomes by using decision funnel explanations. By running simulation tests with the new Decision funnel explanation purpose, you can now break down the results of a decision funnel into granular analyses to assess how certain components and expressions influence the overall outcome.

For more information, see Interpret the decision funnel with simulation tests.

Support for predictive models in PMML version 4.4

Pega Platform™ now supports the import of predictive models in Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML) version 4.4. With this feature, you can import PMML models that use the anomaly detection algorithm.

For a list of all supported PMML models, see Supported models for import. 

Limits on active data flow runs

You can now configure a maximum number of concurrent active data flow runs for a node type. Set limits to ensure that you do not run out of system resources and that you have a reasonable processing throughput. If a limit is reached, the system queues subsequent runs and waits for active runs to stop or finish before queued runs can be initiated, starting with the oldest.

For more information see, Limit the number of active runs in data flow services (8.5).

Upgrade impact

If you have many data flow runs active at the same time, you might notice that some of the runs are queued and waiting to be executed.

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

You do not have to take any action. After the active runs stop or finish, the queued runs start automatically. The default limits are intended to protect your system resources, and you should not see a negative impact on the processing of data flows. However, if you want to allow a greater number of active data flow runs to be active at the same time, you can change the limits. For more information, see Limiting active data flow runs.