Published Release Notes

Generate an XSD file for XML format output

You can now use Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX) to generate an XSD file for existing XML output when the Get all properties check box is selected on the Definition tab of the Extract rule form. You can now validate the XML output and generate DDL statements by using the generated XSD file. Some tags might not be included in the generated XSD file because of missing values in the XML output.

For more information, see Generating an XSD file for XML output.

Project sizing supports real-time feedback

You can now size a project based on the stories that you create in the Agile Workbench tool. By capturing feedback from your stakeholders in stories, you can improve the accuracy of your estimated timeline and costs in real time.
For more information about project sizing, see Sizing an application development project.

Improved usability for feature management

You can now manage your features more effectively by implementing the following changes in your application:

• Move features to different levels to change the structure of your feature hierarchy.
• Provide descriptions that are longer than 256 characters to improve the readability of features.
• Quickly remove irrelevant features without having to manage dependencies on built-on applications or previous application versions.
• Consolidate features into one application layer when you are ready to ship your application.

For more information about feature management, see Managing the features in your application.

Real-time statistics added to application overviews

You can now use the Application Overview landing page to get information about the number, type, and status of work items that are associated with your features. By referring to the statistics and progress bars that update as your team creates and resolves work items, you can track feature development in real time without interrupting your development team for status updates.

For more information, see Real-time statistics for feature development.

Agile Workbench supports bulk actions

You can now create stories in bulk by importing a story template to Agile Workbench. By defining stories in bulk before you start development, you can size your project more quickly.

For more information, see Bulk actions in Agile Workbench.

Guided tours and online help added to application guides

You can now create application guides that display content from a Pega^® Platform help topic or a sequence of tour stops in a guided tour. By providing supporting information in an interactive format, you can help users complete tasks more quickly.

For more information about displaying help topics, tour stops, and other types of information in a task, see Interactive tasks in an application guide.

Support for the decisioning-enabled NLP text analyzer in IVAs and Email Bots

You can now use the new intelligent natural language processing (iNLP) text analyzer in Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistants™ (IVAs) and Pega Email Bots™. This advanced text analyzer is decisioning-enabled and empowers IVA or Email Bot for all conversational channels to provide smarter responses. The decisioning capability in the system integrates text analytics with strategies, prepositions, and interaction history, to provide the context for making better next-best-action decisions.

For more information, see Use the decisioning-enabled NLP text analyzer in IVAs and Email Bots, Defining advanced Facebook text analyzer configuration and Facebook channel behavior.

Upgrade impact

Existing channels remain with the current configuration, and their current functionality does not change. Channels created after the upgrade automatically use the new text analyzer.  

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

The new text analyzer is enabled or disabled using a new interactive API (iAPI) selection, which is selected by default for new channels. You can disable the iAPI for new channels if you want to maintain current functionality. You can also enable it for existing channels if you want to move existing channels to the new functionality.

Support for multiple work queues in the Email Manager portal

Pega Email Bot™ now provides multiple work queues in the Email Manager portal. With this functionality, operators, such as customer service representatives, can now triage cases more efficiently by selecting different work queues. Operators have access to work queues only for the current Pega Platform™ application.

For more information, see Email Manager portal.

Automatic model training when mapping entities to case properties in Email Bot

You can now initiate automatic feedback to entity models in Pega Email Bot™, during manual mapping of email content to a case property.

To enable automatic feedback, you set the Work-Channel-Triage.pyIsRuntimeFeedback rule to true in Pega Platform™. By default this feature is disabled. Enabling this feature ensures that the email bot is more responsive by automatically copying detected entities, such as names, locations, dates, and ZIP codes, to case type properties of a case type.

For more information, see Email triage, Email channel NLP model and Enabling the NLP model training for the email channel.

Improvements to email case triaging

Improvements to Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) for Email make the system more robust and user friendly. When you reply to emails in a triage case, you can forward the email, reply to all, and use the carbon copy (cc) and blind carbon copy (bcc) fields. You can also send Pulse messages to discuss an email case without exposing the information to external users. You are notified in the Email Manager and Case Manager portal if you receive Pulse messages. Even when an email case has been resolved and appears as read-only, you can still send Pulse messages.

For more information, see Email Manager portal and Email triage.