Published Release Notes

Organization Setup superseded by New Application Wizard

The Organization Setup Wizard has been retired in PRPC 7.1.3.  This feature was previously launched from the Designer Studio > Org & Security > Organization > Organization Setup menu. Users are encouraged to run the New Application Wizard (also known as Application Express) instead:

This tool quickly generates an application along with all of the artifacts previously offered by the Organization Setup Wizard. This includes, but is not limited to, the class hierarchy, application rule, organization/division/unit rules, and all relevant data instances.

See the following PDN article for more details on the New Application Wizard:

Create new applications quickly and easily with Application Express

DCO

In this release, specification support in Case Designer was improved.  Also, improvements and fixes were made to the New Application Wizard.

• Changes were made to support a split schema environment
• Shared and Component RuleSets can be copied.
• Can edit in Word from either Grids or Lists.
• More than 50 case types are now supported for an application.

Updated Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in

Starting in this release, Pega 7 features that integrate with the Word merge capability are now cross-browser. ActiveX controls (which are only compatible with Internet Explorer) have been replaced with Microsoft Silverlight. This plug-in must be downloaded separately from Microsoft because it is not shipped with Pega 7.

Common features that are affected by this change include the Specification form and Case Type landing page.

Prior to using these features, see the release note Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in for more information about setting up their client systems.

App Studio enhancements further support Pega Express methodology

App Studio now includes improvements that you can use to plan your Microjourney™ in a more convenient way. The Overview workspace now includes a button to edit application details, such as name, description, and business objectives, without having to switch to Dev Studio. You can also access relevant information faster, because Case Designer displays additional details about channels, data objects, and attachments associated with a case type directly in a properties pane. For improved management of your features, feature categories are now available in the application inventory so that you can clearly communicate to your development team what type of features need implementation.

For more information, see:

• Editing application details in App Studio 
• Associating personas with channels 
• Adding features to application inventory 
• Creating a Microjourney for customer success

Enhanced mapping of personas and users in App Studio

App Studio now provides a consistent and transparent experience when mapping personas to users. When you invite users to your application, you can associate each user with a run-time persona or developer role by selecting an option from a clearly organized list. For example, you can associate run-time users with a customer service representative persona, and then invite a person to help develop your application and assig them a developer role. For greater clarity, personas now replace references to roles in App Studio.

For more information, see Inviting collaborators to your application.

Tracer support for Cosmos React

The Tracer tool is now available for stateless applications, so that you can trace and debug applications that you build on Cosmos React. Because in a stateless application multiple requests can run simultaneously, to provide clarity, Tracer shows the events by request ID instead of grouping the events by the time of occurrence. For greater convenience, debugging Cosmos React applications is also available in an offline Tracer tool. As a result, you speed up the development process and deliver top-quality applications that are free of bugs.

For more information, see:

• Debug your Cosmos React applications faster with Tracer (8.6)
• Application debugging by using the Tracer tool
• Pega Digital Experience (DX) API
• Cosmos React

Nested conditions visible in the condition builder

Condition builder now supports the option to view nested conditions in a read-only mode, so that you can conveniently analyze and understand logic in your application. For example, if you create a condition that uses another When condition rule as a value to compare at run time, you can preview the configuration of that When condition. You can use this feature with When conditions nested at multiple levels, so that you can analyze even complex logic in your application.

For more information, see Defining conditions in the condition builder.

More detailed configuration of persona access in App Studio

App Studio now supports more precise configuration of access for personas so that you can improve the security and usability of your application. You can now define what actions a given persona can perform on a case, a data object, or a configuration set. You also save time because you define settings for an entire group of users that a persona represents. For example, you can configure a customer service representative (CSR) persona to view only cases that process insurance claims from VIP customers, without the option to modify the cases. As a result, you ensure that users of your application can interact only with relevant data, in a way that best meets your business needs.

For more information, see:

• Manage access for personas more efficiently in App Studio (8.6)
• Configuring access options for a persona

Decision tables authoring in App Studio

App Studio now supports the option to create decision tables that return values for a calculated field. For example, you can automatically calculate a life insurance rate for a customer by using a decision table that evaluates multiple factors, such as age, medical history, and current occupation. At run time, your application evaluates the values that the customer provides against the values in the decision table, and then responds with the most suitable result. By building decision tables in App Studio, you increase the flexibility of your low-code application and save time and resources, because a single decision table can provide results in multiple scenarios. You can also save and then reuse decision tables to speed up your application development even more.

For more information, see:

• Calculate values automatically in App Studio with decision tables (8.6)
• Calculating values with decision tables
• Authoring decision tables in App Studio

Configuration sets to support no-code run time changes

App Studio now provides the option to create configuration sets that define application behavior, which application administrators can adjust at run time, in a no-code way. For example, you can define a configuration that defines the maximum loan amount to offer a Gold account customer to $10,000. If the bank changes the maximum amount, the application administrator can easily change the loan amount at run time, without performing any design-time actions. Configuration sets minimize the need for custom rule overrides, and help you deliver applications that are convenient to maintain and upgrade.

For more information, see:

• Deliver no-code applications with configuration sets (8.6)
• Creating a configuration set