Published Release Notes

Define and manage features during application development

You can now define and manage the features and child features that you want to implement in your application. A feature represents any capability in your application that you want to promote to stakeholders during the application development process. When you develop an application and design case types, you can link each case type to top-level features in Designer Studio. In addition, you can associate existing rules with features, which maintains traceability and makes it easier for you to extend the application because you can identify the rules that are associated with each feature.

For more information, see Features.

Create connections to repositories

Pega^® Platform can communicate with common repository technologies. Whenever an action creates a RAP, Pega Platform can browse, publish, or fetch artifacts: for example, when exporting an application, product, branch, or component. Repositories are instances of the Data-Repository class which holds all necessary connection information.

Pega Platform includes tools to connect with the following repository types:

• JFrog Artifactory
• Amazon S3

For more information, see Creating a JFrog Artifactory or Amazon S3 repository connection.

Associate rules and project management work items with features

You can now link a project management work item with a rule when you create a rule, check in a rule, and save a rule as a new rule, which automatically links the rule with any features that are associated with the project management work item. Associating project management work items, rules, and features maintains traceability and makes it easier for you to extend the application, because you can identify the rules that are associated with each feature. On the Application Overview landing page, you can also link existing rules directly to features in the Associated rules section of a feature.

For more information, see Associating existing rules with a feature.

Capture real-time feedback with Agile Workbench

Project stakeholders can use the new Agile Workbench tool to capture real-time feedback directly in an application, which can increase the efficiency of application development. You capture feedback by creating a user story, bug, or feedback item, and these work items can include video recordings of screens, annotated screen captures, file attachments, or URLs. In Designer Studio, you can configure Agile Workbench to integrate with Pega^® Agile Studio so that bugs and user stories are synchronized between the two systems.

For more information, see:

• Pega Express 7.3 – Agile Workbench
• Pega Platform 7.3 – Agile Workbench

Create application guides that direct users through tasks

Use the new Application Guide rule to create a guide that directs users through a set of tasks. A task can provide instructions to the user and include links to a landing page, wizard, URL, rule, or data record. After you add an application guide to a portal, users can open the guide from the Resources menu.

For more information, see Creating an application guide.

Associate project management work items with application features

You can associate project management work items that you create in Agile Workbench with features in your application stack. Work items include bugs, user stories, and feedback. Associating a work item with a feature improves traceability in your application.

For more information, see Associating a project management work item with a feature.

Pega Agile Studio integration

You can configure the new Agile Workbench tool to integrate with Pega^® Agile Studio so that bugs and user stories are synchronized between the two systems. In addition, you can improve traceability in your development environment by using the Current work feature to associate a user story or bug with development changes.

For more information, see Integrating Agile Workbench with Pega Agile Studio and Tracing development changes to work items.

Translation support added to application guides

You can now localize the content in your application guides. By referencing paragraphs instead of rich text in your chapters and tasks, you can provide guidance to users in their native language.

For more information about application guides, see Creating a guide for end users.

Upgraded selected third-party JAR files to support Pega Platform functionalities

Pega Platform™ 8.6 now provides upgraded versions of the JAR files that support various functionalities within the Platform, such as generating documents or PPTX files.

Upgrade impact

If you have custom implementations and use any classes from the upgraded JAR files directly in your code or through JAR APIs, after your upgrade to Pega Platform 8.6, your application might experience unexpected run-time behavior if the upgraded JAR version lacks any elements from the previous version. For example, custom implementations can typically include activities, functions, or non-autogenerated sections. Unexpected run-time behavior might also occur when you use a third-party library that has dependencies on the upgraded JAR files. If you use only default Pega Platform functionalities without any customizations, the JAR files continue to work correctly without any additional actions.

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

If you have any JAR customizations, ensure that you test the upgraded JAR files for compatibility and upgrade impact. The following table lists the upgraded JAR files that might impact your application:

For more information, refer to the documentation of  your JAR provider.

Enhanced Pulse gadget for Cosmos React

Together with the DX API, the Cosmos React component now provides an overlay in which users can quickly view and select the feed sources from which to view Pulse messages. Users can also add attachments to their messages, and remove the messages that they post. These enhancements improve collaboration and speed up case resolution. For example, a case worker can view only posts from particular cases, to quickly find a request for additional information about a case, and then provide necessary details by attaching a relevant document.

For more information, see Configuring Pulse feed sources for Cosmos React and Posting a message in Pulse.