Published Release Notes

Improving basic access control

Pega Platform™ has implemented a new basic access control (BAC) to protect your application from unauthorized server calls from otherwise authenticated users.

For more information, see Access Control Checks.

Upgrade impact

After you upgrade to Pega 8.5, all the functionality in the model configurations that use auto-generated controls and actions continues to work as before. However, you must secure any customized JavaScript in your application layer that makes AJAX (server) calls  by using registration or encryption mechanisms.

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

After upgrade, to migrate custom JavaScript functionality, see Access Control Checks.

Addition of Data Access Tab to access control policy condition rules

You can now select associations and declarative index classes when creating access control policy condition rules. The Column source field in the policy condition can now accept properties from available associations and indexes. For ease of reference, the selected associations and indexes are available on the new Data Access tab. 

Using the new tab, you can build complex authorization models in which access restrictions for a class depend on the attributes present in the associated and indexed classes, along with the attributes in the current class. For example, a project management application can now separately maintain project lists for each operator and use that information to restrict read/write access to unique projects.

The information available on the new Data Access tab reflects rule form changes, which are similar to the existing functionality of the Report Definition in the Application Data Model. 

For more information, see Creating an access control policy condition.

New access control policy for encrypting properties

With attribute-based attribute control, you can now encrypt property values in the database, clipboard, logs, and search indexes for any property type. If no policy obfuscates an encrypted property, its value is visible in UI controls and reports.

For more information, see Creating an access control policy.

Improved UI accessibility

Pega Platform™ now supports W3C Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines more fully, which creates a better user experience for people who rely on assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

The user interface now features the following enhancements:

• Improved keyboard navigation and updated ARIA attributes for layouts, including dynamic, repeating, and table layouts.
• Updated navigation for AJAX and dynamic containers.
• More precise keyboard navigation and focus control for pop-up components, such as SmartTips.
• Fixed accessibility gaps in out-of-the-box actionable controls and form components, such as buttons and text fields.
• More accessible error messages with improved color schemes and focus control. To meet the WCAG ARIA guidelines, the Show next Error bar has been retired and substituted with more accessible error symbols.
• Accessibility code included in the Pega Platform ruleset by default, without the need for additional configuration.

For more information, see Supported keyboard navigation.

New JWT access token format: Authorized Access Token

Pega Platform™ is changing from using opaque tokens to using JSON Web (JWT) tokens and the JWT access token format: Authorized Access Token (AAT). An AAT enables a client application to validate the server for user permissions and authorizes a specific application to access specific parts of a user’s data.

The major benefits to using the JWT format are:

• The JWT is a self-contained token that has authentication information, expire time information, and other user-defined claims digitally signed.
• A single token can be used with multiple applications.
• The tokens are short-lived and can minimize damage if transport security is compromised, as the token signature is verified.
• As the token is verified with the signature, there is no need to verify against a database, thus reducing latency (usually important for Web APIs).

For more information, see Understanding authorized access tokens.

Control group configuration for predictions

You can now configure a control group for your predictions in Prediction Studio. Based on the control group, Prediction Studio calculates a lift score for each prediction that you can later use to monitor the success rate of your predictions.

For more information, see Customizing predictions.

New privilege required to access the Search landing page

After upgrading to Pega^® Platform 7.4, users who do not have the pxAccessSearchLP privilege cannot access the Search landing page. The pxAccessSearchLP privilege is automatically assigned to the SysAdm4 role. If you have other roles that require access to the Search landing page, you must add the pxAccessSearchLP privilege to those roles.

For more information about assigning privileges to roles, see User privilege authorization. (Link to: basics/v6portal/landingpages/accessmanager/customizeprivilegestab.htm)

Data Visualization controls are now available

Use a Data Visualization control when you need a highly configurable visualization beyond the standard pie, bar, and line charts. With a Data Visualization control, you can appropriately represent any type of data. You can add Data Visualization controls to sections or anywhere else a standard control can be used, such as dashboard widgets.

For more information, see Adding and configuring a Data Visualization control.

Improved access to Cosmos UI settings

The Settings tab in the App Studio case designer now includes tools for configuring Cosmos UI. With this enhancement, you can adjust design system settings without the need to specialize individual When rules in Dev Studio, which simplifies UI creation and saves development time.

For more information, see Managing Cosmos UI settings in case designer.

Ability to restrict access to the Import wizard

You can now restrict access to the Import wizard so that users implement an automated pipeline to deploy changes between environments such as staging and production. Deployment Manager is one method by which to create pipelines. By using pipelines to propagate changes, users can apply a standardized and automated deployment process for migrating their applications.

For more information, see:

• Ensuring that users migrate applications with a pipeline by restricting the Import wizard
• Understanding model-driven DevOps with Deployment Manager