Published Release Notes

System state data is saved for 90 days

System state data is now saved to the database for 90 days and can be downloaded as a JSON file. Having previous system state data available is useful for debugging system problems. Operators with the pzSystemOperationsObserver privilege can download system state data from the Cluster Management landing page for either the entire cluster or a single node. In addition, the PersistClusterState and PersistNodeState agents have been added to the Pega-RulesEngine ruleset for persisting system state data to the database.

For more information, see Downloading the system state.

Ability to run report definitions against an Elasticsearch index

To improve report generation performance, you can now run report definitions against Elasticsearch indexes instead of using SQL queries directly against the database. This feature is disabled by default and does not apply to reports that have features that are not supported by Elasticsearch. If a report query cannot be run against Elasticsearch indexes, Pega^® Platform automatically uses an SQL query.

For information about enabling and using this feature, see Configuring a report definition to run against an Elasticsearch index.

Search index fields can retain the original property type

You can now configure fields in the search index to retain the property type of the original property. By default, properties in an indexed class are converted to a string before they are placed in fields in the search index, referred to as a typeless index. Type-aware search indexes let you run report queries with filters, date calculations, and aggregations directly in the query. To configure a class to have type-aware properties, use a dedicated index.

For more information, refer to Custom search properties.

Support for the WebChat conversational user channel

You can now embed standard chat capability on any website by creating the WebChat channel interface as the Pega^® Intelligent Virtual Assistant. Users can communicate with a Pega Platform application, for example, to open a case to report a problem or to display a menu of commands to ask for assistance. The WebChat channel does not require any additional accounts or third-party installations, and you have full control over the end-to-end communication.

For more information, see Configuring the WebChat channel.

Pulse enhancements

The enhanced layout of the Pulse interface provides a better user experience for posting messages, adding attachments, bookmarking content, and so on. You can now post messages in your activity feed, format messages, add inline images and links to messages, reference cases, and view the list of users who like messages. The Pulse email templates have also been improved to display email content in a coherent and structured format.

For more information, see:

• Pega Express 7.4 – Communicating with Pulse
• Pega Platform 7.4 – Pulse enhancements for social collaboration

getRuleMessage APIs no longer prepend asterisks

The Public APIs getRuleMessage(String aMsgDescr) and getRuleMessage(String aMsgDescr,String messageClass) no longer prepend asterisks ("**") to the message description when they fail to find a Rule-Message instance whose name matches the input message description. For information about these APIs, access the Public API documentation in Designer Studio by clicking Resources > Engine API.

Pega API available in Pega Express

The Pega^® API is now included on the Channels and Interfaces dashboard in Pega Express. You can configure Pega APIs to access Pega application functionality directly from Pega Express without switching to Designer Studio.

For more information about channel interfaces, see Channels and interfaces. For more information about the Pega API.

Use Kinesis data sets in Pega Decision Management

You can create Kinesis data set instances to connect to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and use this data set in decision management for processing real-time streaming data. Integrating Kinesis data streams into Pega® Platform in the cloud provides a fault-tolerant and scalable solution for processing IT infrastructure log data, application logs, social media, market data feeds, and web clickstream data.

For more information, see Creating a Kinesis data set.

Support for large case attachments

You can now attach large files to a case on a variety of cloud storage options, including Pega Cloud File Storage, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, and JFrog Artifactory. Files can be 1 to 2 GB depending on your environment configuration. Attachments are streamed to the selected storage option without being loaded into memory, which reduces the risk of generating an out-of-memory error. Additionally, all cloud instances now have the new Pega Cloud File Storage repository defined.

For more information, see Storing case attachments outside the Pega Platform database.

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.