Published Release Notes

Open authoring for rule forms has been removed

Open authoring for rule forms has been removed. You can now edit decision tables and map values by using the application and supported browser of your choice; Microsoft ActiveX controls are no longer required. In addition, support for external XML, HTML, and Java IDE editors has been removed.

Define adaptive model context

You can define model identifiers in the Adaptive Model rule instance, which serve as partitioning keys, by selecting properties from the top-level SR class of your application. The Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM) server uses model identifiers to create adaptive models that use the same configuration, but collect different adaptive statistics. Use model identifiers in the Adaptive Model rule to create adaptive models for your purposes.

For more information, see the Context tab on the Adaptive Model form.

High number of busy waits when using Oracle SecureFiles

You might experience a high number of buffer busy waits when using Oracle SecureFiles for BLOB storage. An Oracle buffer busy wait occurs when a session cannot access a database block in the buffer cache, because another session is either reading the block into the buffer or changing the buffer. As a best practice, use Oracle 11.2.0.4 or later, because earlier versions have more problems with SecureFiles. In addition, to minimize the number of busy waits, set the hidden Oracle parameter _securefiles_concurrency_estimate to 50, and partition the table by using a composite range hash partition that is based on the pxCreateDateTime and pzInskey columns.

For more information, see Troubleshooting: High number of busy waits when using Oracle SecureFiles.

Execute Tests service to run all data page unit test cases

You can now use the Execute Tests service to run a set of tests at the end of build runs. An external validation engine, such as Jenkins, calls the service, which runs all data page unit test cases in your application, and returns the results in XUnit format. Use this service to validate the data in your application and to correct any issues before you deploy your application.

For more information, see Running all data page unit test cases with the Execute Tests service.

Pega Express application views simplify portal creation

Pega Express application views offer a simple, intuitive authoring experience for portals. Application view templates support responsive application development and offer mobile-specific templates. You can create portals by selecting from a predefined set of application view templates.

For more information, see Application views.

Rule form search

You can now search for content within some rule forms by clicking Search rule on the Actions menu. The search results and the tabs of the rule form that contain the search results are highlighted.

For example, you can find the properties that are used in a when condition inside an activity without navigating to each tab, when condition, transition, and method in the activity.

DSM rulesets become part of the PegaRULES application

The Pega-DecisionArchitect, Pega-DecisionEngine, Pega-BigData, and Pega-NLP rulesets were moved from the PegaDM application record to the PegaRULES application record. This change makes decision management functionality available for Pega 7 Platform users by default without any additional configuration required.

For more information, see DSM rulesets become part of the PegaRULES application.

Delegate service-level agreements

You can now delegate service-level agreements (SLAs) to your business line by clicking Actions > Delegate. You can also delegate circumstanced versions of SLAs.

For more information about delegations, see Delegating a rule or data type.

HDFS data sets support Parquet files

The Parquet file format has been added to the list of supported file formats for data storage in the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) data set record. On the Pega 7 Platform, you can now access an HDFS data set that stores data in the Parquet file format and perform various operations on that data set.

For more information, see Big Data enhancements in decision management.

New rule type: External Data Flow

You can now create External Data Flow rules on the Pega 7 Platform. By using this rule type, you run predictive models outside of the Pega 7 Platform and directly in the external Hadoop data set infrastructure. Processing large amounts of data on an external infrastructure improves overall performance on the Pega 7 Platform by reducing data transfer between the Hadoop cluster and the platform.

For more information, see Big Data enhancements in decision management.