Published Release Notes

PDF/UA support

PDF documents that you generate in Pega Platform™ are now in PDF/UA format. This enhancement improves accessibility for users who rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers.

For more information, see Setting PDF file versions.

Upgrade impact

With an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later, the underlying PD4ML library in Pega Platform changes from v3.10 to v4.x. Following an upgrade, most standard HTML-CSS conversions to PDF work seamlessly; however, if you use the following custom coding in their application to convert HTML to PDF, you may find that PDF generation works differently than expected or no longer works:

• Application layer Java in activities that directly link to the underlying PD4ML library
• A Rule Utility Function
• PD4ML tags in HTML fragments

For example, the following PD4ML proprietary CSS keywords are no longer supported in v4.x:

• pd4ml-page-break-border-top
• pd4ml-page-break-border-bottom

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

After you upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later and find your PDF generation works differently than expected or no longer works, you should consult the latest documentation available at pd[4]ml support site. You may also consider using the Compact CSS instead of the application skin for PDF generation; for details, see Creating PDF files by using a compact style sheet.

Custom activities protection

Case tags for improved case search

Pega Platform™ now supports enhanced tagging for case types so that you can search cases by tags. As a result, tagging is more consistent because you can define a set of suggested tags that users can add to their posts and cases. When users search for cases, they can apply several filters, for example, recently added or most frequently used tags.

For more information about tags, see Tagging cases in Dev Studio, Tagging cases in App Studio.

Set the status of a case on stage entry

You can now set the status of a case when it enters a stage. By setting the status of a case on stage entry, you can communicate to stakeholders how close a stage is to resolution. For example, if a case is in the approval stage, you can set the status of the case to "Under review" when the case enters the stage.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Changing the status of a case
• Dev Studio – Changing the status of a case

Resolve child cases with the parent case

You can now configure a stage to resolve open child cases when the parent case is resolved. Resolving child cases on the resolution of the parent case ensures that no child cases are left open when the parent case reaches the end of its life cycle.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Configuring case resolution
• Dev Studio – Configuring case resolution

Conditionally skip a stage

You can now define a condition in App Studio and build an expression in Dev Studio that causes a case to skip a stage. The system evaluates the condition or expression at run time and skips the stage if a true value is returned. By skipping the current stage when it is not relevant, you can resolve a case more quickly by moving the case to the next stage in the sequence.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Requiring conditions for stage entry
• Dev Studio – Requiring conditions for stage entry

Conditionally start a process

You can now define a condition that causes a case to start a process in a stage. When the condition evaluates to false, the case skips the process. You can resolve cases more quickly by moving a case to the next process in the sequence when the current process is not relevant.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Conditionally starting a process by using a condition
• Dev Studio – Conditionally starting a process by using a when condition

Conditionally display an optional task

You can now define a condition that decides whether an optional task for a case type or a stage is displayed at run time. Optional tasks require additional processing, and by excluding the tasks that are not relevant, you can resolve cases more quickly.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Conditionally displaying an optional task
• Dev Studio – Conditionally displaying an optional task

Conditionally display a supporting process

You can now define a condition that causes a case to display a supporting process for the case type or for a stage in the case type. When the condition evaluates to false, the case does not list the process. Supporting processes require additional processing, and by skipping the processes that are not relevant, you can help users resolve cases more quickly.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Conditionally displaying a supporting process
• Dev Studio – Conditionally displaying a supporting process

Send email notifications for goals and deadlines

You can now configure an assignment or approval in a case type to send email notifications to the users associated with the case when the goals and deadlines are not met. You can create the subject and content for the notification message. The system sends email notifications when the suggested and required completion times for an assignment or approval elapse. By notifying relevant users about goals and deadlines, you can ensure that service-level agreements are strictly enforced during case processing.

For more information, see:

• App Studio – Setting goals and deadlines for task completion
• Dev Studio – Setting goals and deadlines for task completion