Published Release Notes

Support for configuring data sources by using OpenAPI Specification

The Integration Designer in App Studio now supports OpenAPI Specification. You can provide an OpenAPI Specification endpoint or upload a YAML file to automatically generate data sources according to the specification. With this enhancement, you avoid having to manually create a representative sample JSON request and response, saving you time and increasing productivity.

For more information, see Integrating with a REST API by using OpenAPI Specification.

Internet Application Composer mashup code generation

Case types can be added to an external web page by using the mashup code created in Case Designer. The mashup code is custom HTML that can be added to Internet Application Composer (IAC) codes.

The Actions menu in Case Designer includes the ability to automatically generate IAC HTML from a case type. The HTML is then copied and pasted into the target web page through standard IAC options.

The generated code is optimized for responsive web sites and responsive Pega applications. See Generating a mashup code in case configuration.

Database storage used for passivation in High Availability mode

When an application is running in High Availability mode, the value attribute for initialization/​persistrequestor/storage in the prconfig.xml file or the Dynamic System Settings​ now defaults to "database."

Previously, applications running in High Availability mode required shared passivation, where either initialization/​persistrequestor/storage was set to “OnTimeout” or a custom passivation mechanism was used. The change to using database by default provides persistent storage for passivation, and provides control for the landing page for High Availability.

For more information, see Understanding passivation and requestor timeouts and the High Availability Administration Guide.

Immediate drain available for the quiesce process when using high availability

The quiesce process, which is used to take a server out of service for maintenance in a highly available system, can now be modified to use the immediate drain method. When using the default slow drain method for quiesce, users are placed in a passivation queue. When using the immediate drain method, users can continue to access the node being quiesced until it is removed from the load balancer.

Organizations should determine which quiesce method to use based on the overall needs of their users. However, for applications that have implemented long poll requests, it is recommended to use the slow drain method.

For more information, see the Pega 7.2.1 High Availability Administration Guide.

Virtual private cloud (VPC) peering connection support

You can now use a virtual private cloud (VPC) peering connection to access your systems of record or transfer data between your Pega® Cloud VPC and your Amazon VPC. VPC peering is a virtual connection within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) architecture that enables one-to-one networking connections between VPCs within the same region.

For more information, see Requesting a virtual private cloud (VPC) peering connection.

This functionality is available as of Q2 2017.

Support for advanced text analysis when routing incoming emails

You can use text entity, category and sentiment analysis during the automatic routing of incoming emails. You provide text analysis of the text-based email content by defining routing rules, so that an automatic decision is made about how to process the received emails by the Pega^® Intelligent Virtual Assistant. You can route the email content to an operator, assign it to a work queue, or open a top-level case with the information.

For more information, see Configuring routing conditions for automatic email handling.

Simulate business changes in Customer Decision Hub

Running business simulations in Pega^® Customer Decision Hub has been simplified. You can create, configure, run, and schedule simulations to assess the effect of business changes. Creating a simulation test requires minimal configuration and has greater flexibility for the business user who can now define multiple destinations or assign different types of reports to assess the effect of the simulated changes.

For more information, see Simulations in Customer Decision Hub and Simulation testing.

Layout groups and design templates

On the Design tab of the Section form in Designer Studio, you can use a layout group to display closely related information by using accordion, menu, stacked, or tab navigation elements. You can then create a templated region that is based on the layout group. For example, you can use this type of region to enable users to add, reorder, or remove tabs from screens at run time in Pega^® Express.

For more information, see Creating a templated region based on a layout group and Creating a templated region based on a layout group.

Additional adaptive model predictors based on Interaction History

Customer interactions are now automatically used in adaptive models to predict future customer decisions. For example, a phone purchase registered in Interaction History allows an adaptive model to predict that a customer is more likely to accept supplementary coverage for a new device. Such interactions, collected in a predefined Interaction History summary, are applied as an additional set of predictors in an adaptive model.

The aggregated Interaction History summary predictors are enabled by default for every adaptive model configuration.

For more information, see Enabling Interaction History predictors for existing adaptive models.

Quality metrics now include charts with trends

The Application Quality landing page now contains charts that show changes in metrics over time. Landing pages for Test coverage and Unit testing also contain interactive charts with user-defined date range filters. The default date range of the charts is 2 weeks, but you can change it by using the Application: Quality Settings landing page. The historical data provided by the charts shows changes in application quality metrics over time, so that you can recognize trends and identify potential problems with application quality.

For more information, see Application Quality landing page.