What's changed in 2018 and 2017

The following sections include information about the changes to features in the previous releases.

What's changed in Release 18.3

  • TLS 1.2 protocol for secure communication

    For MQ, Agent, and Integration server JVMS, TLS v1.2 protocol is defaulted, and cannot be overridden. MQ is updated with cipher "SSL_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256".

    Upgrade Impact: Yes.
    • For Agent or Integration Servers, IBM® does not recommend the use of older versions of TLS protocol. Customers are expected to validate that their implementation is coded for TLS 1.2 support and fix, if there are any issues. After the upgrade, if any code that is implemented does not support TLS 1.2 protocol, the specific integration.
    • For MQ, IBM does not recommend the use of older versions of TLS protocol. Customers are expected to validate that any external integration to MQ that make use of SSL protocols other than the TLS 1.2 protocol must be reconfigured to use the TLS 1.2 protocol. After the upgrade, if any external service provider does not support TLS 1.2 protocol, the specific integration will fail.

      If a customer is using an external tool for MQ connection, they must update the cipher "SSL_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256" in the settings.

What's changed in Release 18.2

  • Application server to support only TLS 1.2 protocol for secure communication

    The application server for IBM Sterling® Order Management System is upgraded to use TLS 1.2 or higher protocol to align with industry best practices for security and data integrity. Customers are expected to ensure that all SSL protocols use TLS1.2 protocol. After the upgrade, any inbound connections to or outbound connections from the IBM Sterling Order Management System application server that rely on either TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 protocol will fail. Any external integrations that make use of SSL protocols other than the TLS 1.2 protocol should be reconfigured to use the TLS 1.2 protocol. Learn more...

    Upgrade Impact: Yes - Customers are expected to ensure that all SSL protocols use TLS 1.2 protocol. After the upgrade, any inbound or outbound connections from the IBM Sterling Order Management System application server that rely on either TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 protocol will fail. Also, any external integrations that make use of SSL protocols other than the TLS 1.2 protocol must be reconfigured to use the TLS 1.2 protocol.
    Note: There is no impact to the agent or integration server integrations.
    Note: In order to access the Applications Manager, the JRE on the client system must be updated to the latest version and the Use TLS 1.2 flag must be enabled in the Advanced Security Settings using Java™ Control Panel.
  • Enable masking of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) data in the log file

    IBM Sterling Order Management System uses log4j layout and filter pattern specifications for writing product log into the files. With this enhancement, the application provides the necessary log4j filter patterns that can be used to mask PII data (available in the input and output XMLs) in the log file. Learn more...

    Upgrade Impact: Yes (Conditionally) - If the feature is enabled, the personal identifiable information is not be displayed in the log file that is available the input and output XMLs.

  • UCD self-serve process "Reset Transaction DB"
    As part of this release, the UCD self-serve process "Reset Transaction DB" is made available for the pre-production environment. System Integrators (SI) users can now log a ticket to clear the transaction data from database for a pre-production environment.. Learn more...
    Note: This process is exposed as UCD self serve process for SI users only in lower environments (DEV/QA). For pre-production environment, SI user must log an App Delivery ticket to truncate transaction tables. The App Delivery team runs this process from the UCD self-serve tool to address the ticket.

    Upgrade Impact: No - There is no impact to the existing functionality or custom extensions.

  • Fetch inventory availability from IBM Sterling™ Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility

    The getAvailabilityCache API is enhanced to invoke the OMPGetInventoryFromCacheUE user exit. This user exit when implemented fetches inventory availability from IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility. Learn more...

What's changed in Release 18.1

  • Migration of cloud deployment to Liberty

    All the existing cloud deployments have been migrated from WebSphere® Application Server (WAS) to a light weight application server called Liberty. This enhancement enables performance improvement for cloud deployments.

  • Custom Attribute enhancements

    The Custom Attributes functionality is enhanced to fetch the attribute characteristics of an order or order line. This new behavior is template-controlled and the existing templates remain unchanged.

  • Developer toolkit enhancements

    In version 17.4, the Developer Toolkit beta release was supported for both Windows and Mac OS. In version 18.1, the Developer Toolkit is officially supported for Windows OS only. For Mac OS, the beta support continues.

  • UCD Self-serve process "Trigger Agents"
    For scheduling agents, IBM recommends using the application-provided Advanced Agent Scheduling functionality instead of the "Trigger Agents" UCD self-serve process. You can use the UCD self-serve process only for instant scheduling of agents.
    Note: If you use the Trigger Agents UCD self-serve process, IBM is not responsible for issues encountered, if any.
  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enhancements
    • The support for GDPR is enhanced by adding new Service Definition Framework (SDF) services to perform the following operations:
      • Retrieve individual's personal data and order history.
      • Delete an individual's personal data on request.
      • Stop processing customer data for an individual on request.
      Support for GDPR is property-controlled and is disabled by default. If disabled, GDPR enhancements do not affect the existing functionality.
    Learn more...
  • The self-serve user interface does not display the environment that is currently being upgraded. Therefore, System Implementers cannot perform any self-serve operations during this window. Once the upgrade is complete, the environment would be available to perform self-serve operations.
  • The extensions JAR or deployable package must be created and exported using the developer toolkit for IBM Sterling Order Management System, which matches your current cloud version of IBM Sterling Order Management System.
  • Defect Fixes: In this release, the following issues are fixed in the product:
    • [Defect ID 562480] [PMR# 92742,999,866] - The findInventory API fails, if ship capacity is not present in procure from node for current date, current date + 1 and current date + 2 and the API call is made for the pickup delivery method.
    • [Defect ID 564614] [PMR# 93215,999,866] - When a special service item with fixed capacity is used, the order gets back-ordered during order release.

What's changed in Release 17.4

  • Differential customization of log4j configuration file
    • Differential customization of the log4j configuration file is supported now. This enhancement enables seamless upgrade of customizations performed in the previous version to the latest version. The out-of-the-box changes introduced in the latest version automatically works with customizations performed in the previous version. The differential customizations should be added to a new file. The new file should contain only the overrides and custom categories or appenders.
  • Data Extract enhancements
    • The following enhancements are made to the Data Extract service:
      • Capability to extract data from custom database views. The data can be extracted from custom database views in the same manner as it is done from tables.
      • Tuned to provide better performance when a small amount of data is extracted at regular intervals from tables with huge volumes of data.
    Learn more...
  • DB Query tool enhancements

    The DB Query tool functionality is enhanced by adding support for queries in which column value contains a colon (:) with pagination enabled. The tool UI is enhanced to improve the usability. Learn more...

  • Developer toolkit enhancements

    Developer Toolkit is supported on Windows and Mac operating systems.

What's changed in Release 17.3

  • Developer toolkit enhancements
    • The Developer Toolkit has been enhanced with a streamlined customization export and validation process.
  • Data extract enhancements
    • The following specifications have been parameterized by providing additional properties, which can be configured based on the business requirement.
      • Option to provide custom delimiter in the exported content.
      • Option to specify a new line character after the last record.
      • Option to provide a header row containing names of the columns extracted.
      • Option to set the maximum limit of records being extracted per query.
      • Time interval in hours prior to the current time for which data will not be extracted.

      Learn more...
    • The task of extraction of tables with fewer records has been prioritized to extract first, instead of following the order in which extract configurations are created in the system. Additionally, mark a table extract as complete when the data for that table gets extracted, instead of waiting till data extraction is complete for all tables. This reduces the risk in a scenario where some tables take more time to extract and the smaller tables wait in the process.
    • A new task has been added to perform sanity check on the backup database before commencing data extract process. A warning message is displayed in case the backup database is down or wrongly configured. Learn more...
    • The data extract tool restricts attempts to extract the data from CLOB or BLOB columns by showing error when such data extract configurations are added or updated.
    • Performance and memory usage has been improved for high volume tables by substantially limiting the number of queries executed on such tables.
    • Added the "pending job count" capability for the Data Extract agent and such information can be seen on the Agent and Integration Server Dashboard UI.
  • Agent and Integration Server Dashboard enhancements
    • New options to start and stop or restart agent or integration servers has been added on the Server Dashboard UI.
    • Server Dashboard UI now displays the actual values of JMS parameters for every agent criteria.
    Learn more...
  • Property Management enhancements
    • The Property Management UI, which is bundled in the System Management and Administration (SMA) application, has been enhanced to provide support for long property values.
    • The documentation for all the exposed properties made available as part of documentation EAR. This allows customers to read about various properties and know about the manage or override options available for each property without launching the SMA application console. Learn more...
    • The yfs property, analytics.reportnet.url, which was the database property is changed to a file-based property. During migration, the analytics.reportnet.url property is deleted from the application database. Therefore, if you are using the analytics.reportnet.url property, add the property with the same value in the customer_ overrides.properties file.

What's changed in Release 17.2

  • Sterling Order Management System is now renamed to IBM Sterling Order Management System.
  • Developer toolkit enhancements
    • The self-serve process 'Extract Development Toolkit' is enhanced to automatically extract configuration data from cloud environment. Once the local programming environment is created using developer toolkit, configuration data is extracted in the <runtime>/resources/ydkresource/devtoolkitexport directory. However, the exported data is not imported by default as part of setup. The property IMPORT_CDT should be set to true in the devtoolkit_setup.properties file to import configuration data.
      Note: This feature only pertains to configuration data and not master data. You should continue to use the Configuration Deployment Tool (CDT) to import and export master data.
    • The customization of the log4j configuration file is standardized. The custom log4j configuration file is validated while creating the customization package. The following conditions are validated:
      • The custom log4j configuration file is present only in the <runtime>/extensions directory. ​If the file is present elsewhere, an appropriate error message is displayed.
      • A particular appender or category is not defined more than once in the configuration file.
      • Any appender (either default or custom) referred in any category (either default or custom) is present in the configuration file.
      • All default appenders and categories defined in the default log4j configuration file are present in the custom configuration file. Additional custom appenders and categories may be defined.
      • No changes are made to the following attributes or parameters in a default appender: name, class, rotateLogs, maxLogSize, maxNumLogs, maxFileSize, maxBackupIndex.
      • For the attribute file in a default appender, the following conditions are applicable:
        • If the file basename contains ${IBM_LOG_FILE} and is of the form <prefix>${IBM_LOG_FILE}.log, it can be changed to <prefix>${IBM_LOG_FILE}<custom tags>​.log
        • If the file basename does not contain ${IBM_LOG_FILE} such as securityinfo.log, property_manager.log, the base name should not be changed.
      • No changes are made to any default attributes, priority, level or appender references in the default categories.
      • The appender and category attribute/parameter validations do not apply to custom appenders and categories.
      • For custom appenders, the following conditions are validated:
        • For SCIAppender, the rotateLogs is set to true, the maxLogSize and maxNumLogs are set and their product does not exceed one million.
        • For RollingFileAppender, the MaxFileSize (default 10MB) and MaxBackupIndex (default 1), if set, their product does not exceed 100MB.

      Learn more...
    • You must export the customization package created by the developer toolkit to cloud only when the developer toolkit is on the same base Sterling Order Management System version as the cloud. For example, if the developer toolkit version or local programming environment version used to create customization package is N, then it can be deployed only to cloud environment version N. In other terms, once the cloud environment is upgraded, you must also upgrade the version of developer toolkit and hence local programming environment to match the cloud version. Learn more...
  • Logging enhancements
    • The agent/integration server logging specification is corrected to avoid duplicate logging.
    • The getServerList and getServerDetails APIs are enhanced to include trace level information in the output template.
  • Build Customized Runtime process changes

    The Build Customized Runtime process is modified such that the process does not require you to select the version of the runtime image. The process selects the latest runtime image configured by DevOps. System Integrators (SI) need to only select the version of the customization JAR that was uploaded during the Build Customized Runtime process. Also, the SI need not select the environment type or enter a custom prefix name.

  • Update OMS Application

    The "Update OMS Application" self-serve process is modified such that the process does not require you to select the version of the agent and integration components. The SI needs to provide only the version of the customized runtime component.

    All the out-of-the-box properties and factory values are loaded to the database by default. The application returns the value set in the database for a property, even if customer_overrides.properties exists in system. Therefore, you must import your property overrides specified in customer_overrides.properties to the database to attain the expected behavior. For more information, see Property management guidelines.

  • Agent/Integration servers

    To maintain the stability and availability of the cloud environment, the following changes are applied to the agent or integration server start process:

    • The application allows limited instances of Agent or Integration servers to run in lower environments. Hence if a user tries to start another instance of an Agent or Integration server, which is already running, an appropriate error message is displayed.
    • If the memory available to start a new Agent or Integration server is insufficient, the IBM UrbanCode Deploy Selfserv tool does not start the Agent or Integration server and an appropriate message is displayed. In such scenarios, the user can stop any or all Agent or Integration servers that are not needed at the moment and start or allow only the required Agent or Integration servers to run. Learn more...
  • Securely accessing Sterling Order Management System web applications

    The HTTP port used to access the Sterling Order Management System web applications like Application Console, Sterling Business Center, and Sterling Store Engagement and so on, is blocked for use on Sterling Order Management System due to security reasons. Therefore, users should access such applications using the secure port.

What's changed in Release 17.1

  • The Agent Criteria Details interface of the Applications Manager tool is enhanced to provide advanced scheduling options to trigger an agent. For example, you can configure scheduling options to trigger agents at particular time spots of a day, week, or month, and so on. Learn more...
  • The basic guidelines and rules for upgrade and configuration data movement while working with multiple cloud and developer toolkit environments is provided. Learn more...
  • Additional options are provided in the UCD SelfServe processes for configuration data export/import to enter custom memory arguments. Also, you don’t have to provide database details in the ydkprefs.xml CDT configuration file.

What's changed in Sterling Order Management System add-on services

  • Sterling Configure, Price, Quote on Cloud
    The IBM Sterling Field Sales application User Interface (UI) is completely redesigned using AngularJS.
    • For using the Sterling Field Sales user interface, see User Help.
    • For implementing the Sterling Field Sales application, see Implementation
    • For customizing the Sterling Field Sales user interface, see Customization.