Known limitations

This topic describes known limitations in the current version and provides workarounds if available.

For the most up-to-date information, see the support page IBM Automation Decision Services Known Limitations External link opens a new window or tab, which is regularly updated.

Setting up your Automation Decision Services environment

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Using the sample CI/CD stack Some container images run as root user. None

Administering

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Connecting to a remote repository automatically You cannot create a remote repository by using the SSH method. None

Managing decisions

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Importing decision services Decision service archives that were compressed by using the default compression tool on Mac cannot be opened in Decision Designer.

Import decision service archives created with the Export feature. For more information, see Managing decision services.
When you import a decision automation previously created and exported from the same Decision Designer instance, its predictive models will function without requiring a connection to a machine learning provider. The provider details are found in the original decision automation settings at runtime.
Sharing changes When you share a large decision service, an error might occur (HTTP response code 500).

The error is thrown when the operation has not completed on time. Check the Share changes tab after 2 minutes. If there are still pending changes, contact your administrator.

To avoid running into this error, try to share your modifications often when you build a large decision service.
You cannot upload a file for a decision service that is larger than 64 MB to a Git server. Configure the maximum file size upload by setting the spec.decision_designer.git_service.max_upload_file_size parameter in the git-service.
Upgrading decision services Upgrading a decision service fails when both of the following conditions are met:
  • The decision service uses external libraries.
  • The external libraries are missing when the decision service is upgraded.
 Include the missing external libraries in the decision automation before the upgrade. For more information about using external libraries, see Importing an external library into.
You cannot edit any details or settings of a nonupgraded decision service. To update any details or settings, open the decision service to initiate the upgrade.
When you click View details to compare a nonupgraded version and an upgraded version of the same decision service, a warning message is displayed. You cannot compare a nonupgraded version and an upgraded version of the same decision service.

Modeling decisions

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Building an external library When you build an external library, no warning is displayed if:
  • Methods that cannot be used in rule conditions in decision models (that is, they are not pure functions) are verbalized.
    Note: These methods can still be used in rule actions and in task models.
  • Instances of a type cannot be copied. This might happen in rules in decision models.
 If some methods are pure functions but are not automatically detected as such, you can declare them using a Java™ annotation or an external annotation. For more information, see Pure functions.
Importing an external library into Decision Designer If your decision service contains an external library with a different locale than the decision service, an error occurs in the data model and no data type is available.
  1. Remove the dependency to the external library. For more information, see Declaring and managing dependencies.
  2. Import the external library again. For more information, see Importing an external library into.
Creating a decision model If the decision is multi-valued or if you selected the first rule applies policy, you cannot add a decision node with the same name as an attribute that is used in its decision logic. Choose a different name for the decision node, or set a different output variable name.
Creating a task model If there are more than 3000 rows in a decision table, it can increase editing and build time, resulting in performance degradation. Reduce the number of rows in the decision table. If possible, break up larger decision tables into smaller tables.
If a rule task node contains more than 5000 actions, it can temporarily block the Java virtual machine, resulting in considerable performance degradation. Reduce the number of actions in the rule task node.
Adding the decision logic When you use the copy of ... where ... statement in a rule, an error occurs if one of the specified values must be converted (for example, from list to array). None
Static attributes from external libraries can be modified without restrictions, even though they should not. None
Composing and reusing models When you update a decision model that is used as a function in another decision model, the changes are not reflected in the decision model where it is integrated. Reset the type of the function node.
When you update a task model that is used as a function in another task model, the changes are not reflected in the task model where it is integrated. Remove the function task node and add it again.

Integrating machine learning

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Managing machine learning providers Watson Machine Learning functions cannot be used in Automation Decision Services. None
You cannot connect to Watson Machine Learning that is hosted on IBM Cloud Pak® for Data. None

Building and deploying decision services

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Building and deploying in a CI/CD stack You cannot run unit tests in a CI/CD stack on predictive models or other models that call predictive models because credentials cannot be passed. None
Building and deploying from Decision Designer Custom POM files are ignored in the internal build. None
You cannot run unit tests in Decision Designer. None

Executing decision services

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Calling decision services Users with the decision service manager and decision runtime monitor roles are also granted the decision service user role and can execute decision services. None
For all the decision runtime REST API endpoints that include exampleInput, when the input of a decision service is too complex, an example is not present in its openapi, and calling the endpoint for generating the example fails with 422 status code. None