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 Decision Intelligence Client Managed Software Known Limitations External link opens a new window or tab, which is regularly updated.

Setting up your Decision Intelligence Client Managed Software 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
Connecting to a remote repository

You cannot use the force push command (git push --force) to the remote repository.

Disable the force push feature directly on the remote repository; for example, through the GitHub interface.

If you used the force push command, you can use one of the two following ways to repair:

Option 1: Restore a backup of the remote repository. Some data might be lost depending on the backup strategy.

Option 2:
  1. Create a new decision automation.
  2. Connect the new decision automation to the remote repository.
  3. Configure the new decision automation.
  4. Delete the old decision automation. You might lose some of your ongoing work.

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 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.
A decision model is limited to a maximum of 127 inputs and 127 outputs. When approaching these limits, create one or more composite types to group related inputs or outputs, then use these composite types as input or output types.
Creating a task model A function within a task model is limited to a maximum of 127 inputs. When approaching this limit, create one or more composite types to group related inputs, then use these composite types as input types.
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
The following features have limited locale support:
  • Stream operations are not supported in Chinese.
  • String operations are not supported in Chinese, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), and Japanese.
 If you require support for these features in currently unsupported languages, submit a request for enhancement through the appropriate channels.
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.
You cannot reuse task models in decision models. None
Reusing decision artifacts across decision services When you reuse a published decision or predictive model that references data types that are already used in the target model, duplicate entries appear in the Output type selection dropdown. This duplication leads to errors, which are displayed in the Error report tab. Remove the duplicated types from the data model used by the target model to resolve the conflict.
Creating business functions Business functions are only available in decision services that have their language set to English. None
Interacting with Decision Designer through an MCP server The MCP server only supports English. None
You cannot perform the following tasks with the MCP server:
  • Create task models.
  • Create predictive models.
  • Create generative AI models.
  • Create business functions and actions in data models.
  • Call function nodes in decision models.
 None

Integrating machine learning

Feature Limitation Comment or workaround
Managing machine learning providers Watson Machine Learning functions cannot be used in Decision Intelligence. 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
When you import a decision service that was created in an earlier version of Decision Intelligence Client Managed Software, the project POM file is not automatically updated. As a result, Maven compilation fails because the required dependency versions are not available.  
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
Building and deploying decision services created in earlier versions When you open a decision service that was created in an earlier version of Decision Intelligence Client Managed Software, the project POM file is not automatically updated. As a result, Maven compilation fails because the required dependency versions are not available. Updating the decision service in Decision Designer will automatically update the POM file to use the correct dependency versions.

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