What's new in IBM® watsonx Orchestrate®

As new features and capabilities are added to IBM watsonx Orchestrate for December of 2024, you can read about them here. Refer to Previous releases to learn more about changes that happened in the previous months.

Note: Do you want to get updates on new features, bug fixes, and security fixes for IBM watsonx Orchestrate as an on-premises solution in IBM Software Hub? See What's new and changed in IBM watsonx Orchestrate in the IBM Software Hub documentation.

13 December 2024

The following sections describe changes that happened on the release of 13 December 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Direct search integration support for Milvus


You can now directly configure your search integration with Milvus. Milvus is a high-performance, highly scalable vector database that you can use for Conversational Search.

For more information, see Setting up search integration with Milvus.

12 December 2024

The following sections describe changes that happened on the release of 12 December 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Adding AI assistants from external AI agents


You can add purpose-built AI assistants from AI agents built on third-party platforms to help your users to resolve specific use-cases through the chat. The external AI agent must comply with the API contract of IBM watsonx Orchestrate.

See more details in Adding AI assistants from external AI agents.

Configuring conditional branching in skill flows


You can now configure conditional branches in skill flows to define different execution paths dependent on determined logical conditions, such as variable values. You can also use conditional branches to ensure that your skill flow runs even when a skill fails.

Branch in skill flow
Figure 1. Configuring a conditional branching in a skill flow.

See more information in Set up conditional branches and Continue on error.

More apps and skills


This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Zoho Recruit

    • Skills
      • Associate candidates with job openings
      • Create a candidate
      • Create a job opening
      • Get all applications
      • Get all applications by record ID
      • Get all candidates
      • Get all candidates by advanced filters
      • Get all departments
      • Get all job openings
      • Get all job openings by advanced filters
      • Get all users
      • Update a candidate status
      • Update a job opening status

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
User experience was enhanced in the AI agent chat Users can now efficiently start skills or skill flows by gathering the necessary inputs. Improvements include:

  • Users can use previously mapped inputs without confirmation, providing only the required inputs.
  • AI agent pre-fills required inputs for individual skills from user's utterance or previous conversation, prompting for additional inputs through a conversational flow, especially for complex or numerous inputs.
  • If a skill flow fails due to one of the skills in the flow failing, the AI agent returns the error message and gives you the option to retry the skill flow run from the point of failure by prompting you again for the input values for the skill that failed.
User or WO User

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Mapping to the filter input was not working Fixed an issue where the mapping to the filter input of a skill was not working when the user tried to apply the filter directly in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
The next best skill was not working for skill flows Fixed an issue where the next best skill was not working when it appeared after the user runs a skill flow. The user received an error in the AI agent chat despite they clicked the next best skill. User or WO User
The second skill didn't start in another chat Fixed an issue where the second skill didn't start in another chat while the asynchronous slot-based skill was still running. User or WO User
Skill flow with mapping from asynchronous skill to synchronous skill was not working Fixed an issue where the skill flow with mapping from asynchronous skill to synchronous skill, with form-based, was not working in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
UI errors in the Available apps from AI agent chat Fixed an issue where the Available apps area from AI agent chat was showing some UI errors such as scroll bar next to the apps and wrong instruction for users. User or WO User
The Replace a string data transformation was not working Fixed an issue where the Replace a string data transformation was not working in the skill input and output from a skill flow that ran in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Japanese translations in the legacy chat Fixed an issue where the legacy chat had texts that were not translated to Japanese. User or WO User
Retry functionality was not working in forms Fixed an issue where the retry functionality was not working in forms from skills ran in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Table text appeared outside the frame Fixed an issue where the table text appeared outside the frame in the Output tab from the Enhance this skill page. Builder or Writer
Typographical errors in the text on Enhance this skill page Fixed typographical errors in the text in the Input tab from the Enhance this skill page. Builder or Writer
Documentation links were not opened from some pages of Agent configuration Fixed an issue where documentation links were not opened from some pages of Agent configuration, such as the "What makes a good description?" link. Admin or Manager
Duplicated prebuilt skills in the Orchestrate Agent catalog Fixed an issue where the prebuilt Salesforce skills were appearing duplicated in the Orchestrate Agent catalog after configuring these skills. Admin or Manager

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

  • As IBM Software Hub is called IBM Software Hub from the version 5.0.3, all the labels in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation were updated to reflect this change.

New sections

  • The Testing skills and skill flows section shows how to test skills and skill flows to ensure functionality and check if refactoring efforts are needed.

Updated sections

3 December 2024

The following sections describe changes that happened on the release of 3 December 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Introducing dynamic background


The watsonx Orchestrate platform received a dynamic background on the home page for admins and builders. The new design is based on the IBM Carbon UI standards and is more intuitive for admins to change the chat setting from legacy chat to AI agent chat for the team. Look at the new background!

IBM watsonx Orchestra new UI
Figure 2. New home page interface of IBM watsonx Orchestrate.

Enhancements and changes in Skill studio


In this release, the following additions and changes were made to Skill studio:

New versioning and publishing experience

The version and publish tabs are now combined into a single menu for a more seamless experience. In addition, a new Version history pane is also available to help you republish and restore earlier versions of your projects. See more details about this new experience in Publishing projects.

Configuring interactions for user task

Within user tasks, there are new field interactions that you can configure, including new functions that can get the values and properties of fields. You can also reorder interactions. For more information, see User task interaction.

Support for Watson Machine Learning

You can now configure Watson Machine Learning for IBM Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM), User Management Service (UMS), and Platform UI (Zen). For more information, see Building prediction models.

Using document extractors in Skill studio (Beta version)


You can now create document extractors to define and extract specific fields from rich document formats such as PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, and images. Powered by a large language model (LLM), the configured document extractor identifies and extracts instances of the fields and highlights these fields directly within the document for review.

Note: Document Extractor is currently in Beta. You cannot share this skill or publish it for use in workflows or in the chat.

See more information in Creating document extractors.

Evaluating the performance of your AI assistants


You can evaluate and analyze the performance of your AI assistant by uploading a comprehensive and relevant collection of utterances, in addition to send the utterances to your AI assistant in a test run.

For more information, see Evaluating the assistant.

Adding skills directly to the AI agent


Admins can now add apps and their skills to the AI agent chat to directly use the capabilities of the added skills in the chat. When an admin adds skills to the AI agent chat, they need to provide a description with the purpose and capabilities of the skill for the AI model to route to the right skill based on the user prompt.

For more information, see Adding skills to the AI agent chat.

Configuring skills for multi-turn conversation in the AI agent chat

The inputs and outputs of skills added directly to the AI agent chat are checked separately and automatic fallback to forms over multi-turn conversations when any of the defined criteria applies. For more details about the criteria, see Configuring the number of input fields for multi-turn conversations.

Hiding the AI assistants from the AI agent chat

From this release, admins can hide the AI assistants from the AI agent chat for the user. This configuration is available for AI assistants that were added to the AI agent chat.

See more information in Hiding AI assistants from the chat.

Registering AI Agents from third-part platforms with the standardized API contract


Register AI agents that come from external third-party platforms and that adheres to the watsonx Orchestrate API contract to the AI agent chat.

For more information, see the API operations available in the External AI agents method.

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Importing the same OpenAPI specifications The following enhancements were deployed for importing the same OpenAPI specifications:

  1. When a different user tries to import the OpenAPI specification after editing the summary and the operation ID, the importing is blocked.
  2. When the same user is reimporting the OpenAPI specification after modifying the summary and the operation ID, this user gets a warning message. In this case, only the summary is updated.
Builder or Writer
Improvements for Configure prebuilt skills interface The Configure prebuilt skills interface received some improvements such as the title without period and a space between skill icon and text. Builder or Writer
Error handling improved in the AI agent chat The way to show error messages in the AI agent chat was improved to make it more intuitive for users know what happened and what they can do. User or WO User
Enhancing the skill in other languages Builders can now enhance the skill in the preferred language even if the skill was imported with another language defined in the OpenAPI file. For more information, see Enhance the skill content in other languages. Builder or Writer
Continue a conversation in an incomplete journey The AI agent chat now sends reminders to users about incomplete journeys for AI assistants. In this way, users can choose to return to the journey directly from the reminder notification to continue the conversation with the AI assistant. User or WO User

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Capital letter error Fixed an issue where the successful notification in Phrases generated had a capital letter error. Builder or Writer
Skill search was failing Fixed an issue where the skill search in the Skill catalog was failing when the name contained a colon. User or WO User
Specific AI assistants were not being listed Fixed an issue where AI assistants with brackets or some other special characters in the name were not being listed on watsonx Orchestrate. Builder or Writer
Disappearing and misaligned buttons in custom input form Fixed an issue where the buttons to edit custom input forms in skill flow were disappearing and, when they returned, they remained misaligned. Builder or Writer
Skill tile was visible when it was set to be invisible Fixed an issue where the skill tile remained visible on the legacy chat page even with the x-ibm-visible property set as false. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
No validation for version number Fixed an issue where the OpenAPI file that contained an underscore character (_) in the version number was being imported. Now, an error message is displayed and the file is not imported. Builder or Writer
Error in the AI assistant chat preview Fixed an issue where the builders got an error message in the chat preview in the AI assistant builder when the AI assistant's name had quotation marks or brackets. Builder or Writer
Enhance this skill page was refreshing after pressing the Enter key Fixed an issue where the Enhance this skill page was refreshing after pressing the Enter key for Bearer token field in the Security tab. Builder or Writer
Data mapping in a next best skill was not removed Fixed an issue where the data mapping in a next best skill was not removed automatically after the builder deletes the last skill in the skill flow. Builder or Writer
Getting error to run skill with multiple decisions
Fixed an issue where the users were getting the 504 error when they tried to run a skill with multiple decisions that had business rule. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Problem to collaborate in projects
Fixed an issue where builders were having a problem to collaborate in projects with other team members in the Skill Studio. Builder or Writer
Skill credentials related to the audit log were not recorded properly Fixed an issue where the skill credentials related to the audit log were not recorded properly in both, Activity Tracker for IBM Cloud and external logging for AWS. Admin or Manager
Edit the condition tab with wrong color Fixed an issue where the Edit the condition tab in the workflow was with the wrong color when selected. Builder or Writer
Publishing a project as a skill Fixed an issue where, if the workflow project had user type inputs or outputs, or contained nested user type inputs or outputs, the builder was not able to publish it as a skill in the skill catalog. Builder or Writer

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

19 November 2024

The following sections describe changes that happened on the release of 19 November 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AI agent chat is available for public preview

This release brings the public preview of the AI agent chat! Previously available only through request, now the AI agent chat is enabled as a chat option in all tenants on watsonx Orchestrate.

The AI agent chat landing page.
Figure 1. AI agent chat landing page on watsonx Orchestrate.

Advantages of the AI agent chat:

  • Chat with a pre-trained LLM
  • Pick up on old conversations
  • Perform batch tasks and workflows

To change default chat experience from the legacy chat to the AI agent chat, see Switching the chat experience.

Notes:
  • Conversations from the legacy chat aren't carried over after admin switches to the AI agent chat experience.
  • Personal catalog skills and those that require user-powered credentials aren't supported by the AI agent chat.

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Three dots were not visible in the AI agent chat Fixed an issue where the three dots were not visible while the user was switching chats. These dots indicate the loading of a text in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Custom error messages were not working in the AI agent chat Fixed an issue where, when the skill had a custom error message that was configured with the x-ibm-display-message-ref, x-ibm-message-abs-path, and x-ibm-message-template properties, the custom error message was not displayed in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Intermittent error to run skills
Fixed an issue where users were getting an intermittent error to run skill in the legacy chat. WO User
Skills from a JSON file kept showing up for another JSON file Fixed an issue where, after the builder uploaded a JSON file with many skills, these skills kept showing up when importing another JSON file. Builder or Writer

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New structure for documentation

The watsonx Orchestrate documentation was restructured to better guide users through their tasks in the platform. This restructuring provides a more intuitive and user-friendly experience, enabling users to become more proficient in using the platform more quickly. See the main changes:

  • Regrouping of sections according to the features and processes that now are part of watsonx Orchestrate.

  • New version of the Getting started with IBM watsonx Orchestrate to guide users to start by using the AI agent chat or the legacy chat.

  • Introducing new content to assist users in their journey in building AI assistants. For detailed information, access the Building AI assistants section. Additionally, developers can use the IBM watsonx Assistant API to create applications that interact with AI assistant builder resources. Note that watsonx Orchestrate does not support the IBM watsonx Assistant v1 API.

New sections

Updated sections

6 November 2024

The following sections describe changes that happened on the release of 6 November 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Displaying the skill output as an assistant variable


You can choose to hide or display the skill output that is stored as an assistant variable. See more information in Passing values to a subaction.

1 November 2024

The following sections describe changes that happened on the release of 1 November 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

New models for IBM Granite


You can now use the ibm/granite-3-8b-instruct and ibm/granite-3-2b-instruct models of IBM Granite within watsonx Orchestrate such as the AI agent and AI assistants. See more details at Configuring Base LLM.

29 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 29 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Enhancing productivity with the AI agent chat


Use the AI agent chat, formerly called new chat or Beta chat, to empower your business by orchestrating AI assistants to complete tasks that are domain-specific or run more complex tasks like sending emails and posting job requisitions. You can even complete various generative artificial intelligence (AI) tasks.

See all the updates that this release brings to the AI agent chat on watsonx Orchestrate.

Switching the chat experience

Switch between the AI agent chat or legacy chat experiences to complete tasks with aid of large language models (LLMs) and run skills to accomplish more complex tasks. The AI agent chat is the default for tenants that request access to it or already have access to it.

For tenants with access to the AI agent chat, it's possible to return to the legacy chat. See more information in Switching the chat experience.

Adding external AI assistant to the AI agent chat

Now, you can add AI assistants from IBM watsonx Assistant to the AI agent chat on watsonx Orchestrate.

For more information, see Adding AI assistants to the watsonx Orchestrate chat.

Resetting and discarding the changes for AI agent settings

From this release, you can reset and discard the changes that was made while you edit AI agent settings.

For more information, see Configuring the settings of the AI agent.

More apps and skills

Unlock the potential of your use cases with additional skills

You can use additional skills upon request to empowered your business processes.

  • Dun & Bradstreet (DnB): Skills to unlock the potential of the business intelligence products and improve the business profits, marketing, and risk management.

  • SAP Fieldglass: Skills to manage external workforces, vendors, and workers more efficiently.

  • SAP Hana: Skills to let the process massive amounts of data with near-zero latency, query data in an instant, and become truly data-driven.

New apps and skills for various use cases

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • UKG

    • Skills
      • Create person
      • Get all attendance balance types
      • Get all attendance records
      • Get all employee employment details
      • Get all employee job preferences
      • Get all employee leave records
      • Get all employees
      • Update an attendance balance

  • Zoho Inventory

    • Skills
      • Create a contact
      • Create a contact person
      • Create a new item
      • Create a new package
      • Create a new purchase order
      • Create a new sales order
      • Get all contact persons
      • Get all contacts
      • Get all currencies
      • Get all items
      • Get all purchase orders
      • Get all sales orders
      • Get all taxes
      • Get all warehouses

Deprecated skills

This release deprecated the skills of the WageScape app.

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
New experience for deleting workflows Builders can now delete workflows more easily in the Skill studio. For more information, see Delete a workflow skill. Builder or Writer
Responses from the foundation model and AI assistants in real-time Now, users can read the responses from foundation model and AI assistants in real-time while these responses are generated. User or WO User
Access user context across all AI agent chat You can now define whether the context data for the conversation of a specific AI assistant is shared with other AI assistants that run within the same conversation in the AI agent chat.

Update the configuration of a specific AI assistant through the API by setting the shareable_context parameter as true or false.
Go to the Request Body properties of the Update AI Assistant instance method for more details about the shareable_context parameter.
Builder
Routable targets as journeys for specific tenant You can now get all the routable targets as journeys for a specific tenant. Journey refers to the AI assistants that you added to the AI agent chat. For more information, see List all possible journeys. Builder or Writer

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Search in tables was not working from page 2 Fixed an issue where the search in tables was not working from page 2, by returning empty results after the user runs the skill. User or WO User
Microsoft Teams skill was not refreshing the drop-down list Fixed an issue where the Get all message replies skill was not refreshing the drop-down list of the Message field. User or WO User
NoneType error in the chat preview Fixed an issue where the builder was getting the NoneTypeerror when they tried to run a decision flow in the chat preview from AI assistant builder. Builder or Writer
Input descriptions in the AI agent chat Fixed an issue where the input descriptions from Enhance skill page was not being displayed in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Error message was not displayed in the chat preview Fixed an issue where an error message was not displayed in the chat preview from AI assistant builder. With the fix, now the error message is displayed when the builder provides invalid values for delete skills. Builder or Writer
Nested skill flows with looping were not working Fixed an issue where nested skill flows with looping were not working in the chat and giving a message error for the user. User or WO User
Skill was not being pre-filled in skill flow Fixed an issue where the first skill from a skill flow was not being pre-filled after the user clicked to retry it. User or WO User
Creation of a complex variable with reserved words was allowed
Fixed an issue where the builder was able to create complex variable with reserved words without validation error in the workflow. Writer
No records to be selected in skill flow Fixed an issue where the builder didn't find records to select in the chat preview from AI assistant builder. This error happened in skill flows that had two get skills with a filter section. Builder or Writer
Filter inputs were not working in the chat preview Fixed an issue where the filter inputs were not working in the chat preview. This error happened in skill-based actions created from skill flows. Builder or Writer
Expression being shown when hovering the mouse over the Status column Fixed an issue where the [object Object]expression was shown when the builder hovers the mouse over the Status column in the Skill studio table. Builder or Writer
Input form size was too long Fixed an issue where the input form size was too long in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User or WO User
Getting the error ERR_WO_001G' : "'str' object has no attribute 'get'" Fixed an issue where builders were getting the following error when they tried to run a skill in the chat preview from AI assistant builder: ERR_WO_001G' : "'str' object has no attribute 'get'". Builder or Writer
Mappings were not displayed in the filter Fixed an issue where the mappings were not displayed in the filter when the user started a next best skill in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
The default value was not displayed in the filter Fixed an issue where the default value was not displayed in the filter when the user started a next best skill in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
The Delete button was misaligned in filter lists Fixed an issue where the Delete button was misaligned in filter lists in the chat. User or WO User
Connecting and disconnecting apps was taking more time
Fixed an issue where the users were taking more time to connect and disconnect apps on the skill catalog and skill sets pages. WO User
Manager
Routing to different AI assistants Fixed an issue where the routing to an AI assistant was occurring to different AI assistants that contained the same keywords that users used in their prompts in the AI assistants' description.
It happened in cases where those keywords were present in AI assistants' description but were modified or removed.
User or WO User
Builder or Writer
The input form for a previous skill showed instead of the form for the skill prompted Fixed an issue where, after the user first prompted an AI assistant to run a skill, the next prompts to skills still showing the input form of the first skill that was prompted to run. User or WO User
Values in filter not applied in hidden input form of skill Fixed an issue where the values in a filter were not applied in skill with input form that was hidden. User or WO User
Failing to create an action in the AI assistant
Fixed an issue where creating an action in the AI assistant builder could fail if there were many skill-based actions to load. Builder
Clear history notification in the Firefox browser
Fixed an issue where the notification message of the clear history was not shown in the Firefox browser. WO User
Error to create the slot logic
Fixed an issue where the builder was not able to add the slot logic by getting the error The workflow creation is taking more time. Please try again.. Writer

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Terminology

The Beta chat or new chat on watsonx Orchestrate now is called AI agent chat.

New section

Updated sections

  • The Configuring the next best skills section was updated to explain how to show the next best skills in the AI agent chat.

  • The Events for skill activities section was updated with a new event that is generated when you delete a skill.

  • The Generating an API key section had the procedure to generate an API key for AI assistants updated.

  • The Licenses and entitlements section has new details about licenses and entitlements for watsonx Orchestrate on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM Cloud.

  • The Skill IDs of prebuilt apps section was updated with the list of skill IDs of the new skills for this release.

  • The Templates for system prompts section was updated with the templates for system prompts that you can configure according to the models that you want to use for the AI agent.

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following sections:

16 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 16 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Team skills page with access problem Fixed an issue where some users were not able to access the Team skills page in their tenants. User or WO User
Japanese translation for Skill studio Fixed an issue where the texts were not translated to Japanese in some screens in the Skill studio. Builder or Writer
Skill with slot logic was failing Fixed an issue where skill with slot logic was failing in the chat preview of the AI assistant builder. Builder or Writer
Intermittent error to run actions in the chat preview Fixed an issue where users were facing an intermittent error to run actions in the AI assistant chat preview, by showing the message "There was an error displaying this content". Builder or Writer
Skills are taking too long to load
Fixed an issue where the skills are taking too long to load and display inputs and outputs in the chat preview of the AI assistant builder. Builder or Writer
Inputs from slot logic variables were not being populated
Fixed an issue where the inputs that were provided for the slot logic variables were not being populated in the task activity for the composite variables. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Japanese translations in the legacy chat Fixed an issue where the chat had texts that weren't translated to Japanese. User or WO User

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

11 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 11 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Passing values to skill-based actions in the conversation flow


Add skill-based actions as subactions in the conversation steps, and set the values that you want to pass to the skill-based actions based on the conversation flow.

Passing values to skill-based actions enables you to build a seamless conversation flow by getting the required values from other steps.

For more information, see Choosing what to do at the end of a step.

External skill providers must implement the new endpoint for skill-based actions to use this feature. For more information, see Conversational Skills: Masterdoc for API Endpoints to Implement by the Pro-Code Conversational Skill Client.

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following section:

9 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 9 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Improved currency recognition


Conversational search now supports filling currency slots with number entities in skill-based actions.

4 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 4 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Configure Milvus in Custom service integration


You can now configure Milvus, a full-text search engine with high performance and real-time analytics capabilities, in the Custom service integration of your assistant for enhanced search. For more information, see Setting up Milvus for Custom service.

2 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 2 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Support for new languages in skill-based actions


Create skill-based actions in AI assistants, which language is English, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, German, or Spanish. For more information about how to create skill-based actions, see Building your AI assistant with actions.

1 October 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 1 October 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud®.

New features for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud®

This new release brings a wealth of enhancements and features to help you and your team to drive better business outcomes.

The key features include:

  • Use of projects in the Skill studio
  • Use the capabilities of the AI agent chat through the API
  • New experience for the generation of API keys
  • Set the default language of the product and switch between the languages available
  • Set a confidence threshold for confirmation questions
  • Support for more LLMs for the AI agent
  • New apps and skills for various use cases

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following section:

    • Prebuilt apps and skills

      • [IBM Cloud] Error to run IBM watsonx.ai skills

    • Building AI assistants

      • [IBM Cloud] Intermittent error in the AI assistant chat preview
      • [AWS] Failed to create an action in the AI assistant builder

    • Skill catalog

      • [IBM Cloud] Connecting and disconnecting apps is taking more time

30 September 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 30 September 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Add phone integration to your AI assistant


This release brings another AI assistant feature into IBM watsonx Orchestrate: the phone integration. When you add the phone integration to your assistant, you make your assistant available to customers over the phone. See more information in Deploying for phone.

26 September 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 26 September 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Use projects in Skill studio


This release brings new features and updates to the creation of projects and skills in the Skill studio (formerly called Automation builder).

  • You can now create a project (formerly called automation) from which you can build and manage skills (formerly called components) in the Skill studio. The following types of skills remain available: workflows, decisions, and generative AI. For more information, see Creating projects.
  • All skill types within a project can be private or public. You can exclude a skill from being visible in the skill catalog after the project is published by marking it private in your list of skills. When working within your project, you can click the icon or next to the skill name in your list to make the skill private or public.
  • Within workflows, Automation activities are now deprecated and have been removed. If your workflow previously contained an Automation activity, you can delete it from your workflow or you can migrate the activity to a Skill from catalog. If the skill referenced by the automation activity has not been published to the skill catalog, contact the owner of the referenced skill to request that they publish it to the skill catalog before you migrate the activity.
  • The Operations tab in Skill studio has been removed from Skill studio. When a skill is created, the operation details, including name and description, are the same as the skill name and description. To change this, you can do so from the Skills & Apps page.
  • You can now configure interactions between user task input fields when the user enters values or changes the values. You can use conditional paths for different field value changes, configure field behaviors, call skills, and use skill outputs. For more information, see Creating workflows.

Use the capabilities of the AI agent chat through the API

Call the resources that you have in the AI agent chat in your tenant through the API. You can use the methods available to:

  • Chat with the AI agent with the possibility of streaming the responses in real-time.
  • Get the details of a specific run.
  • Get the list of events for a specific run of the AI agent.
  • Register, get, list, update, and delete an AI assistant from the chat.
  • Run a specific AI assistant.
  • Get the list of all runs for a specific AI assistant.
  • Get the details of a specific run for an AI assistant.
  • Create, update, get, and delete messages and message threads.
  • Get or update the current settings of the AI agent for the tenant that is associated with the authenticated user.

For more information, see the API reference.

New experience for the generation of API keys


Generate the API keys that you need to use the APIs and get the service instance URL to request access to the environment's resources directly in the Settings page. For more information, see Generating an API key.

Set the default language of the product and switch between the languages available


Set up more languages that your tenant can support. For more information, see Supported languages.

Support for more LLMs for the AI agent

The following large language models (LLM) are supported to better support you on your use cases:

  • meta-llama/llama-3-1-8b-instruct
  • meta-llama/llama-3-1-70b-instruct
  • meta-llama/llama-3-405b-instruct
  • meta-llama/llama-3-70b-instruct
  • meta-llama/llama-3-8b-instruct
  • mistralai/mistral-large
  • mistralai/mixtral-8x7b-instruct-v01

When you select an LLM, you need to weigh the task complexity and data requirements to ensure that the chosen model is suited to your specific needs and delivers the wanted performance. For more information, see Configuring the settings of the AI agent: Base LLMs.

More apps and skills

Unlock the potential of your use cases with Workday HCM skills

Use Workday HCM skills to unlock the potential of Employee support use cases such as employee time management, employee transfer, and employee profile management.

Workday HCM skills are accessible to users upon request. For a complete list of skills available for Workday HCM, see Prebuilt apps and skills: Employee support.

New apps and skills for various use cases

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Apptio Targetprocess

    • Skills
      • Create a bug
      • Create a comment
      • Create an epic
      • Create a feature
      • Create a project
      • Create a task
      • Create a user
      • Create a user story
      • Get all bugs
      • Get all comments
      • Get all epics
      • Get all features
      • Get all projects
      • Get all tasks
      • Get all users
      • Get all user stories
      • Update a bug
      • Update a comment
      • Update a feature
      • Update an epic
      • Update a project
      • Update a task
      • Update a user
      • Update a user story

  • Google Contacts

    • Skills
      • Add contacts to contact group
      • Copy other contacts to my contacts
      • Create a contact
      • Create a contact group
      • Delete a contact
      • Delete a contact group
      • Delete a contact photo
      • Get a contact by ID
      • Get all contact groups
      • Get all contacts
      • Get all contacts by search string
      • Get all other contacts
      • Get contact group by ID
      • Remove contacts from contact group
      • Update a contact
      • Update a contact group
      • Update a contact photo

  • Google Tasks

    • Skills
      • Create a task
      • Create a task list
      • Delete a task
      • Delete a task list
      • Get all task by ID
      • Get all task lists
      • Get all tasks
      • Get a task list by ID
      • Reorder a task
      • Update a task
      • Update a task list

  • FreshService

    • Skills
      • Create solution article
      • Create a solution category
      • Create a solution folder
      • Delete Solution Category
      • Delete solution folder
      • Delete Solution Article
      • Get all solution articles by search
      • Get all workspaces
      • Get all solution categories
      • Get all solution folders
      • Get a list of solution article
      • Publish solution article
      • Update Solution Category
      • Update solution folder
    • Skill Flows
      • Create a solution article
      • Create a secondary language article
      • Create an article from external URL
      • Delete a solution article
      • Delete a Solution Category
      • Delete a solution folder
      • Publish a solution article
      • Update a solution article
      • Update a Solution Category
      • Update a solution folder

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Skill-based actions now show the next best skills in the AI agent chat Users can now see the next best skills when they start skills in the AI agent chat. User

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Users weren't getting the expected result in the AI agent chat Fixed an issue where the user was not getting the expected result in the AI agent chat. Instead of the message "Execution successful. No data to display.", the user was getting "Result{}". User or WO User
Unable to add some skill flows to the skill set Fixed an issue where the user was not able to add the following skill flows to the skill set:
- (HR) Create a job change event
- (Manager) Create a job change event.
User or WO User
Microsoft Dynamics 365 app was not connecting in the skill catalog Fixed an issue where the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations app was not connecting on the skill catalog page. User or WO User
Unable to delete default values in skill flows Fixed an issue where the default value deleted by the user in a skill flow was being retained in the chat. User or WO User
Data was not saved in skill and skill flows Fixed an issue where the data in the Category field, while enhancing and publishing a skill or skill flow, was not being retained or saved. Builder or Writer
Microsoft Entra ID skill was not working in the chat Fixed an issue where the Create a domain skill of the Microsoft Entra ID app was not working in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Added rows were not being reflected in the task list Fixed an issue where, when the user added rows in a table from a workflow, these rows were not being reflected in the task list. User or WO User
Error to add values for task list Fixed an issue where the user was not able to add values for task list in workflow due to a "null" value that appeared during the skill running. This issue happened in workflows with complex string. User or WO User
The specification x-ibm-permission was not reflecting the configuration from the OpenAPI file Fixed an issue where the skill with the specification "x-ibm-permission": "personal:view" or "x-ibm-permission": "team:view" was appearing in both personal and team skill set, and not just in one skill set, as the specification defines. Builder or Writer
Unable to add and run some skill flows Fixed an issue where the user was not able to add and run skill flows that had the data transformation Get substring by index with "Skip index" as 0 in the field of skill. User or WO User
Builder or Writer

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

  • The Outbound IP addresses section was updated to add the IP addresses for the watsonx Orchestrate deployments and the region where your environment might be hosted.

  • The documentation has updates to change the following terms:

    • Automations are now called Projects.
    • Components are now called Skills.
  • The Troubleshooting section adds a solution for the following issue:

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following section:

    • Building skills
      • Input fields don’t appear as defined in the x-ibm-order property

24 September 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 24 September 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Expand the use of conversational search to other languages


You can now use conversational search in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, or French. To do so, you need to set up Elasticsearch or other search provider you use through a custom service to work for the language that your content is on. For more information, see Conversational search.

17 September 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 17 September 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Connecting to apps in a tenant with multiple users logged in Fixed an issue where users weren't able to connect to apps in their tenant when multiple users were logged in to the tenant at the same time. Administrator
Builder
Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Fixed an issue where users weren't able to connect to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations app. Administrator
Builder
Outputs do not appear in the Enhance skill page for workflows Fixed an issue where the Enhance skill page was not showing the outputs defined in a skill built from a workflow. Builder
Writer
The Delete a user skill of the Microsoft Entra ID app wasn't working Fixed an issue where the Delete a user skill of the Microsoft Entra ID app wasn't working. User
Running skills built from decision with ruleflow model Fixed an issue where the chat wasn't displaying the results of a skill built from a decision with ruleflow model. User
Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales
Fixed an issue where users weren't able to connect to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales app. Manager
Writer
Duplicated fields for custom input forms
Fixed an issue where duplicated fields were displayed when a skill flow contained a mapping of simple data types to a custom input form. Writer
Adding prebuilt skills and custom skills to workflows
Fixed an issue where users were getting the "Unsupported Skill" error message when they added prebuilt skills or custom skills to a workflow. Writer
Importing decision skill to a project
Fixed an issue where users were getting an error when they imported a decision skill to a project. Writer
Configuring the skills of the Salesforce app
Fixed an issue in the Configure prebuilt skills page in Skills and apps where the skills of the Salesforce app weren't displayed. Writer

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New sections

Updated sections

6 September 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 6 September 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Access properties from stream events


You can now access properties from the last event in a stream more efficiently. For more information, see Running the stream.

Conversational search debugging


You can now troubleshoot the errors when you face problems in conversational search. For more information, see Debugging failures.

31 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 31 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Conversational search analytics


You can now analyze the performance of your conversational search by using conversational search analytics. For more information, see Conversational search analytics.

30 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 30 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Enhancement in analytics conversations


Your AI assistant is now enhanced to provide history of conversations by specifically indicating the different types of actions, search, dialog, Conversational search, and intents. For more information, see Review customer conversations.

29 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 29 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Beta preview: Using skills through API


Now you can use skills through the API. With the watsonx Orchestrate API, you can run custom skills and automations outside the watsonx Orchestrate. For more information about authentication and the methods that are available, see Using skills through the watsonx Orchestrate API.

Note: This feature is only supported for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Beta preview: Customizing starter prompts for the chat


Customize starter prompts to help people to get started on specific use cases. Learn more about this customization and how to write effective starter prompts in Customizing the starter prompts.

Adding document processing activities to the workflow


Add two new document processing activities to the workflow in the Automation builder: "Utility bill extraction" and "Document review".

When the builder adds a "Utility bill extraction" activity to the workflow, it's possible to map variables to the expected input and output and set extraction rules to determine when to mark a document as needing review.

"Utility bill extraction" activity in the workflow
Figure 1: Utility bill extraction activity in the workflow with the right menu opened.

When a review of the document is needed, the builder adds a "Document review" activity to a decision loop.

Document review in the workflow
Figure 2: Document review in the workflow inside a branch.

See all the necessary configurations for the document processing activities in the workflow in the Document processing content.

Updating document review fields with image data

You no longer need to manually enter data into document review fields. You can conveniently select data or text from the image window and the review fields are automatically updated with your selected values. For more information, see Updating review fields with image data.

Deleting automation components

Builders can now delete automation components (decisions, workflows, and generative AI). For more information, see Creating decisions, Creating workflows, and Creating generative AI components.

Apps available for IBM® watsonx Orchestrate® on IBM Cloud

Starting from this release, all prebuilt apps and their skills on watsonx Orchestrate are also available on the IBM Cloud deployment.

For the list of the apps available, see Apps availability per managed instances.

Important:If the tenant that you are member was provisioned before 29 August, the apps and skills won't be available.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Google Calendar

    • Skills
      • Add a calendar to google calendar list
      • Remove a calendar from google calendar list
      • Get all calendars from google calendar list
      • Update calendar properties in google calendar list
      • Check the availability
      • Create a calendar
      • Delete a calendar
      • Create a calendar sharing
      • Delete a calendar sharing
      • Get all calendar sharing
      • Update a calendar sharing
      • Get a calendar
      • Update a calendar
      • Create an event
      • Delete an event
      • Get all events

  • Google Drive

    • Skills
      • Get all comments
      • Create a comment
      • Get a file's comments
      • Get all files
      • Upload a file
      • Get file content
      • Get information about the file
      • Get all folders
      • Create a folder
      • Get all folder items
      • Create a permission
      • Get all permissions
      • Create a reply
      • Get all replies of a comment
      • Get all revisions

  • Microsoft Teams

    • Skills
      • Create an event
      • Create online meeting
      • Delete online meeting
      • Delete an event
      • Get all online meeting
      • Get all call transcripts by meeting ID
      • Get all events
      • Get transcript by transcript ID
      • Update an event
      • Update an online meeting

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Beta preview: Notifications for any new message in a thread Now, users receive notifications for synchronous tasks. It means that, if the user is in a different chat, the notifications come as a message even as an indication in the chat that received the response. User or WO User
Routing confirmation message in the chat The routing message to suggest a different AI assistant was improved. In the updated message, the user is asked if they want to be routed to the other AI assistant. User or WO User

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Connecting to Insightly app from skill catalog page Fixed an issue where the user was not able to connect to the Insightly app from the skill catalog page. User or WO User
Error in the Speech to Text skill Fixed an issue where the Speech to Text skill was not working in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User or WO User
Japanese character was garbled in the skill name Fixed an issue where the Japanese character was garbled in the skill name in the tiles on the watsonx Orchestrate chat page. User or WO User
The Show more button in lists of skill input Fixed an issue where the Show more button remained visible in the list of a skill input despite all the options were retrieved. User or WO User
Able to view all records in a table even after moving to the next skill Fixed an issue where users were able to view all records in a table even after they moved to the next skill in a skill flow. Now, users can view only the selected records from the table. User or WO User
Routing to wrong AI assistants Fixed an issue where, after users sent their first prompt, they were routed to an AI assistant that didn't cover the action that they wanted instead of the right AI assistant. User or WO User
The Get all contents skill was throwing an error Fixed an issue where the Get all contents skill from the Seismic app was throwing an error when the user didn't provide input data for optional fields. User or WO User
The Delete a recipient skill was not working in the chat Fixed an issue where the Delete a recipient skill from the SurveyMonkey app was not working, by showing a message error in the chat. User or WO User
Active column was displaying as true in get skills of Insightly Fixed an issue where the Active column was displaying as true in tables of get skills of the Insightly app, even though the Active checkbox was not selected in create skills. User or WO User
Drop-down lists in the Beta chat preview Fixed an issue where the drop-down list was not working in the chat. User or WO User
Selected columns were deselected automatically Fixed an issue where, after the user searched for columns in a table, other columns were deselected automatically. User or WO User
Personal skill set was missing Fixed an issue where the personal skill set was missing in the list of skill sets in the chat. This error happened after the user refreshes the chat page from the team skill set. User or WO User
The search icon was out of place Fixed an issue where the search icon was out of place in tables from skills that were run in the AI agent chat. User or WO User
Skills and apps tab on the Skill studio page Fixed an issue where the Skills and apps tab on the Skill studio page was taking more time to load. Builder or Writer
Fields with enum schema in skill flow mapping Fixed an issue where the fields with enum schema were not being displayed to be configured in the skill flow mapping. Builder or Writer
Skill name and description were not updated Fixed an issue where the skill name and description were not updated when the builder added a next best skill during the skill enhancement. Builder or Writer
Data transformation was not removed Fixed an issue where the data transformation was not removed after the builder removed the mapped input of a skill in the skill flow. Builder or Writer
Skill flow was failing in the AI assistant preview Fixed an issue where the skill flow was failing in the AI assistant preview. This error happened when a skill of the flow had a default value in the filter section. Builder or Writer
Running asynchronous skills in the workflow preview Fixed an issue where the builder was not able to run asynchronous skills in the workflow preview in the Automation builder. Builder or Writer
Running a decision skill with number as output Fixed an issue where builders got an error message when they tried to run a decision skill with number as output in the chat preview of the AI assistant builder. Builder or Writer
Publishing workflow was failing Fixed an issue where publishing a workflow was failing when this workflow had an assigned default variable. Builder or Writer
Mapped values in a next best skill were not displaying in the chat Fixed an issue where the mapped values in a next best skill were not displaying in the chat. This error occurred when the builder defined default values or mapped data through the Insert variables. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Permissions were maintained when changing roles Fixed an issue where the role permissions of Admin (Manager) were maintained when it was updated to User (WO User) or Builder (Writer) role. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Admin or Manager
Pagination was not available when browser size was 80% or less Fixed an issue where the pagination was not available in the Skill studio, skill flow, and skill catalog pages when the browser size was 80% or less. User or WO User
Builder or Writer
Admin or Manager
The watsonx Orchestrate page was redirected to the IBM Cloud resources page
Fixed an issue where, when the watsonx Orchestrate session expired after one hour, the page was redirected to the IBM Cloud resources page, and not to the watsonx Orchestrate login page. WO User
Writer
Manager
IBM RPA skills were not working
Fixed an issue where the skills of the IBM Robotic Process Automation were not working in the watsonx Orchestrate chat on IBM Cloud. WO User
IBM Document Processing skills were not working
Fixed an issue where the skills of the IBM Document Processing were not working in the watsonx Orchestrate chat on IBM Cloud. WO User

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New sections

Updated sections



- [Skill flow](../../about/wo_knownis.html#skill-flow){: new_window}
  - The **Cancel** option in a skill flow
  - Updating filters while running a skill flow

28 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 28 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

27 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 27 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Configuring SSL certificates for AI assistants

You are now able to configure SSL certificates for an AI assistant to secure search integrations, custom extensions, skill-based actions, and webhooks. For more information, see Configuring Security certificates.

20 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 20 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Intelligent information gathering in the AI assistant builder


This release brings an improvement of the accuracy for information gathering in custom-built and skill-based actions in the AI assistant builder.

14 August 2024

The following sections describe changes and fixes for issues that happened on the release of 14 August 2024 for IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud® and on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix:

Bug fixes Description Affected role
OpenAPI builder Fixed an issue where the OpenAPI builder was not opening. Writer
Options of the Actions list were misaligned Fixed an issue on the skill flow page where the options of the Actions list were misaligned. Writer
Blank screen after users edited imported skill flows Fixed an issue where users were getting a blank screen while they tried to edit skill flows. Users faced this scenario when they edited a skill flow that was imported to a tenant for the first time. Writer
Wrong content for input logic flows was appearing Fixed an issue on the Skills and apps > Enhance this skill page where the wrong content for input logic flows was appearing. Writer
Workflows with skills were failing to run Fixed an issue with Workflows where skills weren't running in the workflow instance in Preview mode. Writer
Next best skills weren't shown for skill flows Fixed an issue where next best skills were not shown after the execution of skill flows. WO User
Selected records weren't displaying correctly Fixed an issue where the records were not displaying correctly as outputs when users selected records from multiple pages from a skill. User

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New sections

Updated sections

  • The IBM Document Processing section has updates in the connection details and provides more information on the technical parameters that are required by some skills of this app.

  • The Using the AI agent chat section was improved to disclose on the chat capabilities.

  • The Adding AI assistants to the watsonx Orchestrate chat section has updates on the requirements that users need to meet to add AI assistants to the watsonx Orchestrate chat.

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following section:

    • Building skills
      • The requestBody property is not supported for OpenAPI skills based on the GET method

1 August 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 1 August 2024.

Introducing watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud®

IBM® watsonx Orchestrate®, now available on IBM Cloud, offers businesses a powerful, scalable, and secure solution for automating and optimizing their business processes. Key benefits of deploying this service on IBM Cloud include global reach, optimized performance, advanced security, and expert support. By choosing watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud, businesses can streamline their operations, make informed decisions with AI-powered insights, and drive growth in a secure and scalable environment.

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

The IBM watsonx Orchestrate documentation pages are labeled with the appropriate tag for information that applies exclusively for instances that are provisioned as a service on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or IBM Cloud, or for instances that are provisioned on IBM Software Hub.

New sections

Updated sections

  • The Logging in to watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud section shows how to provision and launch the watsonx Orchestrate service on IBM Cloud.

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following sections:

    • Building skills

      • Skill with permission specification is appearing in personal and team skill set

    • Generic issues

      • watsonx Orchestrate page is redirected to the IBM Cloud resources page
      • Error when switching pages

    • AI agent chat

      • Next best action in skill flows

    • Skill flow

      • Editing imported skill flow

30 July 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 30 July 2024.

New features for generative AI components


New features in generative AI components in the Automation builder. For more information, see Creating generative AI components.

  • You can now add a prompt input and a generated output as a training example.
  • You can now view the description of each model in the pull-down menu when you select a model.
  • Generative AI components are now automatically added as dependencies when you use them in decision models.

Using document processing components and lists in workflows


This release brings new features and updates to the creation of workflows in the Automation builder.

You can now use document processing as part of your workflow by using the new Document processing activity. Document processing types include utility bill extraction and document review.

You can now update a list graphically within an assignment activity in the following ways:

  • Updating a specified element in an existing list.
  • Adding an element to an existing list, either at the end or at a specified position.
  • Initializing a new list with a set of elements.

When using expressions in assignment activities or input data mappings, initialization values can contain variables, but all values must be of the same type. For example, you can initialize your lists with the following values:

  • Simple type values. For example, {"a", "b", "c"}
  • Choice list values. For example, if you have a choice list of country codes: {US, GB, GER}
  • Variables. For example, {example_variable_1,example_variable_2}
  • A mix of simple types and variables. For example, {1, example_variable_1}

For more information, see Creating workflows.

Beta preview: Customize the settings for the AI agent


The AI agent is the default AI assistant that you use in the AI agent chat. Now, you can configure the base LLM and its parameters, the routing model and routing prompt, and user confirmation for routings during the conversation for the AI agent in the AI agent chat.

For more information, see Configuring the settings of the AI agent.

Integrate custom services for search capability


For the AI assistants, you can now use a custom service integration to create your own search capability and enhance the AI responses through conversational search capabilities.

For more information, see Custom service integration setup.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Asana

    • Skills
      • Update a comment story
      • Update a tag
      • Update a task

  • Slack

    • Skills
      • Get all private channels

  • Workday HCM

    • Skills
      • Create an email address for worker
      • Create worker home address
      • Create the phone number for a worker
      • Time off request for a worker
      • Get all members for the supervisory organization
      • Create an organization assignment change for a worker
      • Save an organization assignment change for later
      • Get an organization assignment change
      • Get all worker categories for organization assignment change
      • Get managers for organization assignment change
      • Get all workers by manager for organization assignment change
      • Get a region of an organization assignment change
      • Get all region categories for organization assignment change
      • Get all regions available for organization assignment change
      • Get cost center of an organization assignment change
      • Get all cost center categories for organization assignment change
      • Get all cost centers available for organization assignment change
      • Get company of an organization assignment change
      • Get all company categories for an organization assignment change
      • Get all companies available for an organization assignment change
      • Get all start details of an organization assignment change
      • Update cost center of organization assignment changes
      • Update a company of organization assignment changes
      • Update a region of organization assignment changes
      • Update start details of an organization assignment change
    • Skill flows
      • Create home address for a worker
      • Create a time off request for a worker
      • (Manager) Create an organization assignment change for a worker
      • (HR) Create an organization assignment change for a worker
      • Update the cost center of an organization assignment change
      • Update the company of an organization assignment change
      • Update the region of an organization assignment change
      • Update the start details of an organization assignment change

  • ZoomInfo

    • Skill flows
      • Create cadence membership for a person
      • Create multiple cadence memberships

Other enhancements and changes

Read about issues that were fixed for the 30 July release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Misaligned fields in the Edit the conditions window Fixed an issue where the fields in the Edit the conditions window, from Automation builder, were misaligned. Builder
Data transformation was not removed Fixed an issue where the data transformation was not removed after the builder removes the mappings with the Clear all mappings option. Builder
UI error in the workflow diagram Fixed an issue where white circles were appearing on the workflow diagram next to the button to add activities and controls. Builder
IBM Process Mining skills were throwing error Fixed an issue where the users were getting an internal server error when they started the IBM Process Mining skills in the chat. User
Space between fields in the skill forms UI Fixed an issue where there was a large space between date calendar and text box fields in skill forms. User
Wrong response for skills with delete action Fixed an issue where the chat was returning a wrong response when skills with delete action were used. Now, after the delete action, the return is "Execution successful. No data to display". User

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New sections

Updated skill names

  • The Get all channels skill from the Slack app now is named Get all public channels.

Updated sections

  • Skill IDs of prebuilt apps: The list of skill IDs was updated with the IDs of the new skills for this release.

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following sections:

    • Prebuilt apps and skills

      • Connecting to the Asana app
      • Skills that run delete actions from HubSpot CRM app
      • Output format of productivity skills
      • Duplicate skills appearing on watsonx Orchestrate home page

    • AI agent chat

      • Live agent support
      • The input form for a previous skill shows up instead of the form for the skill prompted

29 July 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 29 July 2024.

New supported languages for information gathering


The watsonx.ai for the information gathering capability in AI assistant builder now supports French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Japanese. For more information, see Information Gathering and Global settings for actions.

23 July 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 23 July 2024.

8 July 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 8 July 2024.

Beta preview: New watsonx Orchestrate chat experience


Use the AI agent chat to interact with a powerful generative AI model provided by IBM. In the chat, you can complete generative artificial intelligence (AI) tasks, or even run skills through AI assistants to complete more complex tasks like sending emails or posting a job requisition.

The AI agent chat landing page
Figure 3: The Beta chat landing page on watsonx Orchestrate.

For more information, see Using the AI agent chat.

Improved view for creating skill flows: Horizontal and vertical modes


Change how you see the skill flow that you're building. You can now switch between a horizontal and vertical mode interchangeably to handle the nodes in your flow based on your view preferences.

The horizontal and vertical modes
Figure 4: The horizontal and vertical modes of the skill flow building page.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • IBM Document processing

    • Skills
      • Extract fields from utility bills

  • IBM Process Mining

    • Skills
      • Download BPMN of a process mining project
      • Download latest Prescriptive Report of a Process Mining project

  • Infobip

    • Skills
    • Create an entity
    • Get a free messages count
    • Get all entities
    • Get all WhatsApp templates
    • Get an account balance
    • Send a single voice message

  • Oracle E-Business Suite

    • Skills
      • Create an order
      • Create an order with header
      • Delete an order
      • Get an order
      • Update an order
      • Update an order with header

  • Salesloft

    • Skills
      • Create a note
      • Delete note
      • Get a note
      • Get a step
      • Get all calls
      • Get all notes
      • Get action
      • Get email templates
      • Get email action details
      • Email template get
    • Skill flows
      • Create a note for account
      • Create a note for person
      • Delete a note
      • Get an action
      • Get an email template for action
      • Get an email template
      • Update a note

  • Toggl Track

    • Skills
    • Create a client
    • Create a tag
    • Create a time entry
    • Create a workspace project
    • Delete a time entry
    • Get all clients
    • Get all time entries
    • Get all workspaces
    • Get all workspace users
    • Get all workspace tags
    • Get a workspace's projects
    • Update a time entry

  • ZoomInfo

    • Skills
      • Get all scoop departments
      • Get scoop search results
      • Get all scoop topics
      • Get all scoop types

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 8 July release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Configuring a server endpoint for imported apps You can configure a custom endpoint for apps that are imported by using OpenAPI specifications. This action replaces the current endpoint of your app to a new endpoint.

For more information, see Configuring an imported app endpoint.
Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 8 July release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
The Skill set tab was displaying the "Something went wrong" notification Fixed an issue in the Manage Team page where after users went to the Skill set tab, it was displaying the "Something went wrong" notification. Admin
Switching to Skill Set and Members tabs was taking time to load for some tenants Fixed an issue where the Skill Set and Members tabs under the Manage teams page weren’t loading for some tenants. Admin
Builder
Error after users run a skill with for_each in the business rule Fixed an issue in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder where it was returning the “ERR_WO_001G" error after users run a skill built from a Decision with for_each in the business rule. Builder
Mapping values in the Create an item skill from the monday.com app Fixed an issue in the Create an item skill from the monday.com app where the board_id field wasn’t displaying the mappings available when used in skill flows. Builder
Users were unable to call a skill from an automation with decisions in the slot logic flow Fixed an issue in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder where users were getting the following error after they call a skill from an automation with decisions in the slot logic flow:
"This action cannot be continued further due to a downstream error."
Builder
Skill menu kept opened after users scroll the list view Fixed an issue in the *Skill and apps page where the menu &vetlip; of a skill remained opened and fixed in the position where it was opened while users scroll the list view. Builder
Users were unable to run skill flows by retrying from failed step Fixed an issue where users were unable to run skill flows by retrying from failed step. It was showing the message "The [Skill flow title] skill can't be used right now. Retry your request later." Builder
The menu was taking much time to load Fixed an issue where the menu was taking more time to load than the expected. Admin
Builder
User
The auto suggestion for phrases were not working in the watsonx Orchestrate chat Fixed an issue in the watsonx Orchestrate chat where the auto suggestion for phrases were not working. It was also leading the watsonx Orchestrate chat to, occasionally, mismatch the expected skill based on the phrase sent. User
Selecting a single column was selecting the whole columns in the table Fixed an issue in the Find Candidate for a Job skill from the Candidate Sourcing with ThisWay Global app where selecting a single column in the table was also selecting the whole columns. User
The removed filter was not cleared from the table Fixed an issue in the Find Candidate for a Job skill from the Candidate Sourcing with ThisWay Global app where a filter that was applied and removed from the filter section wasn’t cleared from the table. User
The chat was taking much time to load Fixed an issue where the chat was taking more time to load than the expected. User
The send button was enabled before users entered data in the input box Fixed an issue in the AI agent chat where the send button was enabled before users entered data in the input box. User

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Added sections

  • Licenses and entitlements: The topic was added for customers to have more details about the licenses and entitlements of IBM watsonx Orchestrate.

Updated sections

  • Skill IDs of prebuilt apps: The list of skill IDs was updated with the IDs of the new skills for this release.

  • Connecting to apps used by AI assistants: The section was updated to clarify the requirements for app connections.

  • Configuring a skill as conversational: The section was updated to add more details about how to set a skill to receive inputs as a multi-turn conversation in the AI assistant.

  • Providing inputs to skills: The topic was updated to add more details about how users can provide input to skills on watsonx Orchestrate.

  • Workday HCM: The topic was updated to add the requirements to connect to Workday HCM with watsonx Orchestrate.

  • Showing input fields dynamically: The section was updated to add more details about how to configure dynamic fields in forms.

  • Chat history: The topic was updated to add details about how to view chat conversations, clear the chat history, and get more information about the chat retention policies.

  • Glossary: The glossary was updated to add terms used in the product.

  • The Known issues and limitations topic adds entries for the following sections:

    • Building automations

      • Language support for Automation builder

    • Building AI assistants

      • Language support for AI assistant builder

    • Building skills

      • Japanese translations for the Skills and apps in the Skill studio page
      • Language support for OpenAPI builder

    • Building skills from apps

      • Member credential type option for skill-based actions

    • watsonx Orchestrate chat

      • Getting content from files with skills
      • Japanese translations in the watsonx Orchestrate
      • Skill tile shows unrecognized characters

    • Enhancing skills

      • Japanese translations in the Enhance this skill page
      • Language support for the Auto-generated phrases feature

    • Prebuilt apps and skills

      • Language support for prebuilt apps and skills

    • Skill catalog

      • Japanese translations in the Skill catalog page
      • Skills with Japanese characters are not searchable

    • Skill flow

      • Japanese translations for the Skill flow page

    • Monitoring usage

      • Skill sets created from AI assistant builder
      • Japanese translations in the Monitor skills page

    • Managing team members

      • Japanese translations in the Managing team page

20 June 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 20 June 2024.

Support for Japanese as default language


IBM watsonx Orchestrate now supports setting Japanese as the default language. If you want to change the default language from English to Japanese, contact the IBM Support and open a case. For more information, see Changing the watsonx Orchestrate default language.

Building skills and automations into a unified experience


This release brings the Skill Studio, a unified experience for you to have a centralized place to start building skills and automations. Open the Skill Studio by clicking the menu menu icon and Skill studio.

Using generative AI components and setting default values in workflows


This release brings new features for the creation of workflows in the Automation builder:

  • Use generative AI components as part of your workflow by using the new Generative AI activity.
  • Set default values in input variables so that the defaults are passed into a skill when you call it.

For more information, see Creating workflows.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • ClickSend

    • Skills
      • Copy a contact to another contact list
      • Create a contact in contact list
      • Create a contact list
      • Create an allowed email for SMS communication
      • Get account information
      • Get all contacts by list ID
      • Get all contact lists
      • Get all SMS campaigns
      • Get all voice message history
      • Get contact list by ID
      • Get the list of allowed emails for SMS communication
      • Transfer a contact to the contact list

  • IBM Document processing

    • Skills
      • Classify a document
      • Extract personal identifiable information (PII)
      • Extract key-value pairs (KVPs)
      • Extract text

  • Salesforce Commerce Cloud Digital Data

    • Skills
      • Create an address
      • Create an inventory list
      • Create a product inventory record
      • Create a site coupon
      • Create a site promotion
      • Delete an address
      • Delete an inventory list
      • Delete a product inventory record
      • Delete a site coupon
      • Delete a site promotion
      • Get all addresses
      • Get all inventory lists
      • Get all site coupons
      • Get all site promotions
      • Update an address
      • Update an inventory list
      • Update a product
      • Update a site coupon
      • Update a site promotion

  • Salesloft

    • Skills
      • Cadence membership delete
      • Create a cadence membership
      • Export a cadence
      • Get all actions
      • Get all cadence memberships
      • Get all cadences
      • Get all steps
      • Upsert a person
    • Skill flows
      • Delete a cadence membership

  • Workday HCM

    • Skills
      • Get a job change event
      • Get a job change profile
      • Get a job change start details
      • Get all location categories
      • Get all locations available for job change
      • Get all jobs available for job change
      • Get all reason categories
      • Get all workers from category
      • Get all workers by manager
      • Get all worker categories
      • Get job change location details
      • Get job change reasons
      • Get the position of a job change
      • Initiate a job change event
      • Save the job change event for later
    • Skill flows
      • Create a job change event
      • Get all reasons available for job change
      • Get location details of a job change
      • Get the job profile of a job change
      • Get the start details of job change

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 20 June release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Skills now support OAuth2 with authorizationCode as grant type Builders can now create and import skills that use OAuth 2.0 with authorization code as grant type. For more information, see Configuring the API security scheme. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 20 June release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Skills from some apps were returning “Form is empty” as a response Fixed an issue where skills that get records from apps were returning “Form is empty” as a response. This issue happened when users provided wrong inputs for these skills. User
The accordions in the Task in progress box were remaining expanded Fixed an issue where the accordion items in the Task in progress box were remaining expanded even after users close and open the box again. User
The icon was missing for some apps Fixed an issue where the icon for some applications and skills was missing on the watsonx Orchestrate chat page. User
Builder
No icon for the UiPath skills Fixed an issue where the icon for the UiPath skills wasn’t appearing. User
Builder
Skill output wasn’t accessible by subsequent skills in a skill flow Fixed an issue where the list returned as an output of a skill cannot be properly accessed by subsequent skills in a skill flow. Builder
Error after users delete the source of a mapping in a skill flow Fixed an issue on the Skill flow page where users were getting the “Catalog component error” error after deleting the source of a mapping for a custom output form. Builder
The Action button wasn’t triggering any action Fixed an issue in the Skill flow page where the Action button wasn’t triggering any action after users clicked it. Builder
Tooltip was truncated for the Delete button Fixed an issue in the Next best skills tab where the tooltip of the Delete button tooltip was truncated. Builder
Wrong text for the tooltip of Warning messages Fixed an issue in the Add skills page where the tooltip for Warning messages was showing "Object Object ". Builder
Duplicated entries from the Auto-generate phrases feature Fixed an issue where the Auto-generate phrases was generating duplicated entries for phrases. Builder

Documentation updates

Know the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

10 June 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 10 June 2024.

Debugging skill-based actions that have slot logic flows


Preview how the variables values are getting filled in steps that call skills with input validations added through a slot logic flow.

In the AI assistant builder, you can use the Variable values option in the Preview chat to see if the inputs for a skill-based action with slot filling are getting filled with the expected data.

For more information about how the Debug panel works, see Variable values in Preview.

7 June 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 7 June 2024.

Setting shared credentials to connect to apps across skill sets


As an admin, you can define whether the connection to an app requires personal or shared credentials. With this setting, you can control the way that the members of the tenant connect to the apps per skill sets or AI assistant environment. It gives to members the security to have the connection to the apps made by the admin or the possibility to use their personal credentials.

For more information, see Managing connections.

Accessing logs to debug errors in a tenant


Access and use logs to diagnose exceptions that occur while builders build and run skills. The information is available at tenant level.

For more information, see Enabling external logging.

Gathering information from users with slot logic flows


Use slot logic flows to gather the information that your AI assistant needs to route the conversation with a user to the right path. For each custom skill that you build, you can add a logic flow to define the conditions for the AI assistant to route the conversation to a defined flow with the proper input from users.

For more information, see Adding slot logic flow.

Dynamically displaying input and output fields in the form based on the values of a previous field


Create skills that request different data based on the inputs of their previous fields, so your users can be able to see only the fields that are relevant to them when they are filling complex forms. With this implementation, you can:

  • Create a dynamic form with a dropdown.
  • Create a dynamic form with two parent fields.

For more information, see Showing input fields dynamically.

Mapping the skill's utterance and history for AI assistants


Now you can pass the skill's utterance and session history through the skill request headers. With this implementation, you can map the skill input fields to receive the values of the skill utterance or skill history automatically in an AI assistant.

For more information, see Filling string fields automatically for Assistant skills

New customizations for user interfaces in workflows


This release brings new features for the creation of user interfaces in the Automation builder:

  • You can now customize the layout of your user task input fields into up to four columns. To customize, drag the input fields within the user interface.
  • The table control that shows a list of items can now be used to allow a single item selection or multiple item selections.
  • You can now use the single select control with variables that are not choice lists. The options are obtained from another variable in the workflow.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Amazon SES

    • Skills
      • Create a contact
      • Create an email template
      • Get all configuration sets
      • Get all contact lists
      • Get all email identity by email address
      • Get all email identities
      • Get contact list by names
      • Get email templates
      • Update a contact list
      • Update an email template

  • DnB

    • Skills
      • Get all DUNS numbers

  • Dropbox

    • Skills
      • Create a folder
      • Create a Paper doc
      • Delete a file
      • Get all folder items
      • Get all Paper docs

  • Shopify

    • Skills
      • Create a product
      • Create a customer
      • Create an address
      • Get all addresses
      • Get all customers
      • Get all inventory levels
      • Get all locations
      • Get all products

  • ZoomInfo

    • Skill flows
      • Create a meeting invitee in Webex
      • Create person in Salesloft
      • Create Salesforce account
      • Create Salesloft account

  • watsonx.ai

    • Skills
      • Freshservice ticket sentiment
      • Freshservice ticket summarization
      • GitHub issue sentiment
      • GitHub issue summarization
      • Outlook email summary
      • Sharepoint document summary

Other enhancements and changes

Read about issues that were fixed for the 7 June release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Error to run skill with empty array field Fixed an issue where a skill was not working in the chat if a nonrequired array field was empty. User
watsonx Orchestrate chat takes a long time to return disambiguated responses Fixed an issue where the watsonx Orchestrate chat was taking a long time to return a disambiguated response when it fails to return a calculated value as response. User
Generate an email skill from the watsonx.ai app was failing Fixed an issue where the Generate an email skill from the watsonx.ai app was failing with the following error message:

“The Generated an email skill can't be used right now. Retry your request later.”
User
A wrong value appears as a response in the chat Fixed an issue where the syntax “{.body}” was appearing as a response in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder instead of the literal value that would be the response. Builder
Skill flows with operators were not working in the AI assistant builder Fixed an issue where skill flows with operators such as trim and replace were not working in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder. Builder
Data was being transferred in a different format for arrays Fixed an issue where the mappings of Array data weren’t in the right format in the configuration of next best skills. Builder
Scrolling up and down in the Skill flows app page Fixed an issue where users weren’t able to scroll up or down in the Skill flows app page to see all the skill flows on the screen by using arrow keys. In this case, when the current selection reached to new page by using arrow key, the focus on the selected skill tile was gone out. Now, users can easily browse the skills in all the sections available. Builder
Specific skill flow was returning empty form when started in the AI assistant builder Fixed an issue where a specific skill flow was returning an empty form in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder. This skill flow was composed by the Get all folders skill from the Box app and the List existing jobs skill from the ThisWay Global app. Builder
Skill-based action fails due to a downstream error Fixed an issue where a skill-based action was failing with the following error in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder:

”This action cannot be continued due to a downstream error.”
Builder
Find Candidates for a job and List existing jobs skills from the ThisWay Global app were failing in AI assistant chat Fixed an issue where the Find Candidates for a job and List existing jobs skills from the ThisWay Global app were failing in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder with the 403 status code. Builder
Find Candidates for a job skill from the ThisWay Global app was failing in AI assistant chat Fixed an issue where the Find Candidates for a job skill from the ThisWay Global app was failing in the preview of the chat in the AI assistant builder with the 502 status code. Builder

Documentation updates

Know the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Know issues and limitations

  • The Managing team members section has the following updated note:
    • Deleting the credential type of an app
  • The Building automations section has the following updated notes:
    • Publishing an automation as a skill
    • Inputs of the skill being enhanced are not generated as expected in the slot logic flow

Updated sections

24 May 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 24 May 2024.

Discovering skills from UiPath


Now, you can discover skills from UiPath to use them on watsonx Orchestrate. See how to connect to the UiPath app and use its skills by accessing the UiPath content.

Important: Currently, the call-back URLs are not supported on UiPath. Hence, a "Fire & forget" approach is implemented on watsonx Orchestrate. Upon job completion, watsonx Orchestrate will be unable to retrieve any output parameters resulting from the automation or robots, nor will it be able to retrieve a status back from UiPath. The functionality will be enhanced to make it available as soon as UiPath supports it. Therefore, if you are adding any UiPath skill in a workflow or a skill flow, you must do it last. For any processes that are affected, the results must be manually added on watsonx Orchestrate.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Anaplan

    • Get all import definitions
    • Get all export definitions
    • Get all processes
    • Get the current period
    • Get the current fiscal year
    • Set the current fiscal year

  • Coupa

    • Create an address
    • Create a lookup value
    • Get all the lookup values
    • Get all addresses
    • Update an address
    • Update a lookup value

  • Microsoft OneNote

    • Create page with embedded content
    • Delete a page
    • Get all recent notebooks
    • Get all section groups

  • Microsoft Teams

    • Add a member
    • Create a group
    • Create a team
    • Delete a group
    • Delete an owner
    • Delete a member
    • Get all owners
    • Set an owner
    • Update a group

  • DnB

    • Get a beneficial ownership list
    • Get a beneficial ownership structure
    • Get a company's financials L1
    • Get a company's financials L3
    • Get a company's information L2
    • Get a company's information L3
    • Get a company's information L4
    • Get a control and ownership list
    • Get a control and ownership structure
    • Get a diversity insight L2
    • Get a diversity insight L3
    • Get a payment insight L1
    • Get a payment insight L2
    • Get a third-party risk insight L1
    • Get all ESG insights L3
    • Get all principal contacts L1
    • Get an event filings L1
    • Get an event filings L2
    • Get an event filings L3
    • Get financial strength insight L2
    • Get financial strength insight L3
    • Get hierarchies and connections L1

  • Seismic

    • Get all contents
    • Get all digital sales rooms
    • Get all digital sales room templates
    • Get all external users
    • Get all groups
    • Get all LiveSend link contents
    • Get all LiveSend links
    • Get all page content history
    • Get LiveSend content viewing sessions
    • Get LiveSend page views

  • watsonx.ai

    • Salesloft email summary

  • ZoomInfo

    • Get all board members
    • Get all company rankings
    • Get all company types
    • Get all contact departments
    • Get all continents
    • Get all countries
    • Get all employee count ranges
    • Get all industry codes
    • Get all job functions
    • Get all management levels
    • Get all metro areas
    • Get all NAICS codes
    • Get all revenue ranges
    • Get all SIC codes
    • Get all states
    • Get all sub unit types
    • Get all tech products
    • Get company enrich results
    • Get company search results
    • Get contact enrich results
    • Get contact search results
    • Get job title hierarchy

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 24 May release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Editing input for imported skills Builders can choose the way that users need to provide input to skills. In past releases, builders were unable to switch between the options while editing input response for imported skills. Builders can now switch between Options, Single-line text, and Multi-line text while enhancing a skill. See more information in Configuring the input of a skill. Builder
Using watsonx.ai skills in workflows This release brings an important update for building automations. Now, builders can orchestrate watsonx.ai skills within workflows to drive productivity improvements in the user tasks. For more information about workflows, see Creating workflows. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 24 May release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Duplicated watsonx.ai skills Fixed an issue where the skills of the watsonx.ai app were duplicated in the skill catalog. User
Next button in table pagination Fixed an issue where the Next button in a table was disabled after the user remove the data from the Filter table field. User
IBM RPA skills icons Fixed an issue where the icons of the IBM RPA skills were not being displayed in the watsonx Orchestrate chat page. User
Skill flow with response message in loop Fixed an issue where the user was getting the message No records were found. Try again later. in loop after starting a skill flow. This behavior was noticed in skill flows with the following configured options: Repeat this skill and Hide this form. User
Builder
Mapping input for arrays in skill flow Fixed an issue where the mapped input for arrays in skill flow was applied only to the first row in the skill. User
Builder
Repair information in the AI assistant chat Fixed an issue where the user was not able to repair an information in the AI assistant chat for skills that were connected to a decision. Builder

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Known issues and limitations

  • The Building automations section has the following updated notes:
    • Previewing or calling a workflow as a skill
    • Publishing an automation as a skill

New sections

Updated sections

16 May 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 16 May 2024.

New home page for the AI assistant builder


Get a holistic view of your AI assistant with the new home page. In the home page, you can:

  • Create or view all assistants in your tenant, and switch to a preferred one.
  • Improve your assistant with recommendations.
  • Get an overview of your assistant's structure.

AI assistant builder home page.
Figure. The image shows the Homepage interface in the AI assistant builder.

13 May 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 13 May 2024.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • MailChimp

    • Create a file
    • Get all files

  • monday.com

    • Add users to a workspace
    • Add teams to workspace
    • Create a group
    • Create a workspace
    • Delete a group
    • Delete teams from a workspace
    • Delete users from a workspace
    • Get all teams

  • Trello

    • Create a list
    • Create a team
    • Delete a team

  • Salesforce Commerce Cloud Connector

    • Create a campaign
    • Create a customer
    • Create a product
    • Create a store
    • Delete a campaign
    • Delete a customer
    • Delete a product
    • Delete a store
    • Get all campaigns
    • Get all catalogs
    • Get all customers
    • Get all products
    • Get all sites
    • Get all stores
    • Update a campaign
    • Update a customer
    • Update a store

  • Square

    • Create a customer
    • Create an order
    • Delete a customer
    • Get all customers
    • Get all invoices
    • Get all orders
    • Update a customer
    • Update an order

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 13 May release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Conversational skills Starting from this release, you no longer need to mark skills as conversational on the Enhance this skill page. All skills are conversational by default, which includes skill flows. Builder
Success and action messages in the AI assistant Messages that appeared after running a skill in the AI assistant were removed. This configuration creates a clean user interface for the AI assistant. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 13 May release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Members tab on the Manage team page Fixed an issue where the Members tab on the Manage team page was not loading. Admin
Box view mode on the Skills and apps page Fixed an issue where the builder was able to enhance the skill of other builder through the Box mode view on the Skills and apps page. Builder
Hiding form in AI assistant chat Fixed an issue where the form was appearing in the AI assistant chat even configuring to hide the form from the user in the skill flow. Builder
User redirection to the Skills and apps page Fixed an issue where after importing a skill from a file, builders were redirected to the Apps tab instead of the Skill tab on the Skills and apps page. Builder
Marketo and Coupa skills Fixed an issue where the Marketo and Coupa skills were not working in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User
Retrieve files skill from Box app Fixed an issue where the user was not able to click a few of the checkboxes in the Retrieve files skill. User
Select a record from a skill for the next best skill Fixed an issue where the user was not able to select a record from a skill to get data mapped for the next best skill. User
Data transformation Fixed an issue where the skill was returned the absolute value instead of integers only. User
Webex skill flow Get all snippets of a meeting transcript Fix an issue where the Webex skill flow Get all snippets of a meeting transcript was displaying only 100 records. Now, this skill flow is displaying all available records. User
Decision from automation builder Fixed an issue where the changes applied to a published decision were not reflecting when the user started this automation in the chat. User
Builder
Repeat this skill based on each character Fixed an issue where the Repeat this skill feature was repeating based on each character of the input field on looping with a single record. User
Builder
Repeat this skill and array at root level Fixed an issue where the data mapped was not being displayed when the user started a skill flow. This error was happening in skill flows when the Repeat this skill option was enabled and the input was coming from skill with a response as array at root level. User
Builder
Skill flow in AI assistant web chat Fixed an issue where a skill flow was failing to run when started from an embedded AI assistant web chat. User
Builder
Data mapping in skill flows Fixed an issue where the data that was mapped for a skill flow was not displayed in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User
Builder
Data mapping for arrays Fixed an issue where the input and output mapping in skill flow was not working for arrays. User
Builder
Data mapping for skill flows which component skills are skill flows Fixed an issue where after running a skill flow, its output was getting printed in the chat instead of getting mapped to the second skill. In this case, the skill flow combined two skill flows as component skills, in which the output from the first skill flow was mapped to the second skill flow. User
Builder

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.


09 May 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 09 May 2024.

Configure large language models (LLMs) to create seamless interactions with your AI assistants


The LLMs in AI assistant builder enable your customers to interact with the assistants seamlessly without any custom-built conversational steps. Prepare the large language model by:

  • Selecting a large language model (LLM) for your AI assistant

    Use the llama-3-70b-instruct, llama-3-8b-instruct, granite-13b-instruct-v2, and mixtral-8x7b-instruct-v01 models. For more details about the models and how to select the model, see Selecting a large language model for your assistant.

  • Adding prompt instructions

    Train your LLM in your assistant to guide the conversations with clarity and specificity to achieve the end goal of an action. For more details on how to add the prompt instruction, see Adding prompt instructions.

  • Selecting the answering behavior of your assistant

    Configure your AI assistants to answer in a general-purpose answering, where the LLM gives responses to customer queries based on general topics, or in a content-grounded answering, where the LLM uses content that is preinstalled during the search integration to respond to customer queries.

For more information about answering behaviors, see Selecting the answering behavior of your assistant.

Build AI-guided actions to your AI assistants


Build AI-guided actions to help your assistants to respond to inquiries that are based on the prebuilt knowledge and instructions. With AI-guided actions, you can use large language models (LLM) and context-based content that suits your enterprise ecosystem and requirements.

For instructions on how to build an AI-guided action, see Creating an AI-guided action.


03 May 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 03 May 2024.

Conversational search and the Elasticsearch integration are now generally available


Conversational search, our watsonx.ai powered built-in RAG solution, and the Elasticsearch search integration are now generally available. Note that for conversational search usage, add-on pricing and terms apply. This pricing will take effect June 1, 2024, with free usage being provided for the month of May.

For more information about customizing your assistants with search integration, see Customizing and developing assistants.

For more information about conversational search, see Conversational search.

For more information about the Elasticsearch search integration, see Elasticsearch search integration setup.

29 April 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 29 April 2024.

Creating custom interfaces for user tasks defined in workflows


A new user interface builder is introduced for workflow user tasks, with new table and multi-select controls. New user tasks automatically use this new builder. You can optionally upgrade your existing user tasks to the new builder. For more information, see User tasks.

Using generative AI to generate content for automation with watsonx.ai


This release brings a new component in the automation builder: the Generative AI. To build an automation with the Generative AI component, you might need to analyze or generate specific content based on the context of the automation itself. You can specify what needs to be analyzed and produced by using the prompt editor available in generative AI components.

Generative AI component
Figure 1. Generative AI component opens in the Build tab.

For more information, see Generative AI component.

Adding search integration


Search integration extends the scope of what your assistant can answer. With search, you can set your assistants to access corporate data collections to mine for answers. Your assistants query existing company documents to answer complex inquiries.

AI assistant builder supports search with Elasticsearch integration. For more information, see Customizing and developing assistants.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • MailChimp

    • Add a member to a list
    • Create a campaign folder
    • Create a folder
    • Create an interest category
    • Create a list
    • Delete a campaign folder
    • Delete a folder
    • Delete a list
    • Get all campaign folders
    • Get all folders
    • Get all interest categories
    • Get all lists
    • Get all members

  • Seismic

    • Download a file from workspace
    • Download library content file
    • Get content search results
    • Get content view history
    • Get daily active users
    • Get search clicks
    • Get search history
    • Items list get
    • List all library contents
    • List all teamsites
    • List all users
    • List all workspace contents
    • Get library content file (skill flow)
    • Get list of items in a folder (skill flow)
    • Get workspace content file (skill flow)

  • watsonx.ai

    • Generate an email
    • Generate a summary
    • Salesforce case sentiment analyze
    • Salesforce case summarization
    • Summarize a Salesforce opportunity
    • Summarize ServiceNow incident
    • Summarize the Box content
    • Summarize a Webex meeting transcript
    • Summarize Zendesk ticket
    • Summarize the Box note content (skill flow)
    • Analyze a Salesforce case sentiment (skill flow)
    • Summarize a Salesforce case (skill flow)
    • Send an email with Salesforce opportunity details (skill flow)
    • Summarize Webex meeting transcripts (skill flow)
    • Create a Github issue for a ServiceNow incident (skill flow)
    • Create a Github issue for Zendesk ticket (skill flow)

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 29 April release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Number of skills for next best skills The maximum number of skills added as the best next skills increased. Now, you can add up 10 skills. Builder
Support to display values of the array at root level The implementation of the x-ibm-ui-extension didn't handle skill responses that were arrays at the root level effectively. From this release, x-ibm-ui-extension accepts array at root level. See more information in Mapping items for list of options. Builder
Task assignments Admins can now assign tasks from workflows to other users on watsonx Orchestrate. See more information in Tasks. Admin

Read about issues that were fixed for the 29 April release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Update a party site skill for Oracle E-Business Suite app Fixed an issue where the Update a party site skill was not working for the Oracle E-Business Suite app in the chat. User
Create a lead skill for Insightly app Fixed an issue where the Create a lead skill was not working with optional fields for Insightly app in the chat. User
Pre-filled data of fields under Show all fields Fixed an issue where the pre-filled data of fields under Show all fields were not displaying when the user clicked to retry the skill in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User
Empty filters in skill flow called from AI assistants Fixed an issue where filters weren’t populated with the defined mappings when skill flows were called from AI assistants. User
Builder
Skills that request data were failing in AI assistants Fixed an issue where calling a single skill that request data (GET method) was failing in AI assistants. User
Builder
Connection to the Microsoft Outlook app failing Fixed an issue where users weren’t able to connect the Microsoft Outlook app from the chat after they ran the Send email to candidates with Outlook skill. Builder
Data transformation for the combination of literal text plus variable Fixed an error where the data transformation wasn’t occurring when the mapping of values for a skill’s input combined literal text plus variable. Builder
Apps tab on the Skills and apps page Fixed an issue where all imported and external apps were showing the "Required" status in the Apps tab on the Skills and apps page. Now, it's being shown the correct status: "Not Configured". Builder

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New section

Sections with updates


15 April 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 15 April 2024.

Creating actions from skill flows


You can use skill flows to create skill-based actions for AI assistants. When you call skill flows over the AI assistant chat, all inputs and outputs of them are shown in a form.

Turn skill flows eligible to create actions by:

Important:
  • Skill flows don't have the x-ibm-conversational-skill property or option in the user interface (UI) to set them as conversational. Make sure that the component skills follow the previous criteria to turn skill flows eligible to create actions.
  • Skill flows can't be used to create actions if they use the following features:
    • Skill flows as component skills
    • Looping

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • Coupa

    • Create an exchange rate
    • Get all exchange rates
    • Update a remit-to address
    • Update an exchange rate
  • Greenhouse

    • Add an attachment to a candidate
    • Convert a prospect to a candidate
  • Microsoft Entra ID

    • Add a registered user
    • Add a user to a group
    • Add a registered owner to the device
    • Delete a domain
    • Delete a registered owner
    • Delete a registered user
    • Delete a user
    • Get all registered owners
    • Get all registered users
    • Get a list of the devices
    • Get a list of objects
    • Update a domain
    • Update a user

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 15 April release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Updates to custom skills reflect automatically after users republish them Enhancements to the update experience of custom skills remove the need of removing and re-ading a custom skill when it is updated.

Custom skills refer to imported skills or built from skill flows or automations.

The update of a custom skill happens automatically for all users within a tenant as soon as the skill is republished. After, users can use the custom skill without taking any other action.
User

Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 15 April release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Input fields in editable tables that return a value for unrepresentable data (NaN) Fixed an issue where input fields of type integer left unedited with default value 0 in editable tables was returning a value for unrepresentable data (NaN). User
Values in CSV files were not rendered to the correct data type Fixed an issue where tables were capturing integer values from CSV files and rendering them with this same type even if the Open API had field columns that were String type. User
Conversion of numbers in uploaded CSV files Fixed an issue where, after users upload a CSV file, tables were converting some numbers that follow the XXXX-XXX pattern to another number that follows the XXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXXX pattern. User
Connection failing for the Microsoft Entra ID app Fixed an issue where the connection to the Microsoft Entra ID app was failing. User
Missing list of skill sets on the Home page Fixed an issue where the list to select the Personal or Team skill set wasn’t available for users on the Home page. User
Inconsistency in error message Fixed an issue where the error message for records not found that is shown in the watsonx Orchestrate chat and the Preview chat in the AI assistant builder were not consistent. User
Running skill flows that have attachments Fixed an issue where some skill flows with attachments were working in the watsonx Orchestrate chat but not in the Preview chat of the AI assistant builder. User
Builder
Mapping for skills set to repeat in skill flows Fixed an issue where the mapping was not showing the data when the skill was set to repeat in a skill flow. Builder
Skip limit and pagination for prebuilt skills Fixed an issue where the skip limit and pagination were not working correctly for some prebuilt skills. Builder
Data persistence issue with literal data and variables in next best skills Fixed an issue where the variable mapping in a next best skill was not being persisted when builders combined it with a literal data. Builder
Repeat this skill function for skills added to skill flows Fixed an issue in the Repeat this skill function for skills added to skill flows that receive a list from the previous skill as a data mapping.

In this issue, the repetition was occurring in a selected item that was returned from the previous skill, which was making it to iterate over each character in the mapped data instead of the list.
Builder
Prevent duplicate skills from being imported Fixed an issue where builders were able to import two skills with same App ID and the same path, which results in the newest overwriting the previous skills. Builder
Random skill sets in the Team Skills page Fixed an issue where the Skill sets tab on the Team Skills page was showing a random skill set and changing to another one after admins exit from this page and return to it again. Admin

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Sections updates

1 April 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 1 April 2024.

Making skills as conversational for use in AI assistants

This release brings a new feature that enables the use of skills on AI assistants: making skills conversational! Skills made conversational, also called conversational skills, enable builders to create actions that use skill as their foundation, leveraging the skills behavior on AI assistants' actions for a seamless natural language conversation experience.



Making skills conversational

Builders can make skills conversational in the Enhancing and publishing skills page or by creating and importing an OpenAPI with skills made conversational.

With this release, all prebuilt skills are conversational now. Any new skills builders add are also conversational by default.

Connecting to apps on AI assistants' environments

To be able to use skills on AI assistant actions, admins must connect the app of the skill first. After a builder creates a new AI assistant in AI assistant builder, two new team skill sets are created on watsonx Orchestrate for the two default environments AI assistants have: draft and live environments. Then, admins must connect to apps used by AI assistants in order to make the skills from these apps available on the AI assistant builder catalog.

Creating AI assistants with actions from skills

After admins connect the apps of skills made conversational, builders can create actions from skills to use in AI assistants. Remember: admins must connect the app so that the skills of the app that are conversational become options when builders are creating actions from skills.

Configuring the number of input fields for multi-turn conversations

Admins can specify the maximum number of input fields for a skill to be considered conversational. As a result, skills with more than the specified number of input fields are displayed in the form format.

For more information, see Configuring the number of input fields for multi-turn conversations.

Managing tasks

Enhancements to task management that make your daily work more efficient. Now you can:

  • Customize your task management view to suit your needs. Filter tasks by conditions and display columns based on business data.
  • Receive an email notification when a task is assigned to you.
  • Administrators can update the priority and due date for tasks.

For more information, see Working with tasks and workflows.

Automation builder


Workflow automations

New capabilities enhance how you work with variables and create more powerful logic:

  • Use for-each logic to run a flow of activities in parallel for each element in a list.
  • Use the new conditional inclusive branches to run multiple branches in the flow based on the result of a condition.
  • Dynamically assign a User Task to a specific individual or a list of individuals by using a new User data type. You can use this type of variable to assign a user's task to a single user or multiple users.
  • Use the assignment activity to set variable values, copy data between variables or transfer data from one data structure into another.
  • Use expressions to manipulate data values in data mappings and assignments.

For more information, see Creating workflows.

Managing automations

You can now delete an automation in the Automation Builder. For more information, see How to delete an automation.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills to the skill catalog. See the list of new skills per app:

  • GitLab

    • Delete a branch
    • Delete an issue
    • Delete an issue note
    • Delete a label
    • Delete a merge request
    • Delete a merge request note
  • Greenhouse

    • Add an attachment to an application
  • Insightly

    • Delete a file category
    • Update a lead source
    • Update a lead status
    • Update a file category
    • Update a project category
    • Update an opportunity category
  • monday.com

    • Update a board
    • Delete a board
    • Delete an item
    • Create a subitem
    • Delete a subitem
    • Delete an item update
  • Twilio

    • Make a voice call

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 1 April release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Custom server URL in the OpenAPI specification Now, builders have a support to provide an endpoint server URL of their company while connecting to a skill. In this way, the custom server URL provided by the builder overrides the server URL in the OpenAPI specification. Builder
AI assistant builder rebranding The assistant builder now is named as AI assistant builder. This new name shows the power of the AI in the assistants. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 1 April release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Adding and removing skill error Fixed an issue where the user got an error when adding or removing skills from the catalog. When the skill status was Added, automatically it changed to Add skill + and vice versa. User
Mapping for repeated skills was not working Fixed an issue where the mapping was not being shown when the skill was set to repeat in a skill flow. Builder

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New sections

  • Providing inputs to skills: Content about skill inputs and other specificities to help the user to use skills in the watsonx Orchestrate chat.

Sections updates

  • Known issues and limitations: The Building skills from apps topic adds a known issue about connecting to servers that use self-signed certificates or any certificates that are no signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).

  • Known issues and limitations: The Managing team members topic adds a known issue about connecting apps in the team skill set by using shared credentials.

  • Known issues and limitations: The Monitoring usage topic adds a known issue about monitoring usage data of skills that are used in team skill sets created from environments in the AI assistant builder.

  • Known issues and limitations: The Building AI assistants topic adds a known issue about digressing to default action behaviors when you interact with actions from skills.

  • Overview of AI assistants}}s: All topics were updated with new content to guide builders building AI assistants.

  • Configuring prebuilt app endpoints: Topic was updated with new content to guide builders on how to configure endpoints from prebuilt apps to use their own app server on prebuilt skills.

  • Prebuilt apps and skills: Some topics were updated to add connection details for connecting to apps in the SaaS and on-premises offerings.

28 March 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 28 March 2024.

Deploying IBM watsonx Orchestrate as an on-premises solution in IBM Software Hub

IBM watsonx Orchestrate now includes an on-premises deployment option. With this new offering, organizations can choose to deploy watsonx Orchestrate in their own data center, providing them with full control over the deployment and management of the platform.

By deploying watsonx Orchestrate as an on-premises solution, organizations can maintain strict compliance with internal security policies and regulations while still being able to use the power and flexibility of watsonx Orchestrate.

For more information about the feature parity between the software as a service (SaaS) and the on-premises offerings or how to install this offering, see the following topics:

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

The IBM watsonx Orchestrate documentation pages are labeled with the appropriate tag for information that applies exclusively for the IBM-managed instances that are provisioned as a service on AWS Cloud or for client-managed instances that are provisioned on IBM Software Hub.

New sections


15 March 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 15 March 2024.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills and apps to the skill catalog. See the list of new apps to connect with watsonx Orchestrate:

Also, look at the new skills additions for the other apps:

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 15 March release. The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
New and enhanced approach for the "Server is busy" notification Add a skill right after another one no longer triggers a notification due to the time to process the operation.
Now, you can add as many skills you need to your skill set and run them in the chat. If the skill that you want to run is not ready to do this due to the time to be added, you receive a message in the chat.
User
Adding filters for mappings in the next best skills Add filters for skills that are mapped as the next best skills. When you run the wanted next best skill, it comes with the proper filter. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 15 March release. The following table details the fixes that are delivered in this release and the user role that is affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Selecting rows from a skill in the chat Fixed an issue where all the selected rows in the first skill were not being shown in the second skill in the AI agent chat. User
Adding rows to tables appends extra empty rows Fixed an issue where the Add Row button were appending extra empty rows at the end of tables that are returned as a response from a skill. User
Implicit mapping for next best skill as skill flow Fixed an issue where mappings weren’t working in the next best skill for skill flows. Builder
Clearing default values from next best skills Fixed an issue where the Clear all mappings function weren’t cleaning default values. This bug affected skills added as the next best skill within a skill flow. Builder
Mapping values for the next best skills in skill flows Fixed an issue where the output values from a previous skill in a skill flow were not displaying to map in the next best skills. Builder
Mapping values as filters for the next best skills throws the “Catalog component error" page Fixed an issue where the “Catalog component error" page was displaying after you click to map a value as a filter for a skill as the next best skill. Builder

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

  • Known issues and limitations: This section was updated in the Building automations topic to add a known issue about removing and readding members to the account.
  • Enhancing and publishing skills: This section was improved to add instructions on how to configure the name, description, inputs, outputs, security schemas, phrases, and the next best skills of a skill.

29 February 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 29 February 2024.

Displaying arrays as tables

This release brings an improved handling of arrays to display them as tables. Now, when users run skills that return an array, they see the results in a table.

Uploading files for tables

Users can now upload files to add data in input forms that renders as a table when they are using skills. The accepted formats are XLS and CSV.

Upload file
Figure 1. Upload file area for the skill table in the chat.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills and apps to the skill catalog. See the list of new apps to connect with watsonx Orchestrate:

Also, look at the new skills additions for the other apps:

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 29 February release. The following table details the enhancements delivered in this release and the user role affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Skills table with new columns The Skills table in the Skills and apps page has two new columns: Author and Last edited. Before, these details were in another part, which the builder accessed by clicking the arrow next to the skill name. Now, with these two data in the table, it's possible to apply a correct filtering based on the skill creator. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 29 February release. The following table details the fixes delivered in this release and the user role affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Default values in skill flows Fixed an issue where the default values were not being displayed in the chat when the user started a skill flow. User
ThisWay Global skills Fixed an issue where the dependent skill (Find Candidates for a Job) was not removed after you remove the main skill (List existing jobs) from the skill set. User
Retrying skill with empty input Fixed an issue where the user was not able to retry a skill that was applied with empty input. User
Tables in the watsonx Orchestrate chat Fixed an issue where the second page of a table was showing inconsistent content. User
Adding and removing skills Fixed an issue where the user was not able to add and remove skills from the personal skill set. User
Filter data in retried skills Fixed an issue where the data in the filters were not pre-filled when the user retried the skill. User
Skill behavior in a skill flow Fixed an issue where some skills were not being run in a skill flow, even though these skills were run individually. User
Workflow in skill flow Fixed an issue where a workflow from a skill flow was not working when the user started this skill flow in the chat bar. User
Connecting to the ThisWay Global app in the chat Fixed an issue where the user was getting an error to connect to the ThisWay Global app in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User
Selecting rows from a skill in the chat Fixed an issue where all the selected rows in the first skill were not being shown in the second skill in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. User
Calendar opened automatically Fixed an issue where the calendar opened automatically after the user started a skill. User
End icon in the Create a Flow page Fixed an issue where the End icon was missing in the Create a Flow page after the builder deleted a skill from the skill flow that had a next best skill. Builder
Newly added skills in a skill flow Fixed an issue where the newly added skills in a skill flow were displayed blank and after the End icon. This bug happened with skill flows with next best skills that were edited. Builder
Clear mappings in skill flow Fixed an issue where, when the builder clicks to clear all the mappings in a skill flow, the default values were not removed. Builder
Mapping editor in next best skill Fixed an issue where the mapping editor remained open even after the builder clicked the Add a skill icon and closed the skill catalog. Builder
ID mapping in the Get all boards skill for Monday.com Fixed an issue where the mapping suggestions were not being displayed for ID in the Get all boards skill for the Monday.com app. Builder
Automatic mapping in the next best skill Fixed an issue where the builder was able to see automatic mapping when a skill was added as the next best skill in a flow. This bug happened when the skill was deleted with mapped data, and then the skill was added again. Builder
Default values in the next best skill Fixed an issue where the default value that was added for a next best skill was visible in another next best skill, without anyone having added this value there. Builder
Mapping editor in the next best skill Fixed an issue where the mappings of a next best skill were not visible in the mapping editor after the builder import a skill that was exported from another account. Builder

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

  • The Building OpenAPI specifications for skills section was updated with new content to guide builders to create OpenAPI files on watsonx Orchestrate.
  • The Overview in Getting Started has new information about automations and assistants on watsonx Orchestrate.
  • The Prebuilt apps section has a new structure to better address the connections and skills of the prebuilt apps on watsonx Orchestrate.
  • The Using skills section was improved to fully focus on user experience to use the skills on watsonx Orchestrate.

15 February 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 15 February 2024.

New supported method: PATCH

This release brings support for the PATCH method to develop custom skills through OpenAPI specification. You can see about supported methods in Configuring skills.

Finding skills from new automation apps

Now, you can connect to the following apps to add and use skills on watsonx Orchestrate:

For more information about other automation tools, see Building skills from apps.

Mapping data for next best skill

In this release, builders find a new UI to add the next best skills and a new feature: the ability to map data for these next best skills. Now, when you enhance a skill or skill flow, you can map data from the skill or skill flow into the skills that are added as the next best skills.

Mapping data for next best skill
Figure 2. Page to map the data for next best skill.

For more information, see Adding the next best skills and Data mapping for next best skills.

Also, learn how to configure the OpenAPI specification for mappings in the next best skills by accessing the Mapping values for the next best skills content.

User-friendly format for dates

From this release, the dates are displayed in a more user-friendly manner for uses in the watsonx Orchestrate chat.

Configuring date formats in the OpenAPI file

To display the dates in a more user-friendly manner, builders need to follow the configuration described in the Date section.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills, skill flows, and apps to the catalog. See the list of new apps to connect with watsonx Orchestrate:

Also, look at the new skills and skill flows additions for the other apps:

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements that are related to the 15 February release. The following table details the enhancements delivered in this release and the user role affected by the enhancement.

Enhancements Description Affected role
Performance improvements Performance improvements are applied for the functioning of the skill catalog as the number of skills increases exponentially. User
Default value in filters Builders can set default values for custom filters in input forms when they are mapping skill flows. Builder
Pop-up window with skill file errors When builders are building skills from apps, the skill file errors are now shown in a separate pop-up window. Builder
Experience in building skills from apps The experience to build skills from apps was improved with help texts. These texts guide builders to connect to an automation source, and users to connect to apps to use the skills. Builder
Drop-down list in filters Now, the values in a drop-down list are shown in a sorted order, which makes the user find the correct value quickly. User
JWT access token The JWT access token for watsonx Orchestrate now contains email and realmName properties. Builder
Skill flow behavior Now, when users run skill flows with skills from different apps and that are disconnected, the connection of the all apps must be done first so that then the skills are run. User
IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation (SaaS) responses This release brings an improvement of the exception messages when you are connecting to CP4BA (SaaS) to find skills. Builder
Actions filter in the Assistant builder In this release, builders are able to filter actions with the Error state in the actions table. Builder

Read about issues that were fixed for the 15 February release. The following table details the fixes delivered in this release and the user role affected by the fix.

Bug fixes Description Affected role
Empty field in skills Fixed an issue where the "null" text was displayed in empty fields instead of empty value when skills were running. User
Drop-down list in skills Fixed an issue where a blank option was displayed in the first position of a drop-down list. User
Skill table in the chat bar Fixed an issue where the screen was scrolling randomly when the user clicked the Items per page or the number of pages in the skill table. User
Mandatory skill filters Fixed an issue where the mandatory filters of a skill were not reflecting in the UI. In this way, the user was able to click the Apply button without enter the required filter. User
Skill flow updates not reflecting in UI Fixed an issue where the users noticed an error message in the UI when they added or removed skills from the skill set, even when the corresponding skills were added, or removed correctly on the backend. User
Order of the fields in custom forms Fixed an issue where the order of the fields in custom forms was not consistent when displayed in the Firefox browser. Now, the fields from the input and output custom forms are shown in the Firefox browser according to the order that was defined by the builder. Builder and User
Back button on the Monitor skills page Fixed an issue where the Back button remained visible even after it was removed from the Monitor skills page. Admin
Pagination feature in the Salesforce skills Fixed an issue where the pagination feature was not available for Salesforce skills even after the success of the configuration. User
Skill flow-looping Fixed an issue where the skill flow-looping feature was working on the same input row. Builder
Header value with spaces Fixed an issue where, while a header value was mapped to the next skill, the spaces were converted to %20 in the Body field in the next skill. User
My skill usage UI Fixed an issue where the card in My skill usage was wrong. User
Apps in team skill catalog Fixed an issue where the apps were not being displayed in the team skill catalog. User
Skills with many fields Fixed an issue where, if a skill had many fields, the cursor was shown in the Apply button and not in the first field. User
Adding skills to skill flow Fixed an issue where the skills were disabled to be added to a skill flow. Builder
Enhancing newly skill flow Fixed an issue where the page disappears and gives a blank screen when the builder clicked to enhance a new skill flow. Builder
Mapping the same value in the skill flows Fixed an issue where, in a skill flow, the fields that were mapped with the same value were displayed as empty values when the skill was run in the chat. Builder and User
Custom input form in skill flows Fixed an issue where the custom input form was causing an error when the user tried to start the skill flow. User
Input values in skill flows Fixed an issue where specific inputs from a skill flow were passed incorrectly during the run of this skill flow. User
Number string in the UI Fixed an issue where the number string in a response, such as an ID, was converted to date and time. User

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

19 January 2024

The following sections describe new features, enhancements, and changes that happened on the release of 19 January 2024.

New capabilities for skill flow

This release brings new capabilities for mapping data in skill flows.

Mapping data between arrays

With this new capability, you can map a complex object with nested arrays to another array of objects with the same or different structure. See more information in Mapping of nested array of objects.

Mapping values from multiple sources

You can map values from multiple sources to an input field. With this capability, you can put two output values from different sources in a unique input field. See more information in Mapping values from multiple sources.

Mapping header in skill flows

When you create skill flows, now you can map header parameters from a skill as an output for the next skill. For more information on how to map parameters, see Mapping values to input fields.

More apps and skills

This release adds new skills and apps to the catalog. See the list of new apps to connect with watsonx Orchestrate:

Other enhancements and changes

Read about other enhancements and bug fixes related to the 19 January release.

Enhancements Description
Toggle button to hide input and output forms All the skill forms were customized with a toggle button to hide input and output forms from the user.
Pagination for drop-down lists Now, when the users scroll through the drop-down lists with multiple entries, a pagination to fetch more items is displayed.
Greeting message in chat for team skills The greeting messages in the chat for team skills are now appearing on a pink background.
Bug fixes Description
Text in the watsonx Orchestrate chat Fixed an issue where the text was not wrapped inside the message form in the chat when users were running some skills.
Skill side panel UI Fixed an issue where the incorrect term "chat box" was displayed in the side panel that appears when you click a skill tile. Now, you can see the correct term "chat bar".
Task in progress and Results timestamps Fixed an issue where the timestamps for the Task in progress and Results were not displayed in the chat notification according to the local time.
Company Registration Number (CRN) Fixed an issue where the Company Registration Number (CRN) was not fully visible on the About screen by using the Firefox browser.
Log in to watsonx Orchestrate production environment Fixed an issue where the users were noticed with the message "We couldn't find you. No account is associated with these credentials". Issues related to account deletion on the database are fixed now.
Pop-up window for clearing chat history Fixed an issue where the notification for clearing the chat history was showing the wrong text.
Suggested skills in skill flows Fixed an issue where the list of suggested skills was not updated when the builders sequentially clicked different Add icons Add icon in the skill flow.
Default value for paragraph in custom input form Fixed an issue where the alignment of the paragraph input type was not proper to specify a default value in a custom input form.
Retrying skills in watsonx Orchestrate chat Fixed an issue where the data in drop-down lists and filters were not displaying when the users clicked to retry the skill in the chat.
Input fields from custom input form Fixed an issue where the default value of this input field was displayed in a remaining field after the users deleted an input field from a custom input form.
Footer bar in the Choose skills table (Building skills) Fixed an issue where the footer bar was not showing the next page function in a table to choose skills to be imported.
Dynamic schemas in the Salesforce GET skills Fixed an issue where the Salesforce GET skills were not reflecting the latest changes in the dynamic schemas.
Skill recommendations in skill flows Fixed an issue where the AI-driven multi-skill-orchestration-ai service failed when it was primed with skills in the global catalog.
Candidate sourcing with ThisWay Global Fixed an issue where the users noticed a timeout error when they are running the skills of the Candidate sourcing with ThisWay Global.
Input fields under Input tab for custom skills (Skill flow enhancement) Fixed an issue where the user interface was not showing the input fields under the Input tab when builders were enhancing skill flows.
Date field displayed in the watsonx Orchestrate chat Fixed an issue where the date field, which was set as the default in a custom input form, was not displayed correctly in the custom output response in the watsonx Orchestrate chat. Now, the date is displayed with the MM/DD/YYYY format.
Next best skill in skill flows Fixed an issue where the skills that were defined as next best skills were removed from the skill flow. It occurred when the builders edited a published skill flow and modified a skill in this flow. Now, builders can edit a skill in a published skill flow without lose the next best skills that are defined previously.
Salesforce prebuilt skills in the skill catalog Fixed an issue where the Salesforce skills were not appearing in the skill catalog page after they are added through the Configure prebuilt skills process.
Create a job skill (Candidate sourcing with ThisWay Global) Fixed an issue where the users were getting a false message after they ran the Create a job skill, even though the skill was run, and the job was created successfully.
Remove members UI Fixed some text issues in the side panel and pop-up window notification of the Remove members feature.
Connect to an app in team skill set via watsonx Orchestrate chat Fixed an issue where users and builders were able to connect to an app in the watsonx Orchestrate chat when they were using skills from the team skill set. As only admins can connect to apps for team skill set, now users and builders receive the message "You’re not connected yet, ask your admin to connect the skill".
Mapping custom input fields in custom output forms Fixed an issue where the builders were not able to map the custom output form after they changed the input field type in a custom input form. Now, the Ok button is enabled to map the outputs from the input form.
Label names for input fields (Custom input form) Fixed an issue where the custom input form was accepting input fields with the same label names, but different letter case, even these fields were different data type. Now, the verification is case-insensitive, no longer accepting same label names with different letter case.
Skill ID for ThisWay Global skill flow Fixed an issue where ThisWay Global skill flows had skill ID by starting with the prefix twg_ instead of composite_skill. Now, the skill ID of the ThisWay Global skill flows is generated with the prefix composite_skill as the other skill flows.
Open API spec validation Fixed an issue where the OpenAPI spec validation failed for an internal skill that was created for dynamic schema support.
Update an object skill of IBM Cloud Object Storage app Fixed an issue where the Update an object skill was showing an error message after the users click Retry to run the skill again. Now, when the users click Retry for the Update an object skill, this skill is called again with prefilled data.
Users added to new tenants Fixed an issue where the users that were added to the new tenant didn’t receive the welcome email.
Skill flow composited of skill flows Fixed an issue where a skill flow composited of skill flows was not running correctly, by returning an error message.
Base64 file content as output Fixed an issue where a skill was not running when received a base64 file content as output from previous skill.
Generate mapping suggestion Fixed an issue where the Generate mapping suggestion feature was not working in a skill flow with only two custom input forms.
Skill with nl-output-template as Next Best Action Fixed an issue where a skill with nl-output-template and defined as Next Best Action of a skill flow got failed. Now, when the users select the skill with nl-output-template in the Next Best Action after they run the skill flow, that skill runs correctly.

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

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