What's new in IBM® watsonx Orchestrate®

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

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

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

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.