What's new in IBM Business Process Manager V8.6.0

Learn about the many new features in IBM® BPM V8.6.0.

IBM BPM

Benefit from a single edition of IBM BPM: This release, IBM Business Process Manager combines IBM BPM Advanced and IBM BPM Standard into a single edition: IBM Business Process Manager Server. IBM BPM Server includes all the same server profiles (IBM Process Center, IBM Process Server, IBM BPM Advanced, IBM BPM Advanced only, IBM BPM Standard, and IBM Process Federation Server) as separately deployable components.

Use Java 8 on WebSphere® Application Server: IBM BPM V8.6.0 now uses the newest Java version supported on WebSphere Application Server V8.5.5.x. IBM BPM now supports Java 8 as the only Java version. If you are upgrading IBM BPM, see Installing IBM Business Process Manager Version 8.6.

Use the latest technology to create content management user interfaces: Create user interfaces that work with documents by using the new content management controls that are based on the BPM UI toolkit. For more information, see Content Management toolkit.

Determine artifact usage across toolkits: You can now view the artifacts and their dependencies that are used across all toolkits in the IBM Process Center repository by choosing the new Global scope option. For more information, see Determining artifact usage.

Build a custom deployment service flow: When you create a process application, a deployment service flow is created that is used when you install a snapshot. You can customize the deployment service flow to handle actions in your target environment, such as creating or updating database tables, updating environment variables, and determining which snapshots are already installed. For more information, see Building custom deployment service flows.

Convert your coach-based UIs to use the state-of-the-art coach views from the BPM UI toolkit: You can now convert the deprecated coach views in your coach-based user interfaces into BPM UI coach views. The conversion ensures that every deprecated coach view has at least one replacement in the BPM UI toolkit. For more information about converting deprecated user interface functions, see Converting deprecated functions. For conversion mapping, see Mapping deprecated functions to BPM UI functions.

Author and edit user attribute definitions in the web Process Designer: You can author and edit user attribute definitions by using the new User Attribute Definition editor. A user attribute definition enables you associate unique capabilities or qualities with one or more users. Using the User Attribute Definition editor, you can edit user attribute definitions that were originally authored in the desktop Process Designer. For more information, see Creating a user attribute definition.

Author and edit exposed process values (EPVs) in the web Process Designer: You can use the new Exposed Process Value (EPV) editor to author and edit EPVs. Using an EPV, you can define a set of variables that you want to expose to specific users. Using the EPV editor, you can edit EPVs that were originally authored in the desktop Process Designer. For more information, see Creating exposed process values (EPVs).

Author and edit governance processes in the web Process Designer: You can now author and edit custom governance processes. These processes are used to control the installation of process applications or to notify users whenever a snapshot is installed or changes status. For more information, see Applying governance to a process application.

Call Advanced Integration Services from a process or service flow in the web Process Designer: Using the web Process Designer, you can now call an Advanced Integration Service from a process or a service flow. This way, you can call services that were developed in IBM Integration Designer. For more information, Invoking an Advanced Integration Service.

Easily identify possible problems by using new metrics with IBM Cloud Product Insights: New metrics are available for failed and terminated process instances and BPEL instances. Using these metrics, you can more easily identify processes that might have problems. For more information, see Getting server usage metrics by using IBM Cloud Product Insights (deprecated).

Integrate with external services by using IBM App Connect: New examples show how you can use IBM App Connect to integrate external services across hybrid cloud environments. This integration with IBM App Connect supports both outbound invocations and event-driven inbound invocations from and to your IBM BPM processes. For more information, see Overview: Integrating external services.

Claim tasks that were implemented by using an external user interface: With recent changes to IBM Process Portal and IBM Heritage Process Portal, you will find working across all task lists in the Work, Team, and Performance, Process Instance dashboards more similar. Specifically, you can now claim tasks that were implemented as an external user interface if the com.ibm.bpm.portal.doNotClaimExternalUI mashup configuration property is set to false, which is the default setting. For more information, see Configuring mashups custom properties for Process Portal.

Experience improved performance in Process Portal when you have access to a large number of saved searches: To improve performance when you have access to a large number of saved searches, the list of saved searches is now displayed only when you click Show more. If the list is very long, only 25 saved searches are displayed at a time; to see the next 25 saved searches, you click Show more again. In addition, the Quick search field filters through visible items only. Administrators can change the default behavior of these configuration properties. For more information, see Configuring mashups custom properties for Process Portal.

Configure custom JDBC driver paths

Custom Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver paths are now supported in the following scenarios:

Performing a typical installation
Using the BPMConfig command to create a deployment environment
Using the IBM BPM Configuration editor and the Deployment Environment wizard

Migrate process instances individually by using the new JavaScript API: A new JavaScript API named TWProcessInstance#migrateWithPolicyTo helps you facilitate the migration of process instances individually rather than in bulk. The new API accepts the same input policy file that is used for bulk instance migration. For more information, see JavaScript API for IBM Process Designer.

Pause and resume Event Manager by using a new REST API: Using the new Event Manager REST API, you can now pause and resume operations for Event Manager. You can use the API in a script to automate software patches during schedule IBM BPM maintenance. For more information, see REST Interface for BPD-related Resources.

Easily identify and respond to potential IBM BPM database performance issues: Large numbers of a particular artifact, such as finished process instances, in the IBM BPM database can cause performance issues. Now you can easily identify problematic artifacts by using the Performance Dashboard in the Process Admin console. You can then view housekeeping tips for the artifacts or generate wsadmin commands to delete them. For more information, see Discovering and managing database performance issues by using the Performance Dashboard.

IBM Process Federation Server

Export saved searches from Process Federation Server: By using the Process Federation Server Saved Search Transfer REST API, you can now export saved searches from the Process Federation Server database in JSON format. The existing REST API to import saved searches from IBM BPM federated systems has been improved and now allows you to import saved search definitions exported from the Process Federation Server database. For more information, see Importing saved searches into Process Federation Server.

Experience improved performance of indexers: You can now use new configuration properties for indexing data that help speed up the indexing process. For more information about the ibmPfs_bpdIndexer element, see The ibmPfs_bpdIndexer element. For information about the ibmPfs_bpelIndexer element, see The ibmPfs_bpelIndexer element.

Specify a duration between requests to federated IBM BPM systems to refresh cached saved search metadata: Using the new bdFieldsCheckInterval optional property in the ibmPfs_restConfig element, you can now specify a duration between requests to federated IBM BPM systems to refresh the cached meta business data fields information. For more information, see The ibmPfs_restConfig element.

Supported configurations

Find out about the supported configurations for IBM BPM:

In addition, a cumulative fix is available for IBM Integration Designer V8.5.7 that includes interim fixes and enables you to use both the IBM BPM V8.6.0 and V8.5.7 servers. For more information and to access this cumulative fix, see JR58314: A CUMULATIVE FIX IS AVAILABLE FOR IBM INTEGRATION DESIGNER V8.5.7.0.