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IBM Business Automation Workflow 25.x known limitations

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These limitations are subject to updates between releases.
The following list shows the relevant versions of the product in the Reported version column. Also, check out 
 
 
 

 

LimitationDescription
Reported version

User profile update error when accessing Workplace in Cloud Pak for Business Automation run times.

Symptom:
When you access Workplace through Navigator in Cloud Pak for Business Automation Runtime, a message displays: Error: The user profile could not be updated.

This message also appears when you refresh the browser during the same session.

Cause:

The error occurs because the userLocaleCache object is null when updating user preferences.
 

Resolution: 

  • The error does not affect functional capabilities. No immediate action is required.
  • Continue using Workflow features. The message disappears when you start using other Workflow capabilities in Cloud Pak for Business Automation.
25.0.1.0

Owner column in customised task views does not immediately reflect updated user full names.

Symptom:

In Workplace, updated user full names are not instantly shown in the Owner column of Workplace task views.

Cause:

The Owner column pulls data from the task’s index document, which only refreshes during specific task events.

Resolution:

The name updates appear only when the task is re-indexed. This happens when:

  • A task is assigned or completed.
  • Due date, at-risk date, or priority changes.
  • The process instance changes state (e.g., completed, suspended, resumed).
25.0.1.0

The default one-hour cache refresh interval for getTypeDescendants or getTypeHierarchical 
causes performance issues when handling large data volumes.

Symptom:

Frequent cache refreshes in large datasets can lead to performance degradation, including increased CPU usage, latency, and slower response times.
 

Cause:

The fixed one-hour refresh interval leads to unnecessary processing in large data environments, especially in production where data changes are infrequent.
 

Resolution:

Configure the JVM parameter objecttypehierarchy.cache.interval to control cache refresh intervals:

  • -1: disables refresh
  • > 0: sets refresh interval in seconds (e.g., 28800 = 8 hours)
  • 0 or any negative value except -1: defaults to 1 hour

Recommendation: Use longer intervals in production to minimize unnecessary refreshes and improve performance.

25.0.1.0

Case Configuration Tool GUI Not Displaying Correctly while using Xming on ZOS/AIX operating systems
Symptom:
The GUI for the Case Configuration Tool does not render correctly or is not visible when accessed from ZOS or AIX operating systems using Xming for X11 forwarding on Windows operating system.
 
Cause:
Xming may have compatibility issues or limited support for rendering complex GUI elements from applications running on ZOS or AIX operating system, especially those used by the Business Automation Workflow Case Administration Tool.
 
Resolution:
Use MobaXterm instead of Xming for X11 forwarding on Windows operating system.
25.0.1.0

Delay in loading target object store values in dropdown in CMAC GUI.

Symptom:
When configuring Case Management object stores in the CMAC GUI, the display name for the target object store dropdown takes a few seconds to load all available values.
 
Cause:
The delay occurs because the dropdown retrieves and loads all available target object store values dynamically. The time taken can vary depending on the operating system, environment, and profile size.
 
Resolution:
No immediate fix is required. This is expected behaviour. Users should allow a few seconds for the dropdown to fully load all values.
25.0.1.0
Offline (air-gapped) deployment of Business Automation Workflow on containers is not supported on TanzuResolving the problem: 
Deploy Tanzu in an online environment.		25.0.0.0
If full-text search or federation is enabled, the OpenSearch cluster deployed via Cloud Pak foundational services requires manual configuration when used as a Federated Data Repository.
Symptom: IBM Business Automation Workflow pod logs are flooded with the following error:

CWMFS8014I: Index icp4ba-pfs@<index-id> already exists, creation cancelled

This occurs because automatic index creation is enabled in OpenSearch for indexes related to the Federated Data Repository, which stores documents for tasks, process instances, and case instances.

Cause: By default, OpenSearch allows automatic index creation, controlled by the action.auto_create_index setting (set to true by default). If not disabled, this setting causes Workflow to attempt creating indexes that already exist, resulting in repeated errors.

For more details on index settings in Opensearch, see Index settings.

Resolving the problem:

To prevent or resolve this issue:

  • Disable automatic index creation: in OpenSearch by calling the following API: PUT _cluster/setting 
       {
      "persistent":{
       "action.auto_create_index": false
       }
   } 
For more details on how to retrieve the URL to Opensearch and the related credentials, see Using Opensearch provided by IBM Cloud Pak foundational services.
  • If the issue has already occurred: After disabling automatic index creation, delete the affected index mentioned in the error message using: DELETE /<index_name>

    Example: DELETE /icp4ba-pfs@4a54b8af-a061-40b7-a538-6afb3614962d 

    The IBM Business Automation Workflow instance will automatically recreate the index with the correct mappings.
25.0.0.0

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LimitationDescription
Reported version
Case Enablement on Workplace with Process Federation Server or Elasticsearch (Business Automation Workflow on WebSphere Application Server Traditional and Content Platform Engine or IBM Content Navigator on docker)
Symptom: The old configuration involved Content Platform Engine on Liberty or Docker and Business Automation Workflow on WebSphere Application Server Traditional, which lacked official support for tenants. With Cloud Pak for Business Automation, containerisation of Business Automation Workflow is default and officially supported.
 
Resolving the problem: Unless clients have a specific need preventing migration to Cloud Pak for Business Automation, encourage transitioning to Cloud Pak for Business Automation, it aligns with current standards and support is available.
24.0.0.0
The custom Add Case client-side human service layout runs as a system step and records the administrator as the creator, regardless of the initiating user.
Symptom: This can cause discrepancies in case ownership displayed in search results, though functionality remains unaffected.
 
Resolving the problem: To ensure accurate user-context tracking, it is recommended to use the default or classic page layout unless customization is a priority.
23.0.2 and later
Any activity or process initiated from a case instance created using custom Add Case client-side human service that was created before 22.0.2 is executed only using the unnamed tip and not using the snapshot. 
Symptom: When case instances are created from a particular snapshot, the activities/processes would not be initiated with the snapshot but with the unnamed tip.
 
Resolving the problem: Create a new custom Add Case client-side human service for the case type.
22.0.2 and later
A post-execution script runs twice in a postpone task of a heritage human service
If you set a post-execution script in a postpone task of a heritage human service (deprecated), the script runs twice.
 
The postpone activity, which pauses the process, runs during the postponement of the process and at the resumption of the process. Thus, you might notice that the post-execution script runs once when the process enters the suspended state, and again when the process is resumed. A pre-execution script runs only once, when the process enters the suspended state.
 
Do not rely on the fact that the post-execution script runs twice. It is recommended that you do not build upon this behaviour in your process applications.
22.0.2 and later

 

The content object created for a re-use case property has a broken reference to the associated choice list in IBM Web Process Designer

Symptom:When you add a property to a Case Type in a solution by using the Reuse Property option in Case Builder, and the re-use property is associated to a choice list, a broken reference to the associated choice list might occur. This issue happens if the symbolic name of the reused property exactly matches the display name of the choice list.

Cause:
Web Process Designer creates a content object for the reused property. If the symbolic name of the property matches the display name of the choice list, a naming conflict prevents the creation of the business object for the choice list. As a result, only the content object is created, and the reference to the choice list is broken.

Resolution:
To avoid this issue, use distinct names for the property’s symbolic name and the choice list’s display name.

Alternatively, follow these steps:

  1. Create the property as a reuse property from the solution scope.
  2. Save the solution.
  3. Add the property to the case type.
22.0.1 and later
Various problems might occur when you use business rules in IBM Case Manager See Known problems, solutions, and best practices for business rules for case management in IBM Business Automation Workflow and ICP4BA for details.22.0.1 and later
Datetime property displays empty rows when not set with value in multi-cardinality primitive properties as well as in Case business objects

Symptom: When a primitive Datetime property is not set with one or more values in any of the rows, the property displays empty rows, even though it contains other valid values in some of the row entries. Similarly, when a Case business object contains single and multi cardinality Datetime properties in addition to other property types, if the property is not set with a value it results in empty rows for the entire business object.

Cause: When no value is set, it results in empty rows because of a Null Pointer Exception (NPE) that occurs while trying to process the value. 

Resolving the problem: Select a valid Datetime value for the property and do not leave values blank. 

22.0.1, 22.0.2 and later
 
The BPMConfig -create command might give an error message when creating the deployment environment if the omitPasswordValidation flag is used

Symptom: Using the omitPasswordValidation flag might cause the following error:
 

[1/19/21 5:49:41:742 UTC] 00000001 BPMConfig     E com.ibm.bpm.config.BPMConfig main CWMCB0046E: The 'provisionNode' command failed: Found 2 validation error(s).

com.ibm.bpm.config.util.ConfigException: CWMCB0046E: The 'provisionNode' command failed: Found 2 validation error(s).

Cause: The omitPasswordValidation parameter is not sent to the Dmgr host from the custom node host and causes the validation error. 

Resolving the problem: The problem is fixed in interim fix 001 (24.0.1.0). 

18.0.0.1 
and later

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Document Information

Modified date:
11 December 2025

UID

ibm17142030

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