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Rule updates

Rule updates in a secured ruleset

If you need more control over how an application creates and reuses a rule than what is available in App Studio, you can access a rule directly in Dev Studio by opening the rule definition. For example, you can open a flow rule that was automatically created in App Studio in Dev Studio to update the process behavior.

Developers often secure rulesets to prevent unauthorized or unintended changes to rules. Securing a ruleset in Pega Platform helps to maintain the integrity of rules, adds an audit trail, and relies on an explicit action to add and update rules. For example, when editing a rule in a secured ruleset, a developer needs to confirm changes to the rule by documenting the changes to the rule; this creates a history of changes to the ruleset that can be used for auditing. The following image displays the history of an SLA rule.

Rules in secured rulesets have an audit trail

Deleting rules, while possible, may have ramifications on application versions already in production. Only delete rules if they belong to the current version of an application or ruleset, for example, one of the clean-up tasks prior to deployment is to delete unused rules associated with the current release. If a rule provided as part of a previous application version is no longer needed, there are other strategies to preserve the rule for use in previous application versions while preventing the rule use in the current and future versions. For more information, see the Pega Community article Ruleset list usage during rule resolution.

To edit the rules in a secured ruleset, you either check out the rule or perform a private edit.

Check your knowledge with the following interaction.

 Rule check out and check in 

The check-out feature is used to manage changes to rules when multiple developers work on an application. This feature allows a developer to update a rule while preventing updates from other developers. Rule check-out creates a copy of a rule in a ruleset that is visible only to you, called a personal ruleset. The personal ruleset occupies the top spot in the ruleset stack. The rules in your personal ruleset override rules in the rest of the application. This allows you to test your changes to the rule without affecting other developers.

Tip: In the header of the rule form, click Check out to check out the rule.
The personal ruleset is at the top of the ruleset stack

After you update the rule and test the changes, you check in the rule. Checking in the rule updates the application ruleset with a new version of the rule. Unless approval is required, your changes immediately affect application behavior.

Note: Saving a rule automatically checks out the rule.

When updating a rule in App Studio, App Studio automatically manages the check-out/check-in process for you.

Private edit

A private edit provides a nonexclusive check out of a rule; this allows other developers to edit a rule at the same time. Private edits are useful for quick debugging without interrupting development by other team members. This option is not available in App Studio.

It is a best practice to lock older versions of a ruleset to prevent changes. For rules in a locked ruleset, a lock icon is displayed on the rule form. To update a rule in a locked ruleset version, save the rule to an unlocked ruleset version, then check out the rule if necessary.

Tip: In the header of the rule form, click Private edit to perform a private edit.
Private edit option on a rule in a locked ruleset

Check your knowledge with the following interaction.


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