Chapter 2. New features

This section highlights new features in Red Hat Decision Manager 7.4.

2.1. Installation

2.1.1. Manifest of dependencies for an unconnected deployment

Red Hat Decision Manager now includes a manifest file with all of the Maven artifact dependencies required for operation, including development of services in Business Central. You can download the artifacts and provide them in a mirror repository in order to use Red Hat Decision Manager without an outgoing connection to the public Internet.

2.2. Business Central

2.2.1. Git branch cloning

Business Central now supports cloning specific branches from remote repositories.

2.2.2. Role-based access control

Business Central now supports role-based access control for branches. Users can restrict access for a target branch to a specified collaborator. For example, if a user has security permission to update a project and has write permission for that branch based on the specified contributor type, the user can create new assets.

2.2.3. Test Scenarios

You can complete the following tasks in the test scenarios designer:

  • Run a single test scenario. You can now run a single test scenario in the test scenarios table.
  • Run all test scenarios at the project level. In the project view, you can now concurrently run all of the available test scenarios defined inside a single project.
  • View coverage reports for DMN models. The test scenarios designer displays the test coverage statistics in the Coverage Report panel on the right side of the test scenarios designer.
  • Export and import test scenario spreadsheet data. You can now export and import test scenario spreadsheet data in CSV format.
  • View failed test results. If a test fails, the test scenarios designer now displays a pop-up window with a detailed error message and actual values of the test results.
  • Test a ruleflow group. You can set a specific ruleflow group or agenda group in the Settings panel on the right side of the designer.

2.2.4. Prometheus metrics monitoring in Red Hat Decision Manager

Decision Server now supports Prometheus metrics monitoring for your business assets in Red Hat Decision Manager. Prometheus is an open-source systems monitoring toolkit that you can use with Red Hat Decision Manager to collect and store metrics related to the execution of business rules, processes, solvers, Decision Model and Notation (DMN) models, and other assets in Red Hat Decision Manager. You can access the stored metrics through a REST API call to the Decision Server, through the Prometheus expression browser, or using a data-graphing tool such as Grafana.

You can configure Prometheus metrics monitoring for an on-premise Decision Server instance, for Decision Server on Spring Boot, or for a Decision Server deployment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

For information about enabling and using Prometheus metrics monitoring with Red Hat Decision Manager, see Managing and monitoring Decision Server.

2.2.5. DMN included models

The Decision Model and Notation (DMN) designer contains a new Included Models tab that you can use to include other DMN models from your project in a specified DMN file. When you include a DMN model within another DMN file, you can reuse the DRD nodes and logic of the included model in that DMN file. This enhancement helps you more efficiently integrate DMN logic between different DMN models in your project.

For more information about DMN support in Red Hat Decision Manager 7.4, see the following resources:

2.3. Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

2.3.1. JMS capabilities for Decision Server

JMS capabilities for Decision Server are now available. With JMS capabilities you can interact with the server through the JMS API using an external AMQ message broker.

2.3.2. Business Central extensions for OpenShift and OpenShift Startup Strategy for Decision Server

All deployments of Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform now use OpenShift Startup Strategy for all Decision Servers by default (the KIE_SERVER_STARTUP_STRATEGY environment variable) and also have the Business Central extension for OpenShift enabled (the KIE_WORKBENCH_CONTROLLER_OPENSHIFT_ENABLED environment variable). These features enable Business Central to discover all Decision Servers in the same name space automatically. They eliminate the need to configure a controller.

2.3.3. Full support for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.x in OpenShift Operator

The OpenShift Operator supplied with Red Hat Decision Manager 7.4 fully supports OpenShift 4.x.

2.3.4. Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform images use Red Hat Entreprise Linux 8 and OpenJDK 11

Red Hat Decision Manager container images for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform now use a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 base layer and OpenJDK 11.

2.4. Red Hat Business Optimizer

2.4.1. Enhancement to Java API

The Red Hat Business Optimizer Java API supports a more fluent form because of new with* methods:

solverFactory.getSolverConfig().withTerminationConfig(
new TerminationConfig().withMinutesSpentLimit(userInput));

2.4.2. Contracts supported in Employee Rostering application

In the Employee Rostering starter application for Red Hat Business Optimizer, you can set the work time limitations stipulated by employee contracts to a day, a week, a month, and a year.