Overview

As part of the Pega Common Application 26.1 / 26.1.1 release, we are updating the data and integration patterns to closely align with Platform and Blueprint driven methodology to improve maintainability, application extensions, and performance.  

Strategic Apps

• Pega Common Horizontal or industry extensions (For e.g. Pega Common for Government) 

• Pega Customer Service (Horizonal) or industry extensions (For e.g. Pega Customer Service for Financial Services) 

• Pega Care Management 

• Pega Government Platform 

• Smart Investigate (SIAA) 

• Smart Disputes (SDAA) 

• Sales Automation 

Please follow the specific update instructions on Pega Documentation for each application. 

Important: 

• No functional impact on existing applications. If you're upgrading from 23.x, 24.x, or 25.x, you can update to 26.1 or 26.1.1 safely — your existing constellation applications will continue to work as expected. 

• Adopt updated data and integration patterns at your own pace. You can keep your current patterns and move to the new 26.1 patterns when it suits your business and release plans. A dedicated utility helps you adopt the new patterns step by step or fall back if needed to make the transition straightforward. 

Key Changes Introduced in 26.1 

Release '26 updates Data Page configuration, modernizes data source connectivity, and removes deprecated rules across Entity and Relationship Data Pages, Advanced Search, Picklist reference data, and the "InvokeExtension" Data Transform. 

• Simplified parameters: For the list data pages, the JSON “searchCriteria" parameter is replaced with individual parameters. “D_Reference_Data_List" no longer includes the “Locale" or “ExtParams" parameters 

• Deprecated rules removed: Rules supporting the earlier connect-rest pattern such as “CDM_Request" and “CDM_Response" etc are removed from the primary rulesets. 

• Data pages sourced locally: Sources of list and savable data pages have been modified from Connect REST to local (RDs/Data transforms/Database saves as applicable). For List data pages, filters are set directly on the Report Definitions, replacing programmatic filters in ”AdvancedSearch" Data Transforms. A new “Pre_Search" Data Transform supports pre-processing. 

• Extension pattern simplified: The “InvokeExtension" Data Transform is deprecated and removed from the primary rulesets. It now follows the standard extension pattern  

What Changed in the 26.1.1 Patch release 

In 26.1.1, versioned application 8.26 has been removed to provide a more consistent, streamlined build experience across all implementations. New implementations starting with 26.1 and later should be built on standard version 8. 

What this means for existing clients with Constellation applications 

• Existing functionality continues to work for existing implementations. 

• You can keep using your current patterns after the update and adopt the new 26.1 data and integration patterns when they align with your business and release plans. 

• Adopting the new patterns over time is recommended to take advantage of future enhancements, Blueprint-driven development, and streamlined implementation. 

• Clients who began new development on version 8.26 can switch back to standard version 8. An update utility helps manage the required ruleset changes, making the transition straightforward. 

Additional Support for new data and integration patterns adoption 

To simplify adoption, Pega provides an "Upgrade to Latest Patterns" Landing Page utility.  This landing page helps you with following - 

• Utility that prepares your application stack for aligning your application with the new data and integration patterns (It also helps undo the stack if you wish to revert to old patterns) 

• Landing page that identifies impacted rules in the implementation app that needs to be updated 

• Deterministic tools for updating those rules in a branch for further review and merge 

• Leverage Infinity Studio AI Assistant for updating the remaining rules leveraging custom skills and prompts 

• A detailed user guide is available in the Update section of the Pega Common Data Model documentation 

• For clients already on 26.1.0, the utility is available through HFIX-D2921. 

Other non-functional impacts 

• Client constellation applications upgrading from a previous version may experience a negative impact on the overall guardrail score due to references to old data and integration patterns (deprecated rules). This can be easily remediated by updating to the latest patterns in 26.1 with the update tooling provided. 

• New implementation apps built may still include older data and integration patterns in their application stack. It’s our recommendation to update the latest patterns for the new apps. 

Recommended Next Steps 

1. Upgrade to Pega Common (or any listed strategic application) 26.1 or 26.1.1 using the standard upgrade process. 

2. Validate existing application functionality following the upgrade. 

3. Plan your migration to the new patterns over time, based on your application roadmap and business priorities. 

4. Use the “Upgrade to Latest Patterns" Landing Page utility to assist with adopting the new patterns where appropriate. For details, see the Update documentation.