What's New in TIBCO EBX® 6.1

There was previously no way in EBX^® for users to provide feedback on table records (about quality, points for attention, issues, etc), nor to classify records (tags).

The 'Team Up' features aim to improve the collaboration and engagement of the EBX^® users.
It reuses the new (right) side bar concept.
It allows users to interact about data records by commenting, rating and assigning tags to those records.
Some metadata can be reused along with EBX^® searching (e.g Tags) and sorting features (e.g Ratings).

Comments

Data visualization

Previously, there were only three display modes to view records in EBX^® (i.e. simple table views, hierarchies and graphs). Moreover, if customers wanted to leverage images from the record?s data, they needed to develop specific code in order to render images in such views.

Now, there is a new display mode called Tile View:

Tile views display records as cards which are arranged automatically in rows and columns.
It is possible to choose an image for each card to help it to stand out.
Just like the simple table views, it offers the possibility of defining criteria to sort and filter records.
Configurable tiles with many zones to summarize a record to its essential info.
Contextual menu to operate actions and access services on records.

Extended Hierarchies

Group By hierarchies

In previous versions, grouping data having common values was limited to some data types and to a single field on the selected table.
Now, the dimension in a Group By hierarchy can be defined using columns located in the same table. Allowed column data types are foreign keys or the following enumerable types: String, Integer, Enumeration, and Boolean.
A group by hierarchy also provides flexibility when setting the order for dimension levels.
For example, a Product table might include the following columns: Brand, Segment, Type, and Packaging.
Use these columns in any order to show products by: Segment --> Type --> Packaging, or Brand --> Segment --> Type --> Packaging.

Skipped level hierarchies

In previous versions, except for recursive hierarchies, it was not possible to have unbalanced/ragged hierarchies (i.e. hierarchies including members where their parent skips one level).
Now, it is possible to create a skipped-level hierarchy, where nodes not having parents can be attached to grandparents.

In our example, Walmart3 store appears under San Francisco node, even if it has no State field being populated.

Notes:

A ragged hierarchy only supports skipping one level

Timeline

In previous versions, for tables having a date field, it was difficult to display records in a hierarchy whose nodes would be derived version of the date (e.g. Quarter, Month, etc).

Example:

Considering a project table with a deadline(date) field.

We could generate a hierarchy ?Project by Category by Date? but sometimes the requirement is to display not by date but by another time dimension (By year, by Quarter, by Month).

Now, for any date field, it is possible to build a configurable time-based hierarchy dimension (using century, year, quarter, month node types).

Current limitations:

only for date fields
no possibility to aggregate records on a date range (e.g. 1900-1950, 1951-2000, etc)

DMDV add-on

Introducing the Org Chart

A new graph type is now available inside DMDV : the Org Chart which can display any organizational data such as HR, Companies, Legal entities, or any hierarchical data.

All current features of the current graph are also available on the Org chart (Navigation, Export, Zoo-in/Zoom-out,Expand/Collapse nodes).

Configuration is done on the same tables as the current graph.

New parameters have been added dedicated to the org chart.

Fields to be displayed on the nodes are configurable.

New nodes customization out of the box:

Display an image attached to a record on the graph. The image can be managed by the EBX Digital asset manager component
Display several fields values on the nodes

View node details directly from the graph (right click on the node and select open record).

Export PDF, SVG and PNG.

Display selected data - Team Up

360° view of your Team Up data using DMDV.

Team up data available on each records to be displayed :

Comments (light green)
Ratings (blue)
Tags (green)
Overall rating of the record (pink)

Display selected data

The previous limitation has been removed : only nodes coming from the current data space?s children could be hidden.
The new algorithm implemented is now using the data model definition by default. It means that by default, only nodes from dataspaces listed in the definition of the foreign keys and associations are displayed which is the most common use case.
By clicking on the dedicated button users can activate the display of the nodes coming from children dataspaces.

Display data model : Show/Hide links

Ability to hide & show all the links of the graph with one single click using the dedicated display button added on the top banner.

Display data model : Breadcrumb update after save

In EBX^® 6.0.10 we added an evolution on the data model save feature. However the breadcrumb was not updated after saving a graph. This limitation has been resolved in EBX^® 6.1.0.

New global properties

Two new properties are now available in the configuration inside the ?Global Properties and Options? group to limit the number of records to display when expanding nodes:

Expanded nodes limit for display selected data
Expanded nodes limit for display data using configuration

These options helps prevent readability and performance issues by limiting the number of nodes on the graph.

Data Modeling

Access to records metadata

Metadata information usable in queries

Previously, it was cumbersome to manage a record metadata such as its creation date.

Now, some metadata information is available directly in the record structure as the data model now automatically embeds metadata nodes. Hence this information can be accessed using queries (XPath with Java API or REST calls, or SQL).

The available nodes are:

Record creator
Record creation time
Record last updater
Record last update time

Also when activating Team Up, the comments, the ratings and the tags are included in the queryable metadata information.

Entity Name

Simpler access to tables for SQL requests and Data Services operations

Previously, it was only possible to refer to tables by using their paths which could lead to some difficulties (typing errors, long paths, path changes that need to be replicated in multiple locations, ?).

Entity names allow to refer to tables in SQL requests and Data Service operations using unique names instead of their paths.

These names are easily configurable using a mapping table in the Data model configuration.

They can be retrieved using the Java API.

Important notes:

By default, an entity name, based on the last step of the table path, is now automatically set for tables when no name is explicitly defined in the data model.

If duplicated entity names are present, an error is raised during data model compilation time in order to manually define unique entity names.

Search strategies

Generalization of advanced search strategies selection

Previously, Information Search add-on needed to be deployed to select advanced search strategies to be applied on String fields.

Now, these strategies can be selected and configured in the data model.

The available strategies are:

Levenshtein
Soundex
Double Metaphone
NGRAM

Search

Search based on Association

Broaden search to Associations

Previously, search was limited to the selected table content.

Now it is possible to select a table association and search on the records labels of this association.

This feature is available on the UI (Advanced search), in the Java API and through data services (REST calls and SOAP operations).

Search based on Team Up information

Search on tags, comments and ratings

Team Up information is now available as criterion search.

Hence it is easy to retrieve

categorized records (using tags),
records by searching in their comments,
and sets of records based on ratings.

This feature is available on the UI (Advanced search), in the Java API and through data services (REST calls and SOAP operations).

Search based on metadata information

Searchable records metadata information

Previously, it was not possible on the UI to filter records using their metadata information.

Now, as metadata elements are automatically added to records structure, these elements can be used as search criterion.

It now becomes easy to get the list of records created by a specific user or to see the list of records updated this month.

This feature is available on the UI (Quick search and Advanced search), in the Java API and through data services (REST calls and SOAP operations).

Permissions

Permissions screen enhancements

Improved UX and records metadata support

Previously, it was needed to scroll down the list of fields to select the type of permissions to apply for each field, which was not convenient when displaying more than 10 lines.

Now the available types of permissions are located on the top of the fields list.

Record metadata access rights management is available in this screen as well.

Staging

New Staging feature

Out-of-the-box configuration migration

Previously, there was no native feature to migrate configurations/artefacts between EBX^® environments (e.g. from development to testing environment).

Customers were mainly performing manual tasks or relying on specific code to ensure such environment staging (data, models, workflows, import/export configurations, etc..).

Now EBX^® offers a native staging feature.

Migration is configured per each domain managed in EBX^® (e.g. Products, Employees, Third Parties, etc).

Migrate your import/export configurations

Data Exchange add-on (DINT) ready for staging

Elements available in the staging:

Templates
Configuration for external data sources

Migrate your visualization configurations

Visualization add-on (DMDV) ready for staging

Visualization elements available in the staging:

Data models graphs configurations (on dataset and DMA)
Value and relationship graphs configurations
Saved graphs
Custom graphs

Migrate your dashboard configurations

Insight add-on (DPRA) ready for staging

Allow migration of all dashboards.

Workflow

New built-in scripts

Additional scripts to manage data

Previously, custom development had to be integrated within specific script tasks to execute some actions on the data.

Now, a set of new scripts have been added to perform the following actions:

Update a Record string value
Retrieve a Record field value
Update a Dataspace label
Update a Workflow label

New vertical layout

Layout orientation customization

Previously, steps and links needed to be manually moved to display them in columns.

Now, a new option allows to apply a vertical layout to the current diagram.

More flexibility in layout configuration

Arrange the links as you wish

Previously, when having many steps displayed it was not easy to clearly distinguish links which were automatically positioned whenever a step was moved.

Now, movable link connectors can be easily placed anywhere around the steps boxes allowing to completely customize the layout of the steps and links.

Prevent loss of unsaved layout changes

Be warned when unsaved changes are done

Previously, when changes were performed on the layout and the user added a new step or updated an existing one without saving the layout first, then when going back to the diagram, the displayed layout did not reflect the previous unsaved changes.

Now, a pop-up is displayed to warn the user about unsaved changes when he clicks on the link to add a new step or when he clicks on a step to edit its content.

Workflow launcher improvements

A single activation instance for multiple tables

Previously, to enable a workflow launcher on multiple tables, it was necessary to create as many activation instances as target tables.

Now, it is possible to select multiple tables within an activation configuration form.

An additional way to launch a workflow

Previously, workflows could be launched from a tabular view using the Action menu or from a record form.

Now, it is possible to launch a workflow directly from a table row custom toolbar.

Integration and Development APIs

Data services

REST Toolkit APIs

OpenAPI extension of the ?api? category to generate document for REST Toolkit resource.

Built-in RESTful services

New mass update and delete operations based on XPATH and/or Views
Select operations improved to retrieve records metadata with filtering and sorting
URL encoding for REST services improved to comply with RFC-3986 (Percent-Encoding)

Built-in SOAP operations

Select operations improved to retrieve records metadata with filtering
Update operation improved to take all data content returned by the select operation even if fields are ignored

Simulation of data import

Data Exchange (DINT) enables the simulation of CSV/EXCEL import

Allows users to use the current configuration and mapping settings to simulate a data import.

The simulation results can include different levels (error, warning, and information) of non-blocking, blocking submission, blocking operator.

Ability to view errors directly (limited to 100 rows) or to download an error file to analyze errors.

Uses the result information to make any needed changes before performing the actual import.

Is available for import on both table and data set levels.

Data filtering accessible within templates

Data Exchange (DINT) templates allowing data filtering

Previously, the only way to export filtered data was to use table views.

Now, data export templates can be defined embedding custom data filters.

Hence, for example, these filters can be used by custom workflow script tasks using the appropriate Template ID.

Database connection using Windows credentials

Data Exchange (DINT) supports SQL connection to MS SQL Server using Windows authentication

Database can be accessed using Windows authentication by username and password

Java API

New development libraries ebx-api.jar and ebx-resource-api.jar

Compilation and build operations must now use these libraries instead of ebx.jar library whose Java types are now visible. These development libraries ensure the reliability of EBX^® custom modules by guaranteeing exclusive use of public API.

At runtime, they should not be deployed while ebx.jar remains required.

Blocking access to not fully initialized repository

New API to block access attempts to a partially initialized repository until it is able to handle data services (SOAP, REST Built-in, REST Toolkit) and UI.

Information on custom views

New API to get information on views such as:

the recommended view for a given user
the favorite view for a given user
the currently applied view

Matching & Merging enhancements

Matching after Business Object Submission

It?s now possible to execute Business Object (BO) matching once BO is committed

Previously, only Manual matching option was available for BO.

BO Matching trigger can be paused, so that the deduplication is not executed during the BO import.

Once the batch import is finished, newly created BOs can be matched thanks to the new ?After submission? setting.

Evaluate matching service for Business Objects

It?s now possible to execute the Evaluate matching from the EBX tabular view and from Manage group screen of the BO

Previously, this service has been supported only for the table matching.

The Evaluate matching service is reflecting the Matching fields coming from the related objects (for example Phone and Email fields in the below screenshot).

The service is working in a same way as for the table matching : 2 objects should be selected to simulate the output.

Manual Merge of Business Objects

Related tables included in the golden record processing

Previously, it was not possible to create golden records in the related tables.

?Manual Merge? screen allows a Data Steward to review the related tables and to select the values to include into a golden record.

A compact preview screen lists all the changes occurred in different parts of the Business Object.

Manual Merge of BO: New step bar

Easily follow all the sub-steps of the related table manual merging

In previous versions the navigation between related tables steps was not explicit.

A new vertical step bar has been provided to improve the UX of BO manual merge (based on customers feedback).

More space is available to display the data.

Tooltips are available when hovering the step bar.

Table matching: New Manage group screen

Leveraged UX for the Data Stewardship for table matching

Previously, Manage Group screen had limitations related to the screen separation into Match and suspect sections (for example impossible to compare a Match record with a Suspect).

The UI has been reorganized based on customers feedback.

It is possible to perform the actions on Suspect and Match records.

It is possible to customize the attributes order thanks to the new custom view feature.

Enhanced UI of the Evaluate matching screen

More details on the Pre-processing phase output

The pre-processing used to be a black box, but it is no longer the case.

Thanks to the explicit guidance the user can check and adjust the pre-processing parameters (Matching fields, weight, search strategies?).

In case 2 records have been filtered at the pre-processing step, the user can see why it has happened.

Hybrid fuzzy algorithm customization

Users can have several sets of parameters for Hybrid fuzzy algorithm

Before 6.1 version only default values were available, hence the users were not able to adjust parameters to better meet the business requirements.

Now, the configurable parameters (Synonym, Levenstein-1, Levenstein-2) are available at the decision tree node level.

The customized settings are saved and can be reused.

New options for Merged records updates management

More flexibility to manage the merged records update flow

Previously the records were put out of the group when a matching field was updated.

Three options are currently available:

The records can be always kept in the group
The records can be always removed from the group
The updated merged records can be removed or kept in the group based on the field that has been updated

New Java APIs

Additional Java APIs have been provided

API for Evaluate matching service
API to get the list of trusted sources
API to perform multiple merges in one transaction

Digital Asset Management

Folders to organize the assets within the Drive

New way to organize the assets in the Drive

Previously, all the assets were organized at the same level, hence it was not possible to keep the same structure as the external file management systems.

Built-in Drive UI has been improved by allowing users to create folders and to move the assets between folders.

When visualizing the external Drive via EBX UI, the original assets organization can be kept.

New built-in connectors to third party file management systems

Out-of-the-box connectors

Previously, it required a lot of coding to connect to third party file management applications.

Now, two additional built-in connectors to the most popular systems Microsoft SharePoint and Google Drive are available for the selection.

Consequenlty, the user can use EBX^® DAMA Drive view as an interface to view the files in Microsoft SharePoint and Google Drive.

UI enhancements for the EBX^® DAMA Drive view

More specific search capability and improved navigation

Previously, it was not possible to perform advanced search in Drive view.

Currently it becomes possible thanks to the advanced mode.

It is also possible to easier navigate among drives thanks to the new Drive search feature.

Miscellaneous

Supported environments

Browser support	Internet Explorer browser (all versions) is no longer supported.
JVM support	Java Runtime Environment is now JRE 11 or 17
IBM support	WebSphere Application Server 9 is no longer supported. Minimum supported version of WAS Liberty is now 20
Oracle support	Oracle 12c is no longer supported. Minimum supported version of Oracle is now 19c.
PostgreSQL support	PostgreSQL 10 is no longer supported. Minimum supported version of PostgreSQL is now 11.
Microsoft support	SQL Server 2012 SP4 10 is no longer supported. Minimum supported version of SQL Server is now 2014.