IBM Sterling Order Management System Software

This topic summarizes the changes provided in the initial Sterling Order Management System Software version 10.0, with links to further information.

Adopted Continuous Delivery support lifecycle policy

The product lifecycle policy for IBM® Sterling Order Management System Software has changed from Standard support to Continuous Delivery support. The Continuous Delivery model matches how IBM has been providing updates to Sterling Order Management System Software 10.0 since its release in 2018. Aligning the lifecycle support policy to the Continuous Delivery model provides a more accurate representation of Sterling Order Management System Software product updates and improved clarity for product support.
The new Continuous Delivery version numbering scheme is introduced. The first update to include the numbering is in Q2 2022 which is 10.0.2206.0 where,
- The first two digits remain 10.0.
- The third digit indicates the major quarterly update including the two-digit year followed by the two-digit month of the end of the quarter.
- The fourth digit indicates minor updates and increments sequentially from 0 for each major update.
A new version-less license is included with the Continuous Delivery download in Passport Advantage that removes version numbers from all entitled supporting software. The new Continuous Delivery installer will be available in Passport Advantage by June 30th 2022. This provides seamless access to the latest supporting software supported by Sterling Order Management System Software.

Note:

Continuous Delivery updates will still be made available through Fix Central, the same way that fix packs are published currently.
IBM remains committed to world-class product and customer support. The adoption of the Continuous Delivery support lifecycle policy aligns the support policy to the update process used by Sterling Order Management System Software from 2018.

Upgrade impact: No.

For more information about adopting the Continuous Delivery support policy, see Adopting Continuous Delivery support policy.

Enhanced REST framework

The output of the Sterling Order Management System Software API is generally in the XML format. When the Sterling Order Management System Software API is called through the REST framework, if the input is in the JSON format, the output is converted to JSON. In some such scenarios, it cannot be determined whether a child element in the XML is an array item or a child object and can cause inconsistencies. The REST framework is enhanced so that you can now enforce an XPath in the XML to define whether the child element is an array item or a child object.

For more information, see Specifying output format for JSON.

Upgrade impact: No.

Log4j1 utility is deprecated: The application now uses the log4j2 (2.17.1) utility for logging. In case you still need to use log4j1, see rolling back to log4j1.

Application server to support only TLS 1.2 protocol for secure communication

The application server for Sterling Order Management System Software supports only TLS 1.2 or higher protocol to align with industry best practices for security and data integrity. Customers are expected to ensure that all SSL protocols use TLS1.2 protocol. After the upgrade, any inbound connections to or outbound connections from the Sterling Order Management System Software application server that rely on either TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 protocol will fail. Any external integrations that make use of SSL protocols other than the TLS 1.2 protocol should be reconfigured to use the TLS 1.2 protocol. Learn more...

Note:

Customers are expected to ensure that all SSL protocols use TLS 1.2 protocol. After the upgrade, any inbound or outbound connections from the Sterling Order Management System Software application server that rely on either TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 protocol will fail. Also, any external integrations that make use of SSL protocols other than the TLS 1.2 protocol must be reconfigured to use the TLS 1.2 protocol.
There is no impact to the agent or integration server integrations.
In order to access the Applications Manager, the JRE on the client system must be updated to the latest version and the Use TLS 1.2 flag must be enabled in the Advanced Security Settings using Java Control Panel.

Enable masking of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) data in the log file: Sterling Order Management System Software uses log4j1 layout and filter pattern specifications for writing product log into the files. With this enhancement, the application provides the necessary log4j1 filter patterns that can be used to mask PII data (available in the input and output XMLs) in the log file. Learn more...

Fetch inventory availability from IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility: The getAvailabilityCache API is enhanced to invoke the OMPGetInventoryFromCacheUE user exit. This user exit when implemented fetches inventory availability from IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility. Learn more...

Custom Attribute enhancements

The Custom Attributes functionality is enhanced to fetch the attribute characteristics of an order or order line. The new behavior is template-controlled and the existing templates remain unchanged.

The getOrderDetails and getCompleteOrderDetails APIs are enhanced to include the custom attributes in their output. For more information about these APIs, see the Javadoc.

Advanced Scheduling options to trigger an agent: The Agent Criteria Details interface of the Applications Manager tool is enhanced to provide advanced scheduling options to trigger an agent. For example, you can configure scheduling options to trigger agents at particular time spots of a day, week, or month, and so on. Learn more...

Logging enhancements: The agent or integration server logging specification is corrected to avoid duplicate logging. The getServerList and getServerDetails APIs are enhanced to include trace level information in the output template.

Differential customization of log4j1 configuration file: Differential customization of the log4j1 configuration file is supported now. This enhancement enables seamless upgrade of customizations performed in the previous version to the latest version. The out-of-the-box changes introduced in the latest version automatically works with customizations performed in the previous version. The differential customizations should be added to a new file. The new file should contain only the overrides and custom categories or appender. Learn more...

Sharding, promising server, and end deployment models not supported: Complex configurations such as sharding, promising server, and end deployment models are not compatible with Docker containerization models, and therefore, are not supported as part of the initial 10.0 release. However, if you are considering the implementation of these features as part of 10.0 upgrade, contact IBM Support for a discussion with the core Offering Management team.

UrbanCode Deploy is not bundled with Sterling Order Management System Software: The GUI-based deployment toolkit called IBM UrbanCode Deploy is not shipped in this release. So the automated deployment process for Sterling Order Management System Software using Docker and IBM UrbanCode Deploy cannot be done.