Release Summary - Jan 12, 2024 (24.01)
The following key features and improvements, along with bug fixes, have been released in Algonomy products in the release version 24.01 during Dec 19, 2023 - Jan 12, 2024.
Enterprise Dashboard
Social Proof - Product Badging
Social Proof just got a major upgrade! Say hello to Product Badging. You can now:
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Craft custom badges: Define badges based on product attributes, like "New Arrival" or "Eco-Friendly," and edit them on the fly. No coding required!
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Target the right audience: Show badges to specific users or on specific pages, ensuring every badge hits the mark.
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Level up your visuals: Choose dynamic badge designs, and fine-tune colors, location, and text for maximum impact.
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Test and optimize: Create multiple badge variations and see which ones drive the best results with A/B testing.
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Preview before you publish: Embed your site URL and see exactly how your badges will look before going live. No more surprises!
Product Badging empowers you to personalize every step of the customer journey, boost engagement, and turn casual browsers into loyal shoppers. It's like having a secret weapon for retail success! Dive in and discover the power of personalized badges today.
Shop the Look - Alternative Overlay Option
We have introduced a valuable enhancement to Omnichannel Personalization with the "Shop the Look - Alternative Overlay Option." Now, you have the flexibility to configure your preferred overlay style – either bounding boxes or icons – with ease. The icon overlay option allows for precise positioning, enhancing the visual appeal of your products. You can also edit icon locations interactively, save coordinates through the API, and enjoy a streamlined merchandising process.
This update ensures that your overlay configuration remains in sync across the platform, and a confirmation dialog prevents accidental loss of edited icon positions.
Jira: ENG-26976
Shop the Look - Exclude a product from being included in Shop the Look
Shop the Look functionality has been enhanced with Exclude a Product feature. Merchandisers can now easily exclude specific products from being included in the Shop the Look feature.
The key features of this enhancement include the ability to exclude products from the Shop the Look preview screen, maintain a clear list of excluded products for review and management, and the option to effortlessly reintroduce any accidentally excluded items. Merchandisers can efficiently manage multiple products at once, preventing inadvertent changes with a smart confirmation dialog when searching for different products without saving preferences.
Furthermore, excluded products are automatically filtered out from search results, streamlining the presentation of relevant options for shoppers. This empowers merchandisers to create a more tailored shopping experience, enhancing user satisfaction.
Jira: ENG-26977
UI Improvements to Rule List pages
We have introduced significant user experience (UX) enhancements to Rule List pages. These enhancements cover various rule types, including Strategy Rules, Advanced Merch Rules, and Dynamic Experiences, with the goal of simplifying your rule management tasks.
In Strategy Rules, we've streamlined the view by removing the Type and Region columns while making the full date visible in the Start and End date columns. We've also introduced Importance and Extra Options columns, displaying text values when enabled, and limited the display of elements in Strategies and Where columns to a maximum of 3, with an indicator for more.
Advanced Merch Rules now feature a cleaner layout with the removal of the Regions column. We've added Importance and Created By columns when available and introduced an Actions column with a hover-triggered hamburger icon that provides creation and last edited details. The Placements column now displays a maximum of 3 placements, with an indicator for additional placements.
Lastly, Configurable Strategies have gained a Created By column (when available) and rules are now sorted alphabetically, while Dynamic Experiences benefit from new Segment, Context, and Priority columns, enhancing rule customization options.
Jira: ENG-26777
Display Linked user ID in the user profile page
With this update, merchandisers now have the capability to access and view all linked shopper IDs while exploring events and purchase histories associated with a particular shopper ID. As shopper IDs are increasingly sourced and consolidated from different systems, either via Rest APIs or User linking files.
Within the user profile UI, a dedicated section labeled "Linked Users" has been added next to the User ID. This section displays linked shopper IDs as clickable links.
Clicking on a linked user will seamlessly transition you to the next user's profile, where users identified as the same individual will be displayed. Here, you can easily return to the original user by clicking on their user ID.
Jira: ENG-25824
Data Engineering
Find Search Terms Report - Attribution
The Find Search Terms report will now attribute actions to the channels and regions associated with search clicks, rather than solely attributing them to the channel and region of the purchase. This change resolves discrepancies that arise when the search view/click channel/region differs from the purchase channel/region.
In cases where there are multiple searches or clicks with various channels and regions before a purchase is made (within a specified look-back period), the attribution will be distributed evenly across the respective channels and regions. This ensures a fair and accurate representation of the contributions of each interaction.
Jira: ENG-27128
Filter Merchandising Report by Page Type & Placements - Create TS Visualizations
Merchandisers can now filter the Product Merchandising Report by page type and placements. This feature enables focused analysis of recommendations and user interactions, allowing for a more granular understanding of user behavior.
We have also introduced ThoughtSpot visualizations that provide a user-friendly interface for exploring data. These visualizations cover all existing dimensions, including new dimensions such as recommendation views and recommendation clicks. You can now view aggregated and disaggregated metrics based on page type and placement.
The table metrics have been enhanced to include the new dimensions, allowing for detailed analysis of data disaggregated by page type and placement.
Jira: ENG-27037
Expand Order Details Report Date Range
Merchandisers can now enter a date range for the Order Details Report that goes back up to 13 months. This extended timeframe allows you to access historical data conveniently, streamlining your reporting process.
To maintain consistency with other reports, default presets have been included, ensuring a seamless user experience when selecting date ranges.
We've optimized data retrieval even for large date ranges, such as 9 months, ensuring that you can swiftly access the data you need without performance issues.
Jira: ENG-26218
Recommend
Allow Click Thru Server Parameter in Recs in Email
In the "recs in email" feature, we have added the capability to set the ‘click thru server’ as a parameter. This parameter allows you to override the default value previously set in Site Configurations. When constructing URLs for recommendations in email, the system will use the value specified in this parameter, ensuring shoppers are directed to the desired country and language.
We have also ensured that any validations previously applied to the Site Configurations setting can now be enforced for the parameter value.
Jira: ENG-25806
Other Feature Enhancements
The following feature enhancements and upgrades have been made in the release version 24.01 during Dec 19, 2023 - Jan 12, 2024.
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Jira # |
Module/Title |
Summary |
General Availability |
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Platform: Feed Processing |
Developed ‘Alert’ for recommendable products falling below threshold for both feed and streaming clients. If the count of recommendable products is if its below 10% of average of the last 3 days, an alert is raised. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Find: LLM prompt template db changescript |
We have implemented a database schema named "llm," which includes the following tables: accounts, prompt_scripts, prompt_templates, prompt_template_properties, prompt_template_versions, and prompt_template_groups. Users can now see all the necessary tables under llm schema. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Find: Implement "delete" action to Fasttrack Assortment |
When sending an assortment fast track JSON in the body with a deleted assortment, the products for this assortment are still returned in the response. The ‘Delete’ functionality has been introduced. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Find: Additional special character support in Offmenu |
We have successfully added support for additional special characters in Offmenu, enhancing the functionality to accommodate special characters that were not previously covered. This improvement extends support to various special characters, prioritizing those with higher occurrences. The necessary code changes have been implemented in the search service, including adjustments to the OffMenu query processor and property definitions. These changes ensure that special characters are handled correctly, and the Offmenu functionality now fully supports all specified special characters. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Find: Make querytagger item model aware |
We have successfully implemented enhancements to make the query tagger item model aware, converting Complementary search JSON to the new format of query understanding. This improvement ensures that the query tagger item model is compatible with the updated format. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Find: Address enrichment attributes in NCA before storing and processing enrichement related data |
We have made the necessary enhancements in NCA (to address and check the "catalogSettings" flag before storing enrichment-related data in the catalog database. Previously, even if this flag was set to false, data related to enrichment was still being stored in the catalog database. With this improvement, the flag is properly evaluated and respected, ensuring that enrichment data is handled according to the specified configuration. For example, when "catalogSettings" specifies that data is not storable in the catalog, this setting is now accurately enforced, preventing unnecessary storage of enrichment data in the catalog database. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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UPS: UPS API writer should fail and restart on any error during processing |
We have improved the UPS API writer to handle errors more effectively. This enhancement serves two key purposes: Alerts for Intervention: If there are recurring errors requiring manual intervention, the automatic restart triggers alerts, prompting timely investigation and resolution. Enhanced Recovery: The service is now better equipped to recover from various failures, such as consumer stalls or initialization errors. This ensures more robust and reliable UPS API request processing. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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UPS: Ability to process offline orders without user ID |
We have introduced the ability to process offline orders without requiring a user ID. The previous system mandated user IDs for all orders, causing challenges when dealing with a large volume of orders that couldn't be linked to logged-in users. With this enhancement, we have developed a new version of the Omni Channel API that can accept offline orders without user IDs. During processing, the system utilizes the order ID to consolidate these records into Avro while ensuring they are not persisted unnecessarily in UPS. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Remove Training Link |
Due to the termination of our contract with Litmos, we have removed the training link from the left-hand navigation for all users. This change ensures that the link is no longer accessible or visible to any users of our system. While we work on finding an alternative training system, we have temporarily hidden the training link to avoid any confusion or inconvenience for our users. We remain committed to providing the best possible experience and resources for our users, and we appreciate your understanding during this transition. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Engage: Enhancements to /content API for selecting by tags |
In this update, we've significantly improved the Content API, enhancing your ability to filter content with precision using tags. With newly introduced parameters for tag inclusions and exclusions, you now have the flexibility to apply advanced logic, including AND and OR operators when selecting multiple tags. Clear and concise syntax guidelines make implementing these operators easier, ensuring a seamless user experience. The changes were made to an internal API that is used by the dashboard. This will enable us to improve the filtering options when working with Engage contents. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Engage: Enhance tagFilter to allow for Advanced Logic |
We have enhanced the tagFilter parameter in the Personalize API. Users can now leverage advanced logic operators such as AND, OR, and NOT to refine their content filtering criteria, providing greater adaptability to match the context of the current page. With this enhancement, users can create complex filtering expressions by combining tags and logical operators. For instance, you can use expressions like (tag1 OR tag2) AND tag3 or tag1 OR (tag2 AND tag3) to precisely define the content you want to retrieve based on your specific requirements. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Engineering: Production testing of streaming recommend discrepancies |
Production testing of streaming recommend discrepancies has been done and observations from testing in production and compared them with the ps_catalog version. Please see Jira ticket for detailed report. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Recommend: Multiple content campaigns in a single email to avoid duplication. |
The engage content email only served recommends corresponding to a single placement. However, some client wanted to embed multiple content campaigns in a single email and avoid duplication. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Science: Added the Image Tagging job to generate color complementary colors to composite outfits |
Optimization manager now generates composite outfits with complementary colors. Composite Outfit uses the color prediction model for complementary colors. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Science: Return the configuration for type of overlay Shop the Look |
Merchandisers can now select the overlay option (boxes or icons) to be used with all of the Shop the Look products to make the experience easier for the shopper. Updated the API to return the configuration for which overlay is being used to the portal. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Science: Exclude a product in Shop the Look |
Merchandisers will now be able to exclude a product from Shop the Look so that it doesn't show as an option to the shopper. The API has been updated to exclude a particular product. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Find: Integrate queryUnderstanding section to rr server |
We have successfully integrated the queryUnderstanding section into RR Server to enhance query tracking and understanding. The provided parameters, including boost and excludeTerms, are now effectively passed to RR Server for improved query analysis. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Streaming-Recommend: Update item store with latest property definition collections on snapshot events |
We've improved the item store to keep property definitions up-to-date. Previously, updates were only triggered when property definitions were created or modified. Now, we've expanded this to cover full catalog repairs and snapshot status updates. |
19-Jan-2024 |
Bug and Support Fixes
The following issues have been fixed in the release version 24.01 during Dec 19, 2023 - Jan 12, 2024.
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Jira# |
Title |
Summary |
General Availability |
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Recommend: Able to view other clients segment definition |
We have resolved an issue where users from one client (Client A or rrportal) were able to access and view the segment definitions of another client (Client B) by manipulating the URL. This behavior posed a significant security risk and was not intended. The issue has been promptly fixed, ensuring the privacy and security of client-specific data, and the functionality now operates as expected. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Recommend: UI Error on User Affinity graphs when no user history or no brand history |
We've resolved an issue related to User Affinity graphs on the Configuration page. Previously, when there was no user history or no brand history available, an error message was displayed. Now, we've enhanced this behavior to ensure a more graceful handling of such situations. Now, with the fix in place, the sorting accurately reflects user affinities for specific attribute values. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Some Compound Strategies show strategies as Deleted in UI |
We've resolved a UI display issue related to Compound Strategies, specifically the "Trending_Not_Yet_Viewed" strategy, where two sub-strategies were incorrectly marked as deleted. This problem arose from compound strategy names containing single quotes. Our fix ensures that the UI now accurately reflects the status of sub-strategies within Compound Strategies. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: UI Return to Segment list page if trying to access a segment from another instance |
We have resolved an issue in the UI that occurred when users attempted to access a segment created on a different site. Similar to the behavior for Advanced Merchandising rules, the UI now correctly redirects users to the Segment list page when they try to load details for a segment from a different site. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Find Test Drive not working for large catalogs |
We have resolved an issue affecting Find Test Drive for large catalogs. To address this, we have added the necessary &facet.enabled=false parameter to the base request, ensuring the correct functionality of Find Test Drive. Additionally, we have implemented the &fl (filter list) parameter, which filters attribute values displayed in the UI to only include relevant data such as product name, price, and image. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Shop the Look - Search only recommendable in the portal to find seed products |
We have resolved an issue in the Shop the Look feature, ensuring that the portal now exclusively searches for products that are marked as recommendable. Algonomy models are created for recommendable products, and this fix aligns the portal's search functionality with those criteria. This enhancement ensures that when searching for seed products with bounding boxes, only recommendable products are considered. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Cannot add one product in an existing restriction rule |
We have resolved an issue where users were unable to add multiple products to an existing restriction rule. Previously, when users added a second product and saved the rule, the first product would be removed, leaving only the second product in the rule. With this fix, users can now add and save multiple products to an existing restriction rule without any products being inadvertently removed. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Recommend Restrictions - Issue with the Filter products from categories the user has already purchased |
We have resolved an issue related to the creation of Conditional Do Not Recommend (DNR) rules when selecting the option "Filter products from categories the user has already purchased." Previously, users encountered an error message when attempting to save such rules. With this fix, users can now successfully create rules using this option without encountering errors. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Bug in selecting product in browse boosting rule |
We have resolved a bug related to selecting products in a browse boosting rule. Previously, when users started typing a product ID in the input field to add a product (e.g., 73136), they received multiple suggestions in the drop-down. However, the first suggestion displayed the search term itself, and if users clicked on it, it was added as "null(73136)." With this fix, we have addressed the issue by changing the label from "null" to "unknown." This modification eliminates the misleading behavior, providing a more accurate representation of product selection. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Social Proof - Message Duration is not retained (Multiple Messages Enabled) |
We have addressed an issue in the Social Proof feature related to retaining message duration when multiple messages are enabled. Previously, users encountered a problem where, if they set a message duration (e.g., 5 minutes) and proceeded to the next step, returning to the previous step would reset the duration to 0 minutes.
With this fix, the issue has been resolved, ensuring that the message duration is retained as expected. Users can now set and keep the desired duration when configuring Social Proof messages with multiple messages enabled. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Data Engineering: Unbale to view statistics data from campaigns |
A client was unbale to view statistical data from campaigns, it seems the backend API for the Campaign selector was returning the campaign in the response but was not visible in the UI. The issue has been resolved now.
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12-Jan-2024 |
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Data Engineering: Unable to swap priorities for created attributes in message type page |
User was unable to swap the positions of the created badges in social proof, such as from position 1 to position 2. The issue has been resolved now the user is able to swap created badges.
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12-Jan-2024 |
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Engage: Product Badging - Change LIST to SINGLE_SELECT_LIST in Badge Template |
As backend was not supporting the type: LIST hence it was needed to replace it with "SINGLE_SELECT_LIST" temporarily to unblock. The issue has been resolved now. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Engage: |
The location selector for item page template was not displaying appropriate variables for a client, the issue has been resolved now. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard>Social Message: Output variable was getting blank automatically |
When the user created Social Proof experience, the output variable defined as part of Display Configuration > Display Settings, was getting blank automatically. After adding a variable when you save and exit the experience and come back immediately to edit It was showing the variable name. However, after some time, it was again going blank. The issue has been resolved now. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard>Engage: Incorrect values shown after setting when doing ‘Minimum Should match percentage’ in Search Test Drive under Search Configuration |
For a client the parameter ‘Minimum should math percentage’ was not matching available under Search Configuration drop-down. This was happening for Search Test Drive. The value that was set up in the backend JSON config was not shown on Search Configuration drop-down. The issue has been resolved now.
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12-Jan-2024 |
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Platform> Feed Processing: Stale(old) enrichment records were not getting deleted |
When a new enrichment file got processed, the data was remained in management enrichment tables. However, if the new file has missing entries for some products which were present in an older file, we needed to remove those entries from the table as they were not getting deleted. The issue has been resolved now. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Science: Catalog Enrichment job failed with errors |
The Catalog Enrichment job failed with errors It failed because of “missing descriptions for site 2090 in HDFS /science/nlp/content_inputs_automated/1701662414376/descriptions/site_id=2090/*.csv" The issue has been resolved now. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Science: Catalog Enrichment with Wrong Tag Values |
Some wrong tags values were generated from the tags.csv file while running ChatGPT Catalog Enrichment for IBT. A code change has fixed the issue. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Streaming Catalog: |
Occasionally, NCA service is getting stuck and was unable to automatically restart itself when Kafka connectivity issues were encountered. The issue has been resolved now. For this resolution, we have introduced a health check rest API in the native consumer module. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Find: Issue with Search Term Reports |
We have addressed an issue with the Search Term Reports, where similar sets of search terms were appearing in both the "All Queries - Table" and "0 Results Queries - Table" tabs. This caused incorrect data representation in the reports.
This issue has been fixed now by modifying ViewEvent definitions to be compatible with older ViewEvent. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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3.2.3.1 Medium Severity Findings (Form Manipulation) |
We have resolved a form manipulation vulnerability in the application that could potentially lead to unauthorized modifications, user impersonation, and other security issues. Form manipulation occurs when the client modifies fields that are expected to be immutable by the server. To address this vulnerability, we have implemented a solution that ensures the server does not trust the data returned by the client for read-only fields. Instead, the application maintains the original values of the 'readonly' fields on the server-side, ensuring data integrity. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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3.2.3.4 Medium Severity Findings (Clickjacking) |
In response to a clickjacking vulnerability, we have implemented a bug fix to prevent potential attacks in the application. Clickjacking is a security issue where an attacker can trick a user into performing actions on the vulnerable application without their knowledge by overlaying it with an attacker-controlled page. To address this, we have configured the application to set HTTP response headers that prevent framing by external sources (X-Frame-Options: deny). |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard: Handle homepage gracefully when Thoughtspot is down |
We have resolved an issue where the portal's homepage was not handling ThoughtSpot downtime gracefully. Now, when ThoughtSpot is down, the portal will display an appropriate error message on the homepage, ensuring a better user experience by informing users about the issue and providing them with the necessary information. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Data Engineering, Enterprise Dashboard: Data is not displayed for the reports. Showing as Thoughtspot Login page |
We have addressed an issue where data was not being displayed for reports, and users were instead encountering the ThoughtSpot login page. Additionally, the homepage was showing an error instead of the expected reports. The problem has been resolved by updating the CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) policy in ThoughtSpot to allow the portal. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Enterprise Dashboard, UPS: Negative Quantities in UPS |
We have resolved an issue within the UPS (Unified Personalization Service) where certain orders were displaying negative quantity values. The problem originated from a specific API call that was incorrectly logging a quantity of 1 instead of -1. This discrepancy resulted in orders showing negative quantities in the UPS. To address this issue, we implemented a solution that ensures each cart view and order now uses a clone of the product details. This approach isolates the product details for each instance, preventing unintended negative quantities from appearing in the UPS. As a result, orders in the UPS will now display the correct quantity values without any negative values. |
12-Jan-2024 |
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Engage: ‘Maximum amount of total views’ functionality didn’t work as expected |
Maximum amount of total views functionality was not working as expected the issue has been fixed now. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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RegionFilter is extremely inefficient if region_filter_exception is enabled |
The site config region_filter_exception caused the region filter to allow the product's recommendable flag to function instead of a region's inStock in the region filter, in case where a product has no regions.
However, it also checked the condition "product has regional data" which is an expensive way – by loading all of the region data, deserializing it, reading it from disk and so on. The issue has been fixed now. |
19-Jan-24 |
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Streaming-Recommend: Streaming item consumer is not processing Snapshot DELETE and ARCHIVED events sometimes |
We addressed an issue where the streaming item consumer was not consistently processing Snapshot DELETE and ARCHIVED events. The problem was related to the ItemStoreSnapshotsQualifier, which sometimes filtered out events for deleted snapshots. |
19-Jan-2024 |
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Recommend: Review User Affinity Sorting |
We have resolved an issue related to User Affinity Sorting in Configurable Strategies. Previously, the sorting behavior was inconsistent, showing unexpected results in certain scenarios. Now, with the fix in place, the sorting accurately reflects user affinities for specific attribute values. |
19-Jan-2024 |