Universal Controller 8.0.0.0 Release Notes

Universal Controller release 8.0.0.0 contains the following high-level features. For a complete list of all the included features and fixes, please refer to the Universal Controller 8.0.x Maintenance list.

Highlights

Backlog	Title	Description
E-02311	AI E-02315: AI - Service E-02316: AI - Vector Store / RAG E-02318: AI - UC E-02319: AI - MCP E-02324: AI - Other B-23630: AI - Keyring Management	Introducing Robi AI - an intelligent assistant built into Universal Automation Center. Robi AI brings natural language interaction and contextual insights to help users understand, troubleshoot, and optimize workloads. Robi AI is accessible directly within the Controller UI through the Robi AI Assistant chat window and the Analyze Now action. The Assistant provides a conversational interface for asking questions about workflows, tasks, and system behavior. Analyze Now enables deeper inspection of failed task instances and workflows, identifying root causes and suggesting corrective actions. Robi AI is powered by an AI Service that communicates with an AI MCP Server (Model Context Protocol), which exposes Controller operations as tools the AI can invoke. A vector database provides Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for documentation-aware responses. See Getting Started with Robi AI for installation and configuration details.

Architecture

Backlog	Title	Description
B-21523	Split task and task instance action records into separate table hierarchies.	Previously, the Controller stored Actions (e.g. Abort Actions, Email Notifications, etc.) for tasks and task instances in the same table hierarchy. For customers with a large number of Actions, this could cause performance issues. Now, task instance actions are stored in separate, flattened tables, improving query performance and optimizing Data Backup/Purge purge operations. This change is primarily a backend improvement. You will not notice many changes in the UI, except when generating Reports, you will now see separate tables for Task Actions and Task Instance Actions:
B-22658	MS Graph support for email connections - Outbound email (Email task, Email notification, System notification)	Outgoing Email Connections now support the usage of MS Graph API.

Auditing

Backlog	Title	Description
B-03780	Provide capability to view differences between versions	You can now compare the Details of two versions of a record with the new Compare Versions and Compare with Current Version actions. When comparing versions, fields that have changed between versions are highlighted: See Comparing Record Versions for details.

Conversions

Backlog	Title	Description
B-22655*	Allow Date functions to be based on Trigger-specified TZ	Date functions have always been resolved based on the default (server) time zone. You can now opt to use the Task Time Zone Preference when resolving Date functions for a Task Instance. This behavior can be controlled with the new Use Task Time Zone Preference For Date Functions system property.

Dependency Modernization

Backlog	Title	Description
B-23599*	Upgrade Oracle JDBC Driver (21.20.0.0)	The Oracle JDBC driver has been upgraded to version 21.20.0.0.

Security

Backlog	Title	Description
B-22652	Allow for restricting Agent business service registration to the associated OMS business services	A new field, Strict Business Service Membership, has been added to OMS Servers. If enabled, Agents are only allowed to register with an OMS Server if the OMS Server is a member of each Business Service the Agent is a member of.
B-22438	SBOM	A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) in SPDX JSON format is available upon request.

Web Service API

Backlog	Title	Description
B-09127	Web Service API - Reports - Read, and List	New Report APIs have been introduced: Read a Report - Retrieve a report record by title or ID, with visibility filtering (Me, User, Group, Everyone). List Reports - Retrieve multiple report records with wildcard title matching and additional filters (type, table, updated by, updated time). Both APIs return report records in JSON format, including an optional includeFieldLabels parameter to include field label mappings. The existing Run Report API has also been enhanced with support for reportid, username query parameters, and a new User visibility option.
B-18422	Web Service API - z/OS Select Steps for Re-run	New Task Instance APIs have been added to manage job steps for z/OS instances: Read Job Steps of a z/OS Instance Select Job Steps of a z/OS Instance Select To End Job Steps of a z/OS Instance Deselect Job Steps of a z/OS Instance
B-21537	Web Service API - Task / Task Instance / Trigger API Enhancements	Several Web Service APIs have been enhanced: Task Instance List (POST /resources/taskinstance/list) taskId is now accepted as a standalone filter criterion. Task Instance List Advanced (POST /resources/taskinstance/listadv) New limit query parameter to control the maximum number of results. New topLevelWorkflowInstanceId filter criterion. New response fields: summary, createdTime, topLevelWorkflowId, topLevelWorkflowName. Task Instance Read (GET /resources/taskinstance) New currentOutputOnly query parameter to filter output to the current attempt. New response fields: topLevelWorkflowId, workflowId. Task Instance Output (GET /resources/taskinstance/retrieveoutput) New currentOutputOnly query parameter. Task List (POST /resources/task/list) New responseFields property to control which additional fields are included in the response (e.g. templateId, templateName, businessServices, run time fields, runCount, firstRun, lastRun). Trigger List (POST /resources/trigger/list) New description response field. Trigger Read / Trigger List Advanced New taskIds response field providing SysIDs alongside task names. Cross-Cutting: Timestamp Fields Four new read-only audit fields (createdBy, created, updatedBy, updated) are now returned on full-definition read APIs for task instances, tasks, triggers, agent clusters, and scripts.
B-22642	Web Service API - Promotion Schedule - Reschedule	New Promotion Schedule APIs have been introduced: Reschedule - Reschedule an existing scheduled promotion via PUT, with support for overriding the promotion target, credentials, date/time, and notification options. List - List all scheduled promotions via GET, with optional filters for bundle, promotion target, and status. The existing Bundle Promotion - Schedule API response has also been updated to include the schedule details of the promotion.

Workload Analytics / Observability

Backlog	Title	Description
E-02261	Universal Events & Webhooks B-22669: Universal Event - Task Status Change / Task SLA - New Attributes B-23101: Webhook - URL Action - Add support for additional built-in variables and global variables	Universal Event The following attributes have been added to the Task Status Change and Task SLA Universal Events: agent_id agent_name agent_hostname task_time_zone workflow_name top_level_workflow_name Webhook - URL Action The following built-in variables are now available for resolution in Webhook URL Actions: Universal Event Attributes (e.g. ops_trigger_uac_task_status_changed_*) Universal Event variables: ops_trigger_universal_event_business_services ops_trigger_universal_event_name ops_trigger_universal_event_template_id System variables: ops_system_identifier ops_cluster_* Global Variables
B-21676	Virtual Resource variable resolution - Task Instance level	Previously, when viewing Task Instance Virtual Resources, the resolved values of Resource Variables were not shown. You can now see the Last Resolved Resource value of virtual resource variables used for a Task Instance. See Creating Task Virtual Resources for details.
B-23681	Add CPU logging to interval logging	CPU information is now included in the interval logging output. The new CPU line reports JVM and System CPU usage percentages (e.g. CPU Information: JVM: 1.7% | System: 67.8%). This information is also displayed on the Health Check page and in the System log.

Workload Automation

Backlog	Title	Description
E-02307	Approval B-23286: Add an Approved workflow condition criteria for Approval task type B-23288: Add an Approval Required workflow condition criteria for Approval task type B-23287: Add Operational Memo support for Approve and Reject commands	Approved / Approval Required New workflow dependency conditions have been added for Approval Tasks: Approved: Run the successor task if the Approval task goes to the Approved status. Approval Required: Run the successor task if the Approval task goes to the Approval Required status. Operational Memo You can now optionally specify a reason for approving/rejecting an Approval Task by setting the Operational Memo during the approval. This functionality also applies to the Approve/Reject Task Instance APIs. You can set the memo by entering a text/plain request body.
E-02309	IBM i B-23009: Email Notification - Task Instance Output - Convert to PDF B-23943: Make "Attach Job Log" option available for IBM i Task Email Notifications B-23010: IBM i Task - Variable in Jobname (and other) Fields	Email Notification - Task Instance Output - Convert to PDF Task instance output (such as STDOUT, STDERR, and JOBLOG) can now be converted to PDF format when attached to email notifications. This is controlled by a new system property: Attach Task Instance Output As PDF (uc.task_instance.output.attach_as_pdf) - When set to true, task instance output is attached as PDF instead of plain text. Defaults to false. Note: This property applies to all task / output types. Attach Job Log The Attach Job Log option is now available on Email Notification Actions for IBM i Tasks. Since the IBM i JOBLOG is returned automatically during execution, the sub-fields (Start Line, Number of Lines, Scan Text) are not applicable and are hidden for IBM i task types. When used with the Attach Task Instance Output As PDF property (see B-23009), the JOBLOG can also be attached in PDF format. Variable in Jobname (and other) Fields The following IBM i Task fields now support variable resolution: Job Name Job Description Job Queue Job Priority(On JOBQ) Output Queue Output Priority(On OUTQ) Print Device
B-15865	Configurable limit for the number of tasks that can be launched via Run Command On Filtered > Launch	A new system property, Run Command On Filtered Task Launch Limit, has been added. You can now configure a limit for how many tasks can be launched at one time using the Run Command On Filtered > Launch command.
B-22525	Add ability to filter Agent File Monitor tasks by z/OS job name	A new Jobname (z/OS only) field has been added to Agent File Monitor Tasks, next to the File Owner field. This allows filtering monitored files by z/OS batch job name, started task (STC) name, or TSO User ID. Wildcard characters ? and * are supported. The field is uppercase, supports variable resolution, and accepts 1–8 characters starting with an alphabetic or $, #, @ character. The field is also available via the Web Service APIs.
B-22680*	Add configurable Choice Field to any Task Type	In addition to the existing user-defined text fields (Custom Field 1 and Custom Field 2), you can now add a custom choice field to all Task Details forms. You can specify a label for this field, as well as a list of available values, and which task type(s) require this field. See the following system properties for more information: User Defined Task Choice Field 1 Label User Defined Task Choice Field 1 Options User Defined Task Choice Field 1 Required You must define both the Label and Options for the choice field to appear.

* Defect fix or feature available in maintenance for prior release.