Jama Connect® 8.62 Self-Hosted - NOT Supported

Jeremy
Jeremy
  • Updated

Release Date US: 2021/06/04
Release Date AU/EU: 2021/06/04


Coming Soon — Internet Explorer Support Ending Fall 2021

Microsoft is ending support for Internet Explorer and Edge. Microsoft Edge Chromium will be the supported browser going forward.

We recommend that you access Jama Connect from these browsers:

  • Chrome

  • Firefox

  • Safari

  • Edge Chromium

If you have questions or comments, submit a ticket at support.jamasoftware.com

 

Review Center and Workflow Enhancements

Optional Versioning 

This release introduces an option that controls the items you version during a workflow transition. Previously, all transitions created a new version of the item, but now an organization administrator can configure an item type so the version doesn't change. The audit history is preserved because the transition is recorded in the version history and that activity is added to the stream.

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This update also addresses compliance concerns because an item can be marked "Approved" or "Complete" and locked without changing the version that was reviewed. By default, items are versioned during a workflow transition.

 

Approval and Peer Review Templates

The Review Center now includes templates for Approval and Peer reviews. By adding templates, we streamline the review configuration workflow to ensure reviews are compliant.

 

Approval Workflow

Transitioning a workflow depends on the moderator's decision after receiving participant's feedback. After receiving participant feedback, the moderator finalizes the review, which triggers the workflow transition for all items that have workflow enabled.

The Add review status workflow option has been replaced with Approval and Peer review templates

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To use this feature, organization administrators must enable an Approval review in Review Center settings. 

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Once enabled, select Organization > Workflow, then select the items you want to transition when finalizing an Approval review.

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Redesign of Reviews and Stream Commenting 

This release introduces a new interface design and layout when you make comments in Reviews and the Stream.

Updates to Stream

  • New user avatar design in all commenting views

  • Better user experience for resolving comments with open actions

  • Introduces a new "agree" interaction, so you can agree or like Stream comments by selecting the thumbs up icon. 

  • Displays a new interface layout and updated color scheme. 

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Updates to Reviews

  • Streamlined process for moderators to resolve comment threads using a consistent resolve button and interaction. 

  • Changes to the "agree" or like interaction allow users to re-select the thumbs icon if they no longer agree with a comment. 

  • Displays a new interface design and layout. 

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Administration Updates

New Administration Roles

We're excited to announce the release of the new Jama Connect administration roles: user admin, process admin, and add project. The new roles help alleviate the challenges that sometimes occur for organization admins working in an enterprise environment. Managing users and configurations can be an overwhelming task, potentially introducing risk if the organization admin role is assigned to a lot of users.
 

User Administrator

The user administrator role manages licenses, users, and groups. This role can be assigned to an individual or a group. The user admin must also be a project admin to set permission for users and groups. 

Process Administrator

The process administrator role focuses on configuring content and connections in Jama Connect. The process admin must also be a project admin or user admin to access projects, users, groups, and permissions.

Add Project

The add project role is a new role that allows lets users add projects outside of the organization admin role. Users/groups will also have the ability to duplicate projects where they are a project admin.

For more information, see New Administration Roles and User Visibility Controls.

 

User and Group Visibility Updates

Improved Filtering for Users and Groups

Users and groups associated with items, comments, and notifications are now only visible to those with project access. Controlled by permissions, users no longer receive assignments or notifications for content they can't access. 

New Settings

Allow Project Administrators Access to All Users and Organization Groups

In project groups or permissions, organization admins can give project admins the ability to add users outside of their project. You can find the new setting here: Admin > Organization > Details.


Enable New Comments in Global Stream

Creating new comments from the global Stream page (accessed from the Jama Connect header) is disabled by default. Most organizations prefer to limit access to all users and groups in Jama Connect. Users can continue to reply to comments in the global Stream, but @mention is now filtered by the project associated with the original comment. You can find the new setting here: Admin > Organization > Stream.


REST API — New Permissions for GET/users and GET/usergroups

To reduce the exposure of users and user groups, additional permissions are applied to limit these calls to organization and user admins. A new project ID parameter now provides access for project admins.

  • Access to GET/users and GET/usergroups will require organization or user admin roles. The user admin role is new in Jama Connect 8.61. Project admins can continue to use these endpoints, but will be required to provide a project ID where they are a project admin.

  • Access to GET/users/{userId} and GET/usergroups/{id} will now perform a permissions check, ensuring the requesting user has access to the same project as the requested user or user group.

 

Admin Activity History Improvements

Archiving Pick List Values

Managing historical data has just gotten easier. Individual pick list options can now be archived, preserving previously selected entries. However, archived entries are no longer a valid selection for items going forward.

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These entries can be filtered. We recommend adding a character or word to the beginning of the file name to indicate it has been archived. For example, *Information. 

 

Ability to Track Project Management for Organization Administrators

Organization administrators can now see basic create and delete activities at the project level, such as adding a project or project folder; deleting a project or project folder, and archiving and unarchiving a project. 

Additional Audit Activities for Organization Administrators

Organization administrators can now view audit activities for these areas: 

  • Review Center  

  • License Update activity from Root Admin panel 

  • Reporting activities from the Root Admin panel 

  • Risk Management  

  • System Health Report  

  • Editor Template activities 

  • Stream  

  • Plug-ins

  • Org Details page, Java Date Time formatting 

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New Audit Activities Available at Project Level

 The Project admin panel now includes added administrative activities filtered by project.

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The Project admin activity stream includes actions from these tabs: 

Tab Available Information
Settings Changes in version items; maximum number of items displayed in the Explorer Tree; where to save test run defects. 
Item Types Item types that transition from visible to hidden and from hidden to visible. 
Release List What was added, edited, deleted, archived, and unarchived in a project release. 
Project Permissions Modifications to inherited permissions; added and removed permissions at the project level. 
Workflow Overriden items and who overrode them; removed and configured workflows per item type in a project. 
Attachments Attachments added from the Attachments tab of the Project admin panel. 
Tag Management What was added, deleted, and edited to a tag in a project. 
Index When a project level index was initiated. 
Clean Up When project cleanup and project baselines cleanup are initiated. 

 

Introducing Multi-Mode Authentication 

The combination of Basic and SAML creates multi-mode authentication, which gives you the ability to separate your company's users from your partners, vendors, and contractors. Multi-mode authentication provides an extra layer of protection for those users so they can be part of the requirement, approval, and tracking process in Jama Connect.

You must configure multi-mode authentication before you can begin using it. Work with your system admin to Configure Multi-Mode Authentication

 

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Introducing Support for SAML and OAuth

You can now use SAML authentication for users while also using OAuth in the Jama Connect REST API for scripts and integrations. 

 

SAML and Multi-Mode Authentication: New Option That Controls User Provisioning

You can now control the auto-provisioning of new SAML users in both single SAML and multi-mode. If your users are set up as a user in SAML but not yet added to your user table, this option allows you to control whether users can auto-provision in Jama Connect.

  • New option, Disable the auto-generation of new SAML users, was added to the root admin authentication properties. 

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  • When this checkbox is selected and properties are saved, your SAML users (SAML and multi-mode) can't sign in to Jama Connect until you add them to the user table.
    • A message tells them to finish the authentication process with their administrator. 
  • This option is selected by default after you upgrade to 8.62.

  • De-selecting this would option would allow new SAML users to appear in your instance before they are actually set up (with the correct Permissions, Licenses, User Groups) in the Jama User Table.


Baseline Updates

Baseline View Improvements

You can now resize the slide-out preview panel in the baseline List View and Reading View. 

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A link is now added in the baseline header when a baseline is created from a review or a new revision of a review. Use the link to navigate to a specific review quickly.  

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  • A long baseline name is now shortened with an ellipsis (...). 

  • If you hover over an icon in the baseline tree, you see hover text describing the contents of the item. 

  • If you hover over a name in the baseline tree, you see hover text describing the name of the folder, source, or baseline.

 

Baseline REST API Updates

  • The baseline model now includes the baseline key, source key, source ID, and source name, which can be accessed from the Jama Connect Public REST API. 

  • We continue to add more baseline options from the Jama Connect Public REST API.
    • For example, from the new endpoint in the Labs API, you can now create a baseline from an existing source. 
  • You can now edit the name and description of a baseline from the Jama Connect Public REST API.

 

Date and Time Updates

Configurable Date Formats 

Organization administrators can now configure the date format from the Organization Details page. The default setting is month/day/year, but can be changed to year/month/day or day/month/year as needed.

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Tooltip for UTC Time

You can now hover over date and time fields to view the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The offset time value depends on your database time setting.

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Date and Time Updates to REST

A new header option "x-jama-date-fields-with-time" has been introduced to the REST API for serializing dates in the fields as ISO-8601. This will help eliminate confusion around dates that may be affected by UTC.

When the header is not used or set to false the system will continue include the field values as dates. When the value is set to true, the values will be a complete datetime.

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Updates From Customer Feedback

  • You can now send items for review directly from List View. In List View, select the items you want reviewed, then select Actions > Send for review.

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  • You can now see attachment and link details in List View.
    • When configured to appear in List View, the # of Links and # of Attachments columns display a link with the total count. Select the number to open a panel with more details.  

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  • You can now include the tags column in exports from the Trace View. 
  • Organization and Project administrators will no longer be able to Override or Modify users or groups assigned the Organization Admin role.
    • The Organization Admin is a role that has access to all projects and items and the appearance of overriding access has resulted in confusion and difficultly in navigating permission settings.

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  • When opening an item, the Explorer Tree now loads the item's location (same functionality as Actions > Find me).

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  • In Single Item View, organization administrators can now unlock an item from its Actions menu. Previously, this button worked only for the person who originally locked the item.

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  • The width of the Test Center's Cycle menu now allows for longer titles without having to resize the menu.

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  • A PDF-compatible version of the Baseline Comparison report is now available.

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  • You can now generate a Trace View from the Product Progress roll-up field link for a single item.
     
    1. Select the roll-up field link. 

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 2. Select Trace View.

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  • You can now edit tags inline in List View. 

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  • A new reports history page lists previously generated reports with the option to download them. Available from Reports in the Jama Connect header, reports now run in the background so your screen isn't blocked when you run them.


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  • You can now edit a Test Cycle's name, description, and date fields without updating its content.

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  • In List View, project admins can now batch unlock items manually. In a previous release, only organization admins could do this.

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  • When you click x to close the Test Execution window, the test run is no longer locked. 

  • The HTML clean-up process no longer runs when you generate a non-PDF report, allowing for more control over the output.

  • We have replaced the icon and label used for filters and reports. Instead of the star icon you now see the bookmark icon and instead of the "Favorites" label you now see "Bookmarks."

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Additional Updates and Usability Improvements

  • Resize the columns in the test step table when executing a test. 

  • Export the number of links, attachments, and item path in compatible reports. 

  • You can now see attachments on items in the Review Center.

  • Test runs are now automatically unlocked when a user's session times out.

  • The REST API now supports PUT and PATCH for custom fields in a test run. 

  • New pop-up notification now informs users when download is complete and available on the Reports History page. 

  • You can now use custom floating decimal fields to accurately capture values and avoid converting values to another data type. The float field follows IEEE 754. These fields can be positive or negative.

  • When you apply an activity filter to a review, then select an action (approve or reject, review, follow or unfollow), the page now reloads and takes you back to your previous location in the review. 

  • When viewing all your reviews in the table view and opening a review in a new browser tab, you no longer see an error. 

Velocity Logging Enhancement

Debugging custom Velocity reports can be difficult and time consuming. To help alleviate these challenges, this release adds logging information to contour.log from the Velocity LogTool. 

Sample:

## sets a variable x to some value and then logs a message that includes the variable value in the output

#set($x = 8675309)

$logTool.info("What is the value? ${x}")

Updates to CKEditor

Jama Connect now uses CKEditor 4.15.0 for Rich Text editing. This upgrade includes several resolved issues, including SOS-DEF-4689 (see details below).  

 

Jama Connect User Guide — Installation and Upgrade Improvements

For this release, we made significant changes to the instructions for installing and upgrading Jama Connect. We revised and restructured the existing content for a more streamlined user experience, and for consistency, accuracy, and findability. Now you can find all the information you need for a successful installation or upgrade in one place: Installing Jama Connect

The topics now reflect the main phases of installation and upgrade for both internet-connected and Airgap environments:

  • Installation workflow — Prepare, install, and set up.

  • Upgrade workflow — Prepare and upgrade.

Notes for Self-Hosted Administrators

Container Artifacts

  • Replicated release number: 2.51.0
  • Java version (JDK_UPDATE): 11.0.9.1
  • NGINX_VERSION: 1.18.0-2.e17.ngx
  • TOMCAT_VERSION: 8.5.63

We regression tested using Replicated 2.51 and recommend the use of the following script for the initial installation of Jama Connect. This will install Replicated 2.51: 

curl -sSL "https://get.replicated.com/docker?replicated_tag=2.51.0&replicated_ui_tag=2.51.0&replicated_operator_tag=2.51.0" | sudo bash -s no-auto


Airgap Environments

Airgap customers can download the required version of Replicated via https://s3.amazonaws.com/replicated-airgap-work/stable/replicated-2.51.0%2B2.51.0%2B2.51.0.tar.gz before installing the 8.62 Airgap file available in your portal. 

New Database Schemas Required For This Release

Before you can install or upgrade to the Jama Connect 8.62 release, we recommend that you first create two new database schemas to support the new SAML and OAuth authentication options. 

For the upgrade to complete, organizations using Microsoft SQL Server must enter database users in Replicated. Without these entries, the installation or upgrade will fail.

Organizations that do not create the new schema will successfully install/upgrade; however, the system will continue to attempt to connect to the databases and produce log failures. After you create the database schemas, you must restart Jama Connect.

To create the database schemas, use the script for your database and your upgrade or installation scenario. 


For an Upgrade Installation with Microsoft SQL Server, Use This Script:  

USE master;

CREATE LOGIN samluser with password = 'password';

CREATE LOGIN oauthuser with password = 'password';

GO

 

USE jama;

EXEC ('CREATE SCHEMA oauth');

EXEC ('CREATE SCHEMA saml');

GO

 

USE jama;

CREATE USER samluser for LOGIN samluser with DEFAULT_SCHEMA=saml;

CREATE USER oauthuser for LOGIN oauthuser with DEFAULT_SCHEMA=oauth;

GO

 

EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', samluser;

EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', oauthuser;

GO

 

For a New Installation with Microsoft SQL Server, Use This Script:

USE master;

CREATE LOGIN jamauser with password = 'password';

CREATE LOGIN samluser with password = 'password';

CREATE LOGIN oauthuser with password = 'password';

GO

 

USE master;

CREATE DATABASE jama;

GO

ALTER DATABASE jama SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE

GO

 

USE jama;

EXEC ('CREATE SCHEMA oauth');

EXEC ('CREATE SCHEMA saml');

GO

 

USE jama;

CREATE USER jamauser for LOGIN jamauser;

CREATE USER samluser for LOGIN samluser with DEFAULT_SCHEMA=saml;

CREATE USER oauthuser for LOGIN oauthuser with DEFAULT_SCHEMA=oauth;

GO

 

EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', jamauser;

EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', samluser;

EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', oauthuser;

GO

 

For an Upgrade Installation with MySQL, Use This Script: 

CREATE DATABASE saml;

CREATE DATABASE oauth;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON oauth.* TO 'jamauser'@'%';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON saml.* TO 'jamauser'@'%';

GRANT SELECT ON mysql.user TO 'jamauser'@'%';

  

For a New Installation with MySQL, Use This Script:   

CREATE DATABASE jama character set utf8;

CREATE DATABASE saml;

CREATE DATABASE oauth;

CREATE USER 'jamauser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON jama.* TO 'jamauser'@'%';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON oauth.* TO 'jamauser'@'%';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON saml.* TO 'jamauser'@'%';

GRANT SELECT ON mysql.user TO 'jamauser'@'%';

 

Patch Results Table

When you upgrade to Jama Connect 8.62, Jama Connect runs a data patch to correct an issue where version numbers were duplicated. In some cases, duplicate version numbers appeared when you copied rows and imported them using an Excel Round Trip. This release resolves the issue by applying a new database constraint.

Example of duplicate version numbers:

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If you have entries similar to this example, the the fix is recorded in the log after you upgrade. The details are also recorded in the "con_9921_version" table in the audit history.

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REST API Permission Updates

  • Access to GET/users and GET/usergroups will require organization or user admin roles. The user admin role is a new addition with 8.61. Project admins can continue to use these endpoints but will be required to provide a project ID where they are a project admin.

  • Access to GET/users/{userId} & GET/usergroups/{id} will now perform a permissions check ensuring the requesting user has access to the same project as the requested user or user group. 

Resolved Issues 

ID Description
SOS-DEF-393 If you select individual items for review, they now retain headings or hierarchical numbering. 
SOS-DEF-1061 

When right-clicking and selecting "Open in New Tab/Window" on a Review, the selected Review opens (instead of an "Oh No" page.)  

SOS-DEF-1394 Filter and "Preview List" results now match when a rule is set for "All Item Types" and another rule is set for a different item type using the same filter. 
SOS-DEF-1499 Temporary reports are now removed from the TempReports folder after 7 days.
SOS-DEF-1668 You can now navigate to the Jama Software Community from the System Health Report. 
SOS-DEF-1834 When signing in to Jama Connect using IE 11, it no longer matters how fast or slowly you type your username and password. 
SOS-DEF-2509 During a re-sign-in user is routed to correct page.
SOS-DEF-2587 When you use these field values in a duplicated project, they now match the time and user who performed the duplication: createdBy, createdDate, modifiedBy, and modifiedDate. 
SOS-DEF-4313 You can now add a user email address with ".local" and ".lab" domains. 
SOS-DEF-4388 When you hover over a Test Cycle, the full name is now correctly displayed. 
SOS-DEF-4434 The ability to see project-level user groups is now restricted to admins who have access to those projects.
SOS-DEF-4673 A project folder can no longer be assigned as its own parent from the REST API.
SOS-DEF-4689 Formatting issues no longer occur when you copy and paste a numbered list from Microsoft Word or Chrome.
SOS-DEF-4764 The number of items in the "Preview List" is now consistent with the filter results. 
SOS-DEF-4844 When you search for items with populated field values, the results no longer include items with empty field values. 
SOS-DEF-4850 When you export to Microsoft Word from Review Center, numbered lists are now displayed as separate sections and bulleted lists are preserved. 
SOS-DEF-4855 You can now import images from Microsoft Word to Rich Text fields. 
SOS-DEF-4910 MathType Editor equations are now correctly displayed in Edit mode when the equation is centered. 
SOS-DEF-4967 Links are now preserved when you save Velocity reports as PDF. 
SOS-DEF-5036 Project admin access for organization admins is now restricted when the organization admin doesn't have admin rights to a specific project. 
SOS-DEF-5040 When you add project permissions from the Permissions tab, you now see only the current project's groups.
SOS-DEF-5070 The "Advanced search" field now returns the expected results when you apply a filter. 
SOS-DEF-5173 Smart filters with a subquery no longer cause timeouts when searching.
SOS-DEF-5189 Deleting multiple items at the same time no longer causes duplicate version numbers.
SOS-DEF-5196 When you batch-lock items, a user lock is no longer placed on an item already in a system-locked state.
SOS-DEF-5223 A NullPointerException error no longer occurs when you export a template that includes upstream or downstream items and a numbered list in the description. 
SOS-DEF-5253 When you modify an item, users and groups in the "Assigned To" fields are now limited to only those with access to that project.
SOS-DEF-5288

When using the Jama Connect API, the getProjects endpoint no longer shows projects that you don't have permission to view. 

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