Release Notes Incorta 2024.7.3

Release Highlights

2024.7.3 builds on the 2024.7 release with new product capabilities and several enhancements to existing features.

Here are some of the key highlights:

• Decoupling Null Handling from Advanced SQLi, providing more flexibility
• Handling nulls during join calculations based on the Null Handling CMC setting
• Relaxing the required permissions to query Spark SQL views and to access insights based on these views
• Conversational support in Incorta Copilot
• Searching data within a prompt in Incorta Copilot
• New Oracle ERP Manufacturing and Supply Chain Data App

Upgrade Considerations

• Null Handling is now an independent feature, separate from Advanced SQL Interface (Advanced SQLi). You can enable or disable it as needed. After upgrading to 2024.7.3, clusters with Advanced SQLi enabled will automatically have Null Handling enabled as well.
• During join calculations, the Loader Service will handle null values based on the Null Handling CMC setting.
  • Disabled: The Loader Service treats Null values as zeros for numeric columns, empty strings for text columns, and empty dates for date columns.
  • Enabled: The Loader Service treats Null values as distinct values, not equivalent to zeros, empty strings, or other null values.
• You must sync the Spark Metastore after upgrading to this release to ensure access to Spark SQL views and insights leveraging them. Go to the CMC > Clusters > <cluster_name> > Tenants > <tenant_name> > More Options (⋮), and then select Sync Spark Metastore.

Data Agent Considerations

The 2024.7.3 release uses the Data Agent version 9.2.2. Please upgrade to the required version.

New Features

In this maintenance pack:

• Decoupling Null Handling from Advanced SQLi
• Updates to null handling during join calculations
• Enhanced access to Spark SQL Views and their insights
• Conversational support in Incorta Copilot
• Searching data within a prompt in Incorta Copilot
• New Oracle ERP Manufacturing and Supply Chain Data App

Decoupling Null Handling from Advanced SQLi

Before this release, enabling the Advanced SQL Interface (SQLi) automatically enforced the Null Handling feature.
With this release, Null Handling is now an independent feature. You can enable or disable it separately. However, for consistent query results when using Advanced SQLi, it is recommended to enable Null Handling.

For more details, refer to Advanced SQLi and Null Handling.

After upgrading to 2024.7.3, clusters that previously had the Advanced SQLi enabled will automatically have both features enabled.

Updates to null handling during join calculations

In 2024.7.3 and later releases, the Loader Service handles null values during join calculations based on the Null Handling setting in the CMC.

• Disabled: The Loader Service treats Null values as zeros for numeric columns, empty strings for text columns, and empty dates for date columns.
• Enabled: The Loader Service treats Null values as distinct values, not equivalent to zeros, empty strings, or other null values.

For more details, refer to References → Null Handling.

Enhanced access to Spark SQL Views and their insights

To query Spark SQL views from BI tools or access insights based on these views, you only need permissions to the business schema containing the Spark SQL view or the dashboard containing the insight, respectively. You no longer require permissions to the underlying entities referenced in the Spark SQL view or the insight.

Conversational support in Incorta Copilot

Previously, prompts sent to Incorta Copilot were treated as discrete conversations. Now, with the conversational context feature, Incorta Copilot offers an improved user experience. This means that the context of previous prompts and responses is used to return the best possible answers in updated prompts.

For example, if a dataset is returned for “Show me sales for this past year.”, then the user has secondary prompts asking “Now, show me for each month.”, the system's understanding of the conversation will insinuate that the user is still discussing sales.

To clear the conversation's context, select the 'paper shredder' icon located to the left of the prompt window. This icon serves as a reset button for the conversation, allowing you to start a new conversation context.

Searching data within a prompt in Incorta Copilot

While no data is transmitted to the LLM underlying Incorta Copilot, sometimes results would return blank since the Copilot created probabilistic values when it came to filtering data. For example, when trying return only data for “California”, the LLM is unaware if the data is represented as a full name or by the US standard two character abbreviation (“CA”).

To address this, we’ve added a capability that allows users to explicitly state a data value by entering ‘#’ followed by a value. If the value exists in multiple columns, a selection dialogue will appear. It's important to note that this capability currently only applies to string values.

New Oracle ERP Manufacturing and Supply Chain Data App

In this release, we are happy to announce our new data app: Oracle Cloud ERP Manufacturing and Supply Chain Analytics. This new data app delivers comprehensive visibility across work order costs, inventory management, and production planning through ready-to-use dashboards and schemas.

Get immediate answers to critical questions about material usage variances, inventory levels, and BOM hierarchies while empowering business users to create custom reports independently.

For further requirements, please check the ERP installation documentation.