Creating a Real-Time Container
Creating a Real-Time Container
Real-time container introduction[edit]
A real-time container is a service that manages communication between Pega Customer Decision Hub and external channels.
Any real-time external channel (for example, websites, mobile applications, call center) that displays one or more actions determined by Pega Customer Decision Hub needs to invoke a real-time container.
Use case examples[edit]
A real-time container provides an easy low-code/no-code way to integrate an external channel with Pega Customer Decision Hub. The container eliminates the need to create service rules in Pega Customer Decision Hub, making it easier for the system architects, decision architects or even marketers to create and manage content displayed on channels.
Creating Real-Time Containers[edit]
- In the Pega Customer Decision Hub left navigation pane, go to Content > Real-Time Artifacts:
- On the Real-Time Artifacts landing page, click Create > Container:
- In the Real-Time Container Record Configuration form provide the required information:
- a short description or title for this record - identifies the purpose of this container
- context - choose the correct application context
- add to ruleset - select the appropriate ruleset and version
- Click Create and open.
- In the Edit Real-Time Container form, fill in the About this container form as shown below.
- Is this container currently active?
- No, this Container will not respond to requests at this time – select this option if this container is not yet supposed to respond to external channels with Actions.
- Yes, this Container will respond to requests – select this option if this container is supposed to respond to external channels with Actions.
- Impression capture
- Captured on retrieval – select this option if impression records are to be captured in Interaction History table. Take into consideration the volume and traffic before selecting this option, as Interaction History table can grow very fast, which can affect the performance of the application.
- Captured by Channel – select this option if the external system is capturing the impression records.
- Click through behavior
- Capture click through and initiate offer flow – select this option if the container is supposed to initiate an offer flow as well. This option is normally not selected for Inbound implementations.
- Capture click through only – select this option, if the container only capture click trough statistics.
- Is this container currently active?
Adding real-time container as a trigger[edit]
Adding a real-time container as a trigger enables it to be called by an external channel.
To add a real-time container as trigger:
- In the Pega Customer Decision Hub left navigation pane, go to Next-Best Action > Designer.
- On the Next-Best-Action Designer landing page, click Channels, and then Edit.
- In the Triggers section, click on the gear icon on the the Real-time containers settings:
- In the Configure real-time containers pop-up window, select the real-time container that needs to be added as trigger and click Add and then Apply:
- In the Triggers section, associate the real-time container with relevant Issues/Groups:
Note: Before adding real-time containers as triggers, work with your system architect(s) to make sure your access group’s design time configuration is pointing to highest (and only) unlocked artifacts ruleset version.
Use Cases[edit]
Real time containers are used by any external channel that wants to integrate with Pega CDH to display actions returned by it.
Examples:
- A banking website wants to promote its new credit card on its website.
- A mobile app wants to present logged in user with a new subscription plan
Tips and Tricks[edit]
Data flow generation[edit]
- Whenever a real-time container is added as a trigger, a data flow is created.
- The name of the data flow is system-managed.
- Pega Customer Decision Hub uses the ExtendedContainerProperties Data Transform to configure the data flow regarding which properties are returned in Next-Best Action response.
- The duration for which Make Decision results are stored in pxDecisionResults is controlled by ADMShortTimeoutForDelayedLearning DSS value.
Caution: It is not recommended to customize this data flow, as every time the trigger is updated, the data flow will be re-created, and all customization will be lost.
Underlying Data Pages[edit]
- Pega Customer Decision Hub uses the D_ContainerConfig data page to read the container configuration.
- The D_ContainerConfig data page is cleared every time the trigger is updated. Hence, after making changes to the container configuration, it is important to either re-add it back as trigger or clear the D_ContainerConfig data page.
Packaging Container rules for deployment[edit]
- While creating the RAP for marketing application, it is important to include the instances of Index-PegaMKT-ContainerReference for properly migrating the container from one environment to other.