What's New

You can find information about the features introduced, enhancements, or other changes made in HCL DevOps Velocity (Velocity). You can also find the features that were introduced in earlier versions of Velocity. HCL DevOps Velocity is the new name of HCL Accelerate from 5.0.0 onwards.

What's New in 2023.12 (5.0.5)

Release date: 9 May 2024

The following section lists the features, enhancements, or other changes made in Velocity.
Feature Title Description
Deployment Frequency The name of the metric Production Deployment Counts is now changed to Deployment Frequency.
Edit metric definitions You can edit the metric definition for the metrics such as Cycle Time, Lead Time and DevCycle Time from the Value streams page. See Displaying the metric bar.
Pipeline gates for solution version You can use any of the following gates to deploy the applications into different environments using a solution version:

  • Approver gate

  • Metric gate

  • Status gate

See Managing pipeline gates.
Roles and permissions for solution version You can view, create, edit, delete, unlink or deploy the solution version if you are assigned with any of the roles listed in the following table:
Roles Solution version permissions
View Create / Edit / Delete / Unlink Deploy
Developer (team)
Lead developer (team)
Lead Release Manager
Pipeline Designer
Pipeline Executor
Release Manager
Value Stream Manager
Value stream Viewer
Viewer
Integrations You can enable or disable multiple integrations at any particular time. Select the required integrations and then Select Actions appears. Click drop-down list of Select Actions and select Disable or Enable.

What's New in earlier versions

You can find information about the features introduced in earlier versions of Velocity in the following sections.

What's New in 2023.12 (5.0.4)

Release date: 11 April 2024

The following section lists the features, enhancements, or other changes made in Velocity.
Feature Title Description
Enhancements in DevOps Query (DQL) You can add global DQL query to value stream, so that the query is applicable for all phases of the value stream. For more information, see global DQL query.
Enhancements in Releases Enhanced the user interface of the Releases for better user experience.
Enhancements in dots stage change calculation Enhanced the performance of dots stage change calculation.

What's New in 2023.12 (5.0.3)

Release date: 11 April 2024

The following section lists the features, enhancements, or other changes made in Velocity.
Feature Title Description
Solution version

Solution version is the combination of different versions of one or more applications. It displays the snapshot of different versions of the applications at particular point of time.

For more information, see this page.
Enhancements in ServiceNow automated task You can now specify the Change Request Number instead of Change Request System ID in the ServiceNow-Update Change Request and Change Task and ServiceNow-Wait Change Request tasks. With this enhancement you can select the Change Request Number from a drop-down list while creating the task.

For more information, see this page.
Enhancements in user interface navigation The Home, Value Streams, Releases, and Insights menu's are rearranged to vertical plane for the better user experience.
Enhancements in Alerts mechanism for change in status of dots You can set alerts for stages when there is a change in status of dots. You can set showAlerts property to true or false for enabling or disabling the alert for stages.

For more information, see this page.
Enhancements in Swimlanes You can filter the dots using the Business Value under FEATURE of the Swimlanes.

What's New in 2023.12 (5.0.2)

Release date: 8 February 2024

The following section lists the features, enhancements, or other changes made in Velocity.
Feature Title Description
Enhancements in ServiceNow automated task You can create and update ServiceNow change task from the Velocity application while creating and updating the ServiceNow change request.

For more information, see this page.
Displaying of gate rules You can view the number of rules and approvers for each gate.

For more information, see this page.
Displaying of Events Added No Events Found message when there are no events created in Events tab on Releases page.

What's New in 2023.12 (5.0.1)

Release date: 23 January 2024

The following section lists the features, enhancements, or other changes made in Velocity.
Feature Title Description
Enhancements in Value Streams You can view only five individual sprints and releases data, when you set View value stream data by to Sprint and Release in Value Stream and Swimlane tab. The remaining past sprints and releases are grouped together and displayed as Past Sprints and Past Releases.

What's New in 2023.12 (5.0.0)

Release date: 12 December 2023

The following section lists the features, enhancements, or other changes made in Velocity.
Feature Title Description
Additional vendor specific properties You can view any additional vendor specific properties in value streams.
Proxy for plug-in index Added support to set proxy for plug-ins index URL. Use mutation updatePluginIndexProxySetting in GraphQL API for setting the proxy.
Incident type issues as dots You can view Incidents type issues of Service Now and Jira Service Management tool as dots in Value streams.
DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics You can use DORA metrics to evaluate performance of the team. The available DORA metrics are Lead Time for Changes, Production Deployment Counts, and Time to Restore Service (MTTR). For additional information, See DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics.
Status gate

A new Status gate is added to provide more control over the deployment of applications into different environments. See Managing pipeline gates.
Dev Cycle Time

A new Dev Cycle Time is added to the value stream page to customize the business-specific measures. See Adding a metric bar to value streams.
Aha! Plug-in

A new Aha! plug-in is added in Velocity to integrate Aha! application with Velocity. The plug-in extracts the Product Value of an Aha! feature to store it as business value in the Jira issues linked with the Aha! feature and displays it in value streams. The business value associated with the value stream will help you to prioritize your work based on the based on the features that are most valuable for customers.

For information on Aha! plug-in integration, see Plug-in documentation.

Note: Currently you can only see the business value only for the Aha! issues that are linked to a Jira issue in the value stream.

New search capability is added to filter the value stream dot consisting of business value using DQL search. You can use issue.businessValue item in the DQL search to filter the value stream dots associated with business value. See DevOps query language (DQL).
Milestone Risk Estimator Plug-in

A new Milestone Risk Estimator plug-in is added in Velocity. The milestone risk estimator determines the risk of completing the sprint. The milestone risk estimator calculates the risk based on the time taken for the completed sprint. It compares the time of completed sprint with the time of the in-progress sprint. See Milestone risk estimation.

For information on Milestone Risk Estimator plug-in integration, see Plug-in documentation.

What's New in 4.0.15

Release date: 26 October 2023

Docker compose
Auto starting for Docker compose uses docker compose V2. The command line syntax to use docker compose is changed from 
docker-compose up -d
to 
docker compose up -d
For more information, see this page.
Renaming Automated and Manual gates
The Automated gate is renamed as Metric gate and Manual gate is renamed as Approver gate. However, the functionality of gates remain same.

What's New in 4.0.14

Release date: 7 September 2023

IBM Urbancode Deploy plug-in
  • A new UrbanCode™ Deploy plug-in is available in plug-in marketplace Settings > Integrations > Available for HCL Accelerate version 4.0.9 or later. The new plug-in provides performance improvements and more flexibility with HCL Accelerate features. The old plug-in has been renamed to UrbanCode Deploy (Legacy).

What's New in 4.0.13

Release date: 17 August 2023

Value stream
On the Create Value Stream window, perform any of the following actions:
  • Click Create to create value stream with the basic information includes Name and Team. The value stream is created using the JSON template. You can configure the value stream later using Edit value stream map.
  • Click Create & Configure to create value stream with integrations and stages or phases of the value stream.
For more information, see this page.
Compliance gate
Compliance gate provides more control over the deployment of application versions into different environments based on the conditions defined in the compliance rule. You can define compliance rules such as number of approvals required for a pull request to deploy the application versions. For more information, see this page.
Hybrid Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) pipeline
You can create a hybrid continuous integration and continuous deployment pipeline to deploy the application versions into different environments. For more information, see this page.
External YAML configuration file
You can import the external YAML configuration file into HCL Accelerate from the user interface. For more information, see this page.
OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication
You can log in to HCL Accelerate using the OIDC authentication. On the Settings page, click Authentication > OIDC > Configure OIDC to configure the OIDC in HCL Accelerate. For more information, see this page.
Jenkins (Legacy) plug-in migration
You can migrate integrations of Jenkins (Legacy) to new Jenkins. For more information, see this page.
Initial Sync date for Jenkins
The default initial sync date for new Jenkins plug-in is 30 days.
Local License Server (LLS)
Local License Server is supported in HCL Accelerate. For more information, see this page.
Insights
Removed Analytics tab under insights page.

What's New in 4.0.12

Release date: 15 June 2023

External YAML configuration file
You can create minimal value realization of different DevOps tools into HCL Accelerate immediately using external configuration file. Define all your required configuration properties in ucv.yml and import into HCL Accelerate using GitHub plug-in integration. After importing, apply the ucv.yml configuration file to HCL Accelerate for implementing the configuration defined in configuration file. For more information, see this page.

What's New in 4.0.11

Release date: 25 May 2023

This is a maintenance release includes only bug fixes.

What's New in 4.0.10

Release date: 4 May 2023

Automation tasks
Added Download log file for automation tasks.
Deployment plan
Added search functionality for Application, Environment, Integration, Version, and Process fields in the deployment plan for automation task of external plug-in integrations.
Known issues
Auto promotion with gates is not working when approved from Input stage for hybrid pipeline.

What's New in 4.0.9

Release date: 30 March 2023

Jenkins plugin
  • A new Jenkins plugin is available in plugin marketplace Settings > Integrations > Available for HCL Accelerate version 4.0.9 or later. The new plugin provides performance improvements and more flexibility with HCL Accelerate features. The old plugin has been renamed to Jenkins (Legacy).
Cycle Time Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
The Cycle Time KPI measures the efficiency of a dot to reach the defined target. You can define the target using the status rule. You can add, edit, and delete status rule. For more information, see this page.
Lead Time Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
The Lead Time KPI measures the efficiency of a dot to reach the defined target. You can define the target using the status rule. You can add, edit, and delete status rule. For more information, see this page.
Automation task
The Dynamic fields feature is enabled for automation task. You can use Dynamic fields feature to assign snapshot and component version statuses on failure or success of the task.
Manual gates approval
  • You can add groups for approving the manual gates.
Known issues
Deployment of UrbanCode™ Deploy application from HCL Accelerate using UrbanCode™ Deploy version 7.3.1.0 is not working. As a workaround, you can use UrbanCode™ Deploy version 7.3.0 for deploying the UrbanCode™ Deploy application from HCL Accelerate. The issue will be fixed in UrbanCode™ Deploy release version 7.3.1.1.

What's New in 4.0.8

Release date: 21 February 2023

Creating disabled plugin integration
  • You can create a plugin integration with disabled status by clicking Settings > Integrations > Installed > Add integration. In the Add integration window, click Show hidden properties, and then clear Enabled to create a disabled plugin integration. Additonal information on this page.

What's New in 4.0.7

Release date: 2 February 2023

Pipelines
  • Added description for parameter field in create deployment task.

What's New in 4.0.6

Release date: 12 January 2023

HCL Accelerate session extension
Session extension notification is displayed for extending the HCL Accelerate session.
Helm port
You can use any port number for HCL Accelerate installation.

What's New in 4.0.5

Release date: 5 December 2022

Demo data
Added Delete button to delete demo data.
RabbitMQ
Add /rabbit to HCL Accelerate URL to access rabbitmq management console.

What's New in 4.0.4

Release date: 14 November 2022

RabbitMQ
RabbitMQ upgraded to version 3.10.7. Additional information on this page.

What's New in 4.0.3

Release date: 31 October 2022

Insights
On the Insights page, select the required dashboard and press Ctrl+P to generate the portable document format (pdf) of dashboard reports. Additional information on this page.

What's New in 4.0.2

Release date: 19 October 2022

DQL builder
On the Edit value stream page, click DQL Builder to create the query. In the DQL Builder screen, after creating query click Test to view results for the selected query. Additional information on this page.

What's New in 4.0.1

Release date: 3 October 2022

Manual gates approval email notification
The manual gates approval email notification contains the Stage Name, Manual Gate Name, Application Name, and Version Name of the application for which the approval is requested. Additional information on this page.

What's New in 4.0.0

Release date: 13 September 2022

Plugins integrations
On the HCL Accelerate Home page, click Settings > Integrations. The Integrations page is displayed with three tabs:
  1. Configured
  2. Installed
  3. Available

The Configured tab lists all plugins that are configured for integration. The Installed tab displays all plugins that are installed by default with the HCL Accelerate installation. The Available tab displays all supported plugins for HCL Accelerate

Additional information on this page.
DQL builder
The Search with DQL field displays all possible queries and operators for the typed query in value streams and swimlanes.
Value stream Onboarding
On the Value streams page, click Create value stream to create the new value stream using the UI without using the JSON file. The Create Value Stream window is displayed with three steps: Basic information about the value stream, Integrations to use in value stream, and Stages or phases for value stream. Additional information, see this page.

What's New in 3.1.5

Release date: 15 August 2022
Manual gates approval
The email notification is sent to all selected manual gate approvers. To get the email notification, you must select the Send email alert to any user that requires manual approval checkbox in gates modal. Additional information on this page.

What's New in 3.1.4

Release date: 5 August 2022
HCL Accelerate Installation file
The size of the HCL Accelerate installation file is reduced.

What's New in 3.1.3

Release date: 19 July 2022

HCL Software Factory (SoFy)
HCL Accelerate 3.1.1 is available on HCL SoFy and you can find additional information here.

What's New in 3.1.2

Release date: 7 July 2022

Value streams
  • To enhance the HCL Accelerate performance, added Contributor metrics to vsm-data-metrics feature flag. You can enable vsm-data-metrics feature flag to use contributor metrics and other metrics.

What's New in 3.1.1

Release date: 20 June 2022

Security
  • Fixed security vulnerability.

What's New in 3.1.0

Release date: 18 May 2022

Value streams
  • Background service: Kubernetes and OpenShift installations can see the significant change in performance and stability of the application. Segregating the value stream metrics calculation based on the data complexity helped to improve the performance and stability.
  • Quick filters search: You can use search bar for searching through Releases, Sprints, Types, and Priority.

Pipelines
  • Improved performance to handle large data in pipelines.
Releases
  • RabbitMQ: Improved various RabbitMQ request to improve performance in Releases and Deployment plan.
  • Approving wait for approval task: Wait for approval task can be approved or rejected by designated or not designated user. For more information, see this page.
  • Release stories: Release stories are removed temporarily for the enhancement purpose. You can use Release readiness report for viewing the issues of the releases.
Licensing
FlexNet license configuration is changed. HCL Accelerate will be automatically downgraded to the Community edition on upgrade to version 3.1.0. or later. Reconfigure the license server to reinstate your licenses. For more information, see this page.
MongoDB
MongoDB version 4.0 is no longer supported. For Docker Compose, MongoDB version 4.2 is installed and upgraded automatically. For Kubernetes and OpenShift installations, you need to install or upgrade MongoDB to a supported version separately. For more information, see this page.
OpenShift installation using service template
OpenShift installation using service template is no longer supported and removed from installer. You can migrate your OpenShift installation to Helm charts during your upgrade to version 3.1.0. or later. For more information, see this page. For assistance with migration, contact support.

What's New in 3.0.8

Release date: 28 April 2022

Deployment plan
  • Improved performance in deployment plan page.

Security
  • Fixed minor security vulnerabilities.

What's New in 3.0.7

Release date: 12 April 2022

Deployment plan
  • Improved performance in deployment plan page.
  • Fixed deployment plan page loading time.

IBM UrbanCode Deploy plugin
Improved deployment plan performance to enhance UrbanCode™ Deploy plugin performance.
Known issue
HCL SoFy
HCL SoFy migrated to Emissary platform of Google cloud computing. This migration breaks all HCL Accelerate installations. Perform the re-installation of HCL Accelerate to fix the issue.

What's New in 3.0.6

Release date: 28 March 2022

MongoDB
MongoDB is no longer shipped with the offline installation files. It is recommended to pull the MongoDB images from the MongoDB source. For sample directions, see this page.
Security
  • RabbitMQ - Fixed security vulnerabilities.
  • Added authentication to multiple queries.
  • Fixed multiple unprotected queries.

What's New in 3.0.5

Release date: 11 March 2022

LDAP
On the Settings page, when you click Authentication > LDAP and then click the Import users button, you can check for valid and invalid LDAP configurations. For more information, see this page.
Bug fixes
On the Value streams page, when you click the Import JSON button and then attempt to save the JSON file, resolved an issue displaying a spinning wheel and requiring the user to navigate back to the editing application.

On the Pipeline page with HCL® Launch applications added to the pipeline, when you change the name in HCL® Launch, the name change is accurately reflected on the Pipeline and the Dashboards pages in HCL Accelerate.

For deployment plans run on the Releases page, resolved issues of parallel tasks being processed sequentially for improved performance.

On the Settings page, when you perform the following:
  • Click Authentication > LDAP.
  • Click the Import users button.
  • In the Username or Pattern field of the Import Users window, when you enter a username or pattern and then click the Save button, resolved a query size limit exceeded error during the attempted import process.

What's New in 3.0.4

Release date: 25 February 2022

Insights
On the Insights page, when you perform the following:
  • Click the Reports tab.
  • Click the AppScan Enterprise scan report.
  • Click the Run report button.
  • Fill in the remaining required fields.
  • Click the Confirm button.
  • Click the Results link.
  • You can view Scans by Application by clicking the Application drop-down and selecting the required app. An example scan report is shown below.AppScan Enterprise scan report

LDAP
On the Settings page, when you click Authentication > LDAP, the required fields are obvious and indicated with red asterisks for admins for readily editing and configuring LDAP.
Plugins safer installs
Based on the your installed version of HCL Accelerate, plugins not compatible with that version are prevented from installing in the product. If the installed version of HCL Accelerate is equal or greater than the product version that the plugin supports, the installation of the plugin is possible. For detailed information, see this page.
Plugins initial sync date support
For scheduled events plugins, you can specify an initial sync date. For further information, see this page.
Kubernetes
Based on the responsiveness of a given Kubernetes environment, you are able to configure liveness and readiness probes and specify dynamic timeouts to prevent persistent removal of pods. To learn more, see this page.

What's New in 3.0.3

Releases
On the Releases page, when you perform the following:
  • Click a release activity.
  • Click a deployment plan.
  • Click the Create task button.
  • Click the Type drop-down and select Email.
  • In the Create task window, fill in the required fields.
  • Click the Save button.
  • For the Email task, click the Start task icon.
  • Receive the email and either click the Approve or Reject button. The default function is no security enforcement via login before task is accepted or rejected.

To enable the feature flag for this functionality, perform the following:
  • In a browser window, enter HTTPS://hostname:port/featureflags
  • In the Enter a feature name to enable it text field, enter authorized-approval
  • Click the Enable button.

Ingress controller
Installation issues for Kubernetes version 1.22 and later are resolved and upgrading from previous versions is recommended. Starting with Kubernetes version 1.19, the new resource type IngressClass is available. If your Ingress controller utilizes the IngressClass functionality, the default setting of ingress.className="nginx" works with the IngressClass functionality out of the box. If your Ingress controller does not utilizes the IngressClass functionality, specify --set ingress.className="" for it to properly function.
Note: For Kubernetes version 1.19, the networking.k8s.io/v1 API was added for the Ingress resource and is utilized for the HCL Accelerate Ingress installation. For Kubernetes version 1.22, the previous networking.k8s.io/v1beta1 API is deprecated and removed. For details on the differences between the networking.k8s.io/v1 API and networking.k8s.io/v1beta1 API, see this page.
OpenShift template to Helm migration
The OpenShift template to Helm migration is planned for HCL Accelerate version 3.0.4 when the OpenShift template installation is no longer available. At your earliest opportunity, make the required preparations for the migration to Helm. If you require additional assistance, contact support.
Security
Fixed security vulnerability.

What's New in 3.0.2

Pipelines
On the Pipeline page, when you click the overflow menu on any environment except Input, you can select Override Inventory to manually modify and update a pipeline.
Releases
On the Releases page, an overall performance improvement is achieved for page loading. Functionally, the dialog box below the calendar now lists only events versus releases and events.
Roles
General performance improvements across the entire product.
Passwords
Regardless of the global permissions assigned to a user, you can modify your own password for the following conditions:
  • Your User type is Local.
  • Click Settings > Authorization > Users and then click the overflow menu and select Change password.

Security
Fixed various security vulnerabilities prior to HCL Accelerate version 3.0.2.

What's New in 3.0.1

Insights
On the Insights page, when you click the Reports tab:
  • Available reports include the following:
    • HCL Launch deployment audit
    • Pipeline snapshot
    • Deployment audit
    • Deployment duration (Beta)
    • Release readiness
    • Security audit
  • The Security audit report issues are resolved.

Security
Fixed security vulnerabilities.

What's New in 3.0.0

Value stream updates
On the Value Streams page:
  • VSM JSON Editor: Use the online code and tree editors to directly edit Value stream map (VSM) JSON files in HCL Accelerate Starting with HCL Accelerate version 3.0, you no longer need to download the JSON and edit a local copy. Now you can edit VSM JSON files directly within the product web interface. On the Value streams page, use the VSM JSON code and tree editors to edit and save the value stream workflow file. In code and tree views, the editors allows you to perform the following tasks:
    • Create new versions.
    • Edit versions.
    • Review and revert past versions.
    • View version creators and dates created.
    • Import and download versions.
    • View JSON file contents including creator, version number, and date created.
    • You can format, compact, repair JSON data, and save with overwrite protection for simultaneous user editing scenarios.

    In tree view, you can perform the following tasks:
    • Change Type, Insert, or Append the Auto, Array, Object, or String field types.
    • Extract objects and arrays.
    • Remove fields.

  • Application lifecycle management (ALM) plugins feature support conforming to the Scaled agile framework (Safe) requirements model: A feature is a collection of stories and equivalent to an Epic in Jira. You can query the features found in value streams using a field filter to further refine your results. Feature updates include the following:
    • When you click Search with DQL, the feature query is used to locate the fields in the following table:
      Query Field
      feature created, creator, id, name, status, url
      Note: In order to use the feature query, a resync of the plugin is required. If you need additional ALM plugins support, contact HCL at this site for required updates.
    • When you click the Swimlane tab, in the dynamic row selector on the left side of the display, Epic is replaced with Feature.

Insights
On the Insights page, when you click the Reports tab:
  • The Release readiness report allows you to view release readiness criteria based on internal standards and compliance requirements. Additional information is found on this page.
  • Available reports include the following:
    • HCL Launch deployment audit
    • Pipeline snapshot
    • Deployment audit
    • Deployment duration (Beta)
    • Release readiness
    • Security audit
      Note: The Security audit report issues are resolved in version 3.0.1.

Pipeline updates
On the Pipeline tab:
  • Expanded smart gating: On any environment except Input, you can add automated gates for time on metrics in the environment. Key capabilities of automated gates include the following:
    • Occurrence period allows you to gate on time for the selected Metric type based on a set of required criteria specified for the gate that occurs in one of the following past periods:
      • None
      • Minutes
      • Hours
      • Days
      • Weeks
      • Months

        Note: Specifying an Occurrence period is an example where results are not directly tied to a build or version and provide a wider range of gating flexibility.
      Duration is the value of the period for the gate.
    • Data set includes subsets of data specific to the selected Metric type that allows you to limit the information scope for the metric
    • Field includes field values available that are a subset of the selected Data set.
    • You can gate on application specific custom metrics specified in Insights that are listed in the Metric type drop-down.
    • HCL AppScan On Cloud policy support: Incorporate HCL AppScan on Cloud policies into your pipeline and achieve automated security governance with HCL Accelerate version 3.0. In combination with our HCL AppScan on Cloud v3.0.1 plugin, Application security on cloud (ASoC) policies are now pulled into our database. With this information in hand, you can apply policy criteria to the applications on your continuous delivery pipeline and control deployments based on the latest set of security results while eliminating the need for manual security approvals.

  • HCL® Launch build version linking capabilities: A build URL is assigned to a HCL® Launch component version. The build URL is used for linking builds to associated deployable artifacts for the following purposes:
    • Observing progression of dots through the value stream.
    • Using automated gates in the pipeline.
    • Accessing HCL® Launch gating mechanisms in HCL Accelerate.
    Note: The Jenkins Pipeline plugin attaches the build URL by default. If you are integrating from another Continuous integration (CI) tool source, you need to follow the same build URL linking methodology to ensure connectivity of the tool.

Release deployment plans
Optimized deployment rendering for improved performance including memory, CPU, and utilization of user sessions.
HCL Software Factory (SoFy)
HCL Accelerate 3.0 will be available on HCL SoFy 3.0 in mid-November 2021 and you can find additional information here.
Accelerate Data Generator plugin
If you have the required permissions, an Install demo data button on the Getting Started page is displayed that enables you to install the Accelerate Data Generator plugin. If the demo data plugin is installed, it will populate HCL Accelerate with demo data allowing you to view value streams, pipelines, and other areas of the product with sample data. On the Settings page, you can delete the sample data at any time by disabling the Accelerate Data Generator integration.
Installations and upgrades
For installations and upgrades of OpenShift and Kubernetes, at the Choose the platform prompt, you are presented with Kubernetes or OpenShift (Using Helm) as the platform. You can currently install HCL Accelerate using service templates and the process should yield successful results without encountering any issues.
Note: Starting with future versions, installations of HCL Accelerate as an OpenShift application using service templates will be deprecated and you should prepare migration to using Helm charts. If you are planning to migrate to using Helm charts, create a support ticket here and we will help you with the transition process. Otherwise, check this page for more details when more information is available.

Prior to HCL Accelerate 3.0, online installer hosted images were stored on Docker Hub. Currently, images are hosted by HCL Accelerate on the https://hclcr.io site.

Azure Kubernetes service (AKS) is now supported for HCL Accelerate version 3.0 on-premises installations.

Customizable roles and global scope
When you click Settings > Authorization > Roles, roles and permissions capabilities are expanded by providing flexibility for customization requirements including the following features:
  • Create, modify, and delete customized roles.
  • Expanded number of roles on the Value streams, Insights, and Settings pages.
  • Added global scoped permissions that allow you to access product areas regardless of team association.
  • Static roles are immutable and may support customization in a future version.

Help
When you click the question mark help icon, you can select either of the following items:
  • Documentation to visit the HCL Accelerate product documentation website.
  • Getting started
    • Redesigned the Getting started page. Additional information for the expanded Getting started section is found here.
    • Upon initial login, all users including admin are directed to the Getting started page.
  • Support portal: Visit the HCL Software customer support portal.
  • Ideas portal: Suggest software improvements at the HCL Accelerate Product Ideas Portal.
  • Plugins: Enhance software tools with HCL plugins at this website.
  • About: The version of HCL Accelerate installed on your machine.

Changed the help icon icon to the question mark help icon icon.

Settings
The settings icon settings icon is displayed as yellow settings icon for either or both of the following conditions:
  • User authentication is not configured.
  • Integrations are not installed.

What's New in 2.4.5

Pipelines

On the Pipelines page, automated gates with passed version displaying green for HCL Launch and Azure with the introduction of new versions at the Input stage.

On the Releases page:
  • When you click the overflow icon and select Lock, the lock icon is displayed before the release name.
  • When you:
    • Select a release.
    • Select a deployment plan with Jenkins.
    • Click the Create task button.
    • Create and save a Run a Shell Script task.
    • The shell task is added to the deployment plan successfully.

When you click Settings > Integrations > Plugins, the latest version is listed for each plugin.

What's New in 2.4.4

Value stream updates
On the Value Streams page:
  • Query recalculations are minimized and performed only when required.
  • When you click enable and disable drag icons, all phases are displayed in expanded form and the show phase icon and hide phase icon icons are not displayed. When you exit edit mode, the show phase icon and hide phase icon icons are available and displayed according to the previous state.

Settings
On the Settings page:
  • When you click either the Integrations or Plugins tabs, you can Search for integrations or Search for plugins by entering the integrations or plugin names in the respective fields to list matches in either of the Name fields.
  • When you click either the Integrations or Plugins tabs, you can perform the following functions:
    • On the Integrations tab, you can sort the Name, Status, Type, and Last sync fields in ascending or descending order by clicking on the required table header field.
    • On the Plugins tab, you can sort the Name and Status fields in ascending or descending order by clicking on the required table header field.
  • When you click Email server:
    • In the Mail server sender name field, you can enter the name.
    • In the Mail server address field, you can enter a customizable alternate email address for messages sent from HCL Accelerate.
  • The integration statuses polling function is removed and does not display a warning on the settings icon icon.

What's New in 2.4.3

Value stream update
Added pr.approvals.count to query the number of approvals on a pull request to the DQL.
Pipeline update
On the Pipeline page, the manual deployment functionality is available in the auto-promotion environment. Further details are found here.
Release update
On the Releases page, when you click a NAME, click a Plan, click the Create task button, in the Type drop-down select Delayed, in the Delay type drop-down select Delay by selecting a number of minutes, and in the Minutes field, you can enter the number of minutes between tasks. Additional information is found on this page.
HCL Accelerate login
On the HCL Accelerate login page after an unsuccessful login attempt with error message displayed, the next attempt clears the message with a loading spinner and displays again if unsuccessful.
User Access Key Management table timestamps
When you click Settings > User Authorization > User Access Keys and hover either the Created or Last Used fields, a tooltip with a precise timestamp is displayed. The timestamp will not display when you hover over Not used. An example timestamp is shown in the following figure.

What's New in 2.4.2

Reports
When you click Insights > Reports, updated the UI for an enhanced user experience. Additional details are found here.
Pipeline update
On the Pipeline page, updated styles to improve color contrasting for versions and added buttons for alphabetical sorting of applications in ascending and descending order.
Settings
When you click settings and either Integrations > Plugins or Email Server, improved styles and wording for improved readability.
Security
When HCL Accelerate has not been previously installed, a self-signed SSL certificate will be automatically generated for you with a duration of two years. Details are found here.

Fixed security issues.

What's New in 2.4.1

MongoDB replica sets
MongoDB replica sets are supported if configured by the customer. Additional details are found here.
Upgrade notes
When upgrading from an HCL Accelerate version prior to 2.4.0 for Kubernetes and OpenShift upgrades, you are required to perform a Helm uninstall and install prior to performing a full installation of version 2.4.x.
Security
For Docker Compose upgrades of HCL Accelerate with a default certificate replaced with a custom certificate, the installer tracks the latter certificate and reads the associated files from the directory location. See the Upgrading Docker Compose page for details.

Fixed security issues.

What's New in 2.4.0

Upgrade notes
When upgrading from an HCL Accelerate version prior to 2.4.0 for Kubernetes and OpenShift upgrades, you are required to perform a Helm uninstall and install prior to performing a full installation of version 2.4.x.
Value stream updates
On the Value Streams page, visual multi-branching allows you to view stages in parallel by separating your tasks based on a given query. An edit mode button enables drag and drop functionality, zooming in and out, panning, scrolling, and reset controls with the capability of switching to a non-edit view mode. Additional details are found here.

On the Value Streams page, Git multi-branching allows you to monitor different branches coupled with coordinated dot linking based on a given query. View Git multi-branching information here.

Added the IN operator to the DevOps query language.

Pipeline updates
On the Pipeline page, open pipeline deployment allows you to directly deploy and launch applications in Azure DevOps and can be viewed here.

API-driven pipeline applications enable you to effectively populate the pipeline and move dots through the system solely through build and deployment uploads. You can use either the Create new application or Use existing application options to perform the aforementioned functions with details found here.

On the Pipeline page, improved UI layout features for the join release modal windows.

Auto-generated user access keys
Integrations support the capability to auto-generate the required user access keys that is implemented on a plugin by plugin basis. Refer to the plugin documentation page for the latest updates. See additional details here.
Security
Set administrator password at install. Existing installations via upgrades are not affected.

What's New in 2.3.6

Value stream update
On the Value Stream page in the Search with DQL field and for VSM stage queries in the JSON using issue.type, corrected dot coloring and filtering issues.

What's New in 2.3.5

Value stream update
On the Value Stream page in the Search with DQL field and for VSM stage queries in the JSON, you can retrieve counts for fields including: issue, pr, count, and so forth. For more information, refer to the DevOps query language page.
Security
Fixed security issues.
Known issue
When a user successfully logs into HCL Accelerate, it is possible to navigate to web pages visited prior to the initial login page via the browser back button.

What's New in 2.3.4

Value stream updates
On the Value Streams page for VSMs exceeding the browser window width that require horizontal scrolling, the search and filter fields remain accessible along the entire horizontal width of the VSM.

When you click Value Streams > My Favorites and then click the tabular list view icon for value streams in a narrow window with more than three metrics added, corrected both column overlapping page layout issues and non-display of overflow menu for user added metrics in the tabular list view header.

On the Value Streams page, when you click a value stream and click the Sprint filter, one of the sprints in the drop-down list is identified as Current.

On the Value Streams page, Swimlane, and Pipeline pages, corrected header spacing differences.

Pipeline update
On the Pipeline page, improved page layout features including: page margins, overflow menu visibility, smoother scrolling, spacing, text ellipses functionality, and UI wording related updates.

What's New in 2.3.3

Value stream updates
When you click Value Streams > My Favorites and then click the tabular list view icon for value streams in a narrow window with more than three metrics added, corrected both column overlapping page layout issues and non-display of overflow menu for user added metrics in the tabular list view header.

On the Value Streams page, when you click a value stream and view it in a narrow window, the value stream legend at the bottom of the page is not truncated on the right side and the page can be scrolled either to the right or left side.

Pipeline update
On the Pipeline page that contains parameterized Jenkins applications in DEV, QA, PROD , or any environment in the pipeline, when you click on the overflow menu and select Edit Jenkins job to display the Edit Jenkins parameters modal and close then reopen the modal, the latter modal correctly displays the parameters.

What's New in 2.3.2

Value stream update
When you click Value Streams > My Favorites and then click tabular list view to display the tabular list of value streams, an overflow menu overflow menu is available for each value stream in the table so you can Remove or Unfavorite items from your list.
Pipeline updates
You can edit HCL® Launch application components already created on the pipeline by clicking overflow menu on the right side of the application and select Manage components to add and remove components of the application, Edit description to modify the description that only affects the application in the selected pipeline, or Delete application.
On the Value Streams page, the Value Stream, Swim Lanes, and Pipeline tabs have moved to the right side of the page.

What's New in 2.3.1

HCL Accelerate plugin index file
For HCL Accelerate installation, provide the plugin index file at the following URL:

https://hclcr.io/files/devops/accelerate/accelerate-plugin-index/

Note: If you are not able to expose the plugins index file due to a firewall issue, change the PLUGINS_INDEX_URL environment variable on the reporting-consumer microservice to point to an index location you can access while ensuring there is a process of taking the index from the public location to an internal location that HCL Accelerate can access.

In addition to the plugin index file, HCL Accelerate pulls images from an HCL Docker registry hosted at the Harbor URL:

https://hclcr.io/accelerate

What's New in 2.3.0

Dynamic swim lanes
Use dynamic swim lanes to quickly display vital project information across various organizational roles enabling informed workflow decisions. Dynamic swim lanes are adaptable and provide tailored data sets according to the different roles and requirements detailed in the following table.
Role Dynamic swim lanes view
Developers, scrum masters, daily stand-up View work items per person, show and hide selected stages, and choose sprint view for displaying pointed data sets.
Development managers, director Check overall sprint status, view stage position of work items, display remaining work from past sprints for possible future sprint allocation, and click SPRINT for a consolidated work item view displaying the current status.
Scrum masters, development managers For tracking targeted Epics, use the pinning feature to keep the prioritized items at the top of the list.
All roles Dynamic swim lanes display current state of releases, contents of both upcoming and past releases, determine when work items are released, view work items per stage, and click RELEASE for a detailed release contents list and click SPRINT for the same result.
API-driven pipeline
API-driven pipeline applications enable you to effectively populate the pipeline and move dots through the system solely through build and deployment uploads.
Content snapshots visibility on the pipeline
Components and associated component versions are visible on the pipeline for HCL® Launch.
HCL Software Factory (SoFy)
HCL SoFy 2.3.0 is releasing on HCL Software Factory (SoFy) in upcoming weeks. For more information, visit the HCLSoFy website.
Plugins added
HCL Accelerate plugins added in this version are listed in the following table:
Name Description
HCL Compass Issue tracking and imports work items into VSMs.
HCL Launch Continuous deployment and continuous integration plugin.
HCL OneTest Server Automated testing and imports test results as metrics into Insights.
WhiteSource Security scan, view security and license compliance data.
Visit the new HCL plugins site for documentation, support, and additional details.
Performance updates
Notable performance improvements yielding load reduction of CPU usage.
Security
Updated third party containers to fix vulnerabilities in Nginx, RabbitMQ, and MongoDB related to the WhiteSource plugin. Refer to MongoDB version 3.6 End of life (EOL) details listed below under version 2.2.5 for Docker Compose upgrades and new installation of various HCL Accelerate versions.

What's New in 2.2.5

MongoDB version 3.6 End of life (EOL) and compatibility flags
To anticipate the MongoDB 4.0 upgrade plan for HCL Accelerate version 2.3.0, various scenarios require your consideration for successful implementation. For Docker Compose upgrades and new installation of various HCL Accelerate versions, the preparation for the upcoming MongoDB 4.0 version requires attention to the associated setFeatureCompatibilityVersion MongoDB flag addressed in the following table:
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Velocity version 1.4.4 or earlier Upgraded from 1.4.4 or earlier to a version between 1.4.5 to 2.2.4 New installation of 1.4.5 or higher
MongoDB version 3.4 3.6 3.6
MongoDB compatibility flag version 3.4 3.4 3.6
Solution A Upgrade to version 2.2.5, then to 2.3.0 Upgrade to version 2.2.5, then to 2.3.0 Upgrade directly to version 2.3.0
Solution B N/A Run MongoDB command db.adminCommand( { setFeatureCompatibilityVersion: 3.6 } ) to set compatibility flag to version 3.6, then upgrade to version 2.3.0 N/A
Solution C Contact support. Contact support. N/A
Note: Refer to the MongoDB site for details on the setFeatureCompatibilityVersion flag.

What's New in 2.2.4

Performance enhancements
Properties and Versions tabs load properly on the deployment plan pages.

What's New in 2.2.3

Performance enhancements
General performance fixes on the deployment plan pages.

What's New in 2.2.1

Metric definitions updates (Insights only)
Clarified metric definitions for the following: lead time, cycle time, load, throughput, and distribution.
3rd party image updates
Updated bitnami/rabbitmq to version 3.8.9
Updated bitnami/nginx to version 1.19

What's New in 2.2.0

Pipeline automatic promotion improvement

Auto promote now applies to the Input environment for UrbanCode™ Deploy and Jenkins applications which enables the automatic deployment to other environments.

User interface enhancements
Dashboards can be marked as a favorite and they are displayed on the new My Favorites tab.

New dashboard table view provides for filtering dashboards. You can filter the table to see only the dashboards you own.

Enhancement added to lead and cycle time metrics
Detailed tabular information can be attained from lead time and cycle time metrics.
Additional value stream view data by and quick filters features
You can now both view dots and limit data by priority, type, release, and sprint.
HCL Software Factory (SoFy)
HCL SoFy 2.2 is now available on HCL Software Factory (SoFy). For more information, visit the HCLSoFy website.
Known issue
Delete application option in release pipeline deletes all other applications. If you experience this issue, restore your deployment plan from its Change History tab. This issue is corrected in version 2.2.1.Change history tab
Plugin updates
For new installations of HCL Accelerate, you may have to install the plugin and then integrate it in HCL Accelerate. On the Integrations page, an Install button is displayed for this plugin type.

What's New in 2.1.3

Enhancement
On the Insights All Dashboards page, you can view dashboards in either card or list view. In the list view, you can sort fields in ascending or descending order by clicking on the following field names:
  • Name
  • Description
  • Creator
  • Last Modified
  • Modified By

What's New in 2.1.2

Enhancement
For the UrbanCode™ Deploy applications in a pipeline, you can auto-promote from the input to stage environments. Click the Three horizontal dots icon next to Input and then select Auto promote.
Configuring release-events-api memory limits
For the release-events-api performance issues in Kubernetes or OpenShift installations with explicit overrides of limits and requests memory allocations in the deployment, the following workaround provides guidelines to address loss of system stability associated with how the non-default settings were set up in the configuration. This issue is typically not encountered if the aforementioned explicit overrides are not implemented in the configuration. If more than 2 GBs of memory are required, perform the following procedure:
  1. Determine the memory requirement.
  2. Under spec > template > spec > containers in your yaml file, locate the line image: urbancode/velocity-se-release-events-api:x.x.x.xx.
  3. Add the command override as a sibling entry to image: in the form of the following:
    
     image: urbancode/velocity-se-release-events-api:x.x.x.xx
     command:
       - node
       - --max-old-space-size=xxxx
       - /release-events-api/release-events-api.min.js
  4. On the command line - --max-old-space-size=xxxx, enter the maximum memory requirement in the appropriate units.

What's New in 2.1.1

Enhancements
  • Value stream names wrap in table on All Value Streams tab when displayed in View list layout.
  • On Value stream tab under Legend, sprints are ordered with current sprint followed by the previous four consecutive sprints.
  • Link rules only require defining one or more integrations. Previously, vsm.json files required defining at least two integrations if uploading a link rule.
  • The DQL validator detects and prevents the query with double equal signs ==.

What's New in 2.1.0

Forward proxy support
Forward proxy communication with HCL® Launch is now supported. While a reverse proxy is not fully supported a fallback mechanism is in place. The fallback mechanism eliminates the need for callbacks from HCL® Launch. This allows for a more robust communications with HCL® Launch.
Support added for issue.sprints.active as a stage query to the DevOps query language.
Integrated with HCL Software Factory (SoFy)
HCL Accelerate is now available on HCL Software Factory (SoFy). SoFy is a catalog of Kubernetes enabled products as docker images and helm charts, hosted in a cloud-native registry. For more information, see the HCLSoFy website.
Gate enhancements
Rules can be created for gates that can be used to automate the gate process.
Metrics type rules can be defined and a gate set based upon the rule.
Metrics updates
Added distribution metric to Insights, metrics bar, and VSM table.
Metrics type rules can be defined and a gate set based upon the rule.
Required software update
The Jenkins UrbanCode Velocity plugin is now prerequisite and must be installed. The allows for running Jenkins jobs as a part of a deployment plan in HCL Accelerate. Version 2.1.0 of the plugin is required. For more information about the plugin, see the Jenkins website.

What's New in 2.0.5

Jenkins processing updates
Jenkins tasks are automatically failed if the integration with the Jenkins server is not available.
Deployment plan updates
Release participants can now see list of assigned users and groups on deployment plan tasks.

What's New in 2.0.4

This release includes an announcement about advanced capabilities using HCL Accelerate and IBM® UrbanCode Release. See the IBM® UrbanCode Release 2.0.4 includes UrbanCode Release and delivers advanced capabilities for your organization’s DevOps processes document for details.

Value stream updates
A list of favorite value streams can be create by marking a value stream as a favorite. The list can be prioritize to quickly locate a value stream.
License sharing
Starting with IBM® UrbanCode Release version 6.2.4.1 and HCL Accelerate 2.0.4 a single pool of floating and authorized licenses can be shared by users of the two products. For example, an user assigned a authorized user license type can use the same license for accessing both IBM® UrbanCode Release and HCL Accelerate.
HCL Accelerate users can now be assigned an authorize license key by selecting Reserve License on the Users page.
Value stream updates
Parser type plugin code has been updated to fix a problem with the NPM wrapper when there are no plugin properties.
Support added for issue.sprints.active as a stage query to the DevOps query language.
New Pipeline Designer role

The new Pipeline Designer role allows a user to edit a pipeline but not able to run it.

Gate enhancements

The rules and reason for failure is displayed when a gate fails.

Performance updates
The time it takes to load a list of Jenkins jobs when mapping a list to environment has been improved.
Improved load time of previous environment versions in pipelines.

What's New in 2.0.3

Performance updates
Changes to code for paginating user tables has been changed to increase performance when loading user lists.
The time it takes to load a list of Jenkins jobs when mapping a list to environment has been improved.
Improvements made to processing of manual tasks to improve processing time and eliminate an error exception logged when an imported task did not have the groupsAndUsers property defined.
Plugin updates
Parser type plugin code has been updated to fix a problem with the NPM wrapper when there are no plugin properties.

What's New in 2.0.2

Deployment plans can add task dependencies from the user interface. Plugin image versions are now displayed on Plugin page. Improved reserved participants to include LDAP and SSO users and check reservation availability. Added LDAP and SSO users alongside local users in a single users list. Bottleneck detection is now based on Lead Time definition.

What's New in 2.0.1

Scalability of services
The main HCL Accelerate services can now scale to handle larger installations and greater amounts of data.
Locking of releases
The release manger can change a release status to lock. No changes can be made to the release after it is locked. Request for changes must be This gives the release manager control over last minute changes and ensures no changes are made after a final review. The lock is set on the Release Overflow page.
Environment gating
Users can now manually approve versions and gate environments based on approvals. The gate fails if approval requirements are not met. If a version does not pass all approvals the release manager can override the deployment. This feature provides for governance and compliance of open source tools and fragmented tools. This feature is located on the Environment Overflow page.
Built in reports
A new State of Sprint report allows for gathering statics of the value stream in relationship to a sprint. This report is helpful to a scrum master or manager in reducing risk of the current sprint and look at older sprints. You can access the report on the Reports page.
Plugin SDK
Using the plugin SDK you can create your own plugins and upload them to HCL Accelerate. To access to the plugin SDK, click Settings > Integrations > Download Plugin SDK.
Bottleneck detection
Using machine learning, the model looks at current and previous state of a value stream to determine which stage the user should focus on first. This algorithm is always updating with new information to locate the next largest bottleneck. Types of bottlenecks include: Long Wait Time – the average time of stage is longer than any other by a substantial amount Batching – items pile up then are released at the same time In-Flow and out-flow mismatch See the Value Stream page Metrics Bar or Metrics Table fields.
Contributor and Load Metrics
Two new metrics are now available: Contributor Count and Load Count
  • Contributor count shows how many users are working on items in the Value Stream. The metric is based off the stages in Lead Time (work select -> customer) and counts how many unique individual owned items in those stages. Allows the tool to compare other metrics to rationalize about other metrics.
  • Load is also based off Lead Time and is a count of all the items in the stages at any given time. This allows you to see if there is a correlation of how much work is truly in progress vs how much is getting done. Usually there is a sweet spot to not give too much work and get the right amount out. With both our metrics are in a state where we can start rationalizing about different strategies without customers and how to use them correctly. See the Value Stream page Metrics Bar or Metrics Table fields.

What's New in 2.0.0

Scalability of services
The main HCL Accelerate services can now scale to handle larger installations and greater amounts of data.
Locking of releases
The release manger can change a release status to lock. No changes can be made to the release after it is locked. This gives the release manager control over last minute changes and ensures no changes are made after a final review. The lock is set on the Release Overflow page.
Environment gating
Users can now manually approve versions and gate environments based on approvals. The gate fails if approval requirements are not met. If a version does not pass all approvals the release manager can override the deployment. This feature provides for governance and compliance of open source tools and fragmented tools. This feature is located on the Environment Overflow page.
Built in reports
A new State of Sprint report allows for gathering statics of the value stream in relationship to a sprint. This report is helpful to a scrum master or manager in reducing risk of the current sprint and look at older sprints. You can access the report on the Reports page.
Plugin SDK
Using the plugin SDK you can create your own plugins and upload them to HCL Accelerate. To access to the plugin SDK, click Settings -> Integrations > Download Plugin SDK.
Bottleneck detection
Using machine learning, the model looks at current and previous state of a value stream to determine which stage the user should focus on first. This algorithm is always updating with new information to locate the next largest bottleneck. Types of bottlenecks include:
  • Long Wait Time - the average time of stage is longer than any other by a substantial amount
  • Batching - items pile up then are released at the same time
  • In-Flow and out-flow mismatch
See the Value Stream page Metrics Bar or Metrics Table fields.
Contributor and Load Metrics
Contributor metrics shows how many users are working on items in the Value Stream. This metric is based off the stages in Lead Time and includes the number of unique individual owned items in those stages.
The Load metrics is also based off Lead Time and includes a count of all the items in the stages at any given time. You can use this metric to see the amount of work that is in progress versus the amount of work being completed.
Access these metrics from the Value Stream page using the Metrics Bar or Metrics Table fields.
Drops Support for MongoDB 3.4
Starting in HCL Accelerate v2.0.0, the MongoDB server 3.4 is no longer supported. HCL Accelerate v2.0.0 supports MongoDB server versions: 3.6, 4.0, and 4.2. For more information about out of service MongoDB server versions, see Mongo website. Docker Compose installations automatically upgrade to 3.6. Helm installations require manual upgrade or installation of the MongoDB server to 3.6 or later. New Helm installations use MongoDB 4.2 according to the Helm chart.