Blue Prism 7.0 - Release Notes

Blue Prism 7.
0
Release Notes
Document Revision: 1.1

Blue Prism 7.0 | Release Notes
Trademarks and Copyright

The information contained in this document is the proprietary and confidential information of Blue Prism
Limited and should not be disclosed to a third-party without the written consent of an authorized Blue
Prism representative. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying without the written permission of Blue Prism
Limited.
© Blue Prism Limited, 2001 – 2021
© “Blue Prism”, the “Blue Prism” logo and Prism device are either trademarks or registered trademarks of
Blue Prism Limited and its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
All trademarks are hereby acknowledged and are used to the benefit of their respective owners.
Blue Prism is not responsible for the content of external websites referenced by this document.
Blue Prism Limited, 2 Cinnamon Park, Crab Lane, Warrington, WA2 0XP, United Kingdom.
Registered in England: Reg. No. 4260035. Tel: +44 870 879 3000. Web: www.blueprism.com
Commercial in Confidence Page ii

Contents
Contents
Contents iiiii
Introduction 4
Upgrading Blue Prism 4
Review upgrade notices 4
Applying updates 5
Upgrading to version 7 - Selecting a server communication method 6
Database upgrade
In-product
Directly executed
upgradeSQL Script (advanced)
7 7
8
This Release 9
Blue Prism 7.0: May 2021
Known
Important
Secure
New
Enhancements
Fixes
Browser
features
and
development
issues
extensions
minor
notices
improvements
policy
910
11
14
16
9
Upgrade notices 18
Upgrading from versions prior to 6.0 18
Upgrading from versions prior to 6.4.2 19
Invalid upgrade paths 28
Commercial in Confidence Page iii

Introduction | Upgrading Blue Prism
Introduction
Release notes are created for each release of Blue Prism, providing details about the release (such as
required database version and certifications achieved) and a summary of each enhancement and fix.
Upgrading Blue Prism

Blue Prism can be updated from one version to another without the need to install each intermediate
release. For example, a system can be updated directly from v4.2.5 to the latest version.
Before updating Blue Prism in a production environment, ensure the following steps are followed:
1. Review the release notes for the appropriate release to find out about any new features and fixes.
2. Review the upgrade notices to see if there are any considerations relating to the upgrade path
being followed. For example, is there any known actions that are required as part of the upgrade?
Is a new license key is required? Is an update to Login Agent is required?
3. Take a backup of the Blue Prism database(s).
4. Apply the update to development and test environments to validate the appropriate processing of
processes. Functional and non-functional verification is recommended – non-functional testing
could include reviewing the average handling time of core processes before and after the update
has been applied.
5. Where relevant, update any existing processes to take account of new or improved features and
perform any appropriate testing. Where this includes importing the latest version of provided
VBOs, all processes which reference these should be re-verified.
Review upgrade notices

Special considerations are required when upgrading from versions prior to those listed below:
• 6.0 • 6.7
• 6.3 • 6.7.1
• 6.4.2 • 6.7.2
• 6.5 • 6.7.3
• 6.5.1 • 6.8
• 6.6 • 6.9
• 6.6.1 • 7.0
For example, if a deployment currently running 6.7.3 is being upgraded to version 7.0, it is essential that
the information for update notices for 6.8, 6.9, and 7.0 are followed.
For full information about the considerations when upgrading from these versions, see Upgrade notices.
Commercial in Confidence Page 4 of 28

Applying updates | Review upgrade notices
Applying updates
The recommended procedure for applying updates to a given environment is as follows:
1. Stop any currently executing processes or schedules.
2. Close or exit all connected Blue Prism clients (e.g. interactive clients, runtime resources, Blue Prism
Server).
3. Back up the database (data files and transaction logs).
4. Install the new version by executing the supplied MSI installer on all devices. Commonly there is no
requirement to remove a previous version first - review the Update Notices to verify if the upgrade
path being followed does require the previous version to be uninstalled prior to a new version
being applied. Subject to use of application distribution software, this task could be fully
automated.
5. If there are database changes for the upgrade path (this is indicated in the Release Notes) these
can either be applied via an in-product option, or through use of SQL Upgrade Script that is applied
manually.
The database changes will need to be applied to each environment affected by the update. (See
following section for details).
To upgrade a database using the in-product capability, or by directly applying the upgrade script, a
SQL user account with the following permission is required: sysadmin (server role) or dbowner
(database role)
6. Once any required changes have been applied on one client, use the various connections to log into
each of the Blue Prism environments to validate the installation and check that there are no more
on-screen messages.
7. If Login Agent is used within the environment and it is necessary to apply an updated version (this
is indicated in the Release Notes) it should be installed by executing the supplied MSI installer on
all appropriate devices.
Once Blue Prism has been installed the Login Agent installation files can be found within an
Installers folder within the Blue Prism install location.
8. Following the update of Login Agent, install the updated Login Agent Blue Prism Release into the
relevant environment and ensure that the relevant processes reference the updated Login Agent
VBO.
9. Start the Blue Prism Server service on each Blue Prism Server and resume all Blue Prism clients.

Applying updates | Upgrading to version 7 - Selecting a server communication method
Upgrading to version 7 - Selecting a server communication method

If upgrading from Blue Prism version 6, the existing communication settings can be used.
Blue Prism version 7 offers a number of .NET and WCF communication methods:
• .NET Remoting Insecure
• .NET Remoting Secure
• WCF Insecure
• WCF: SOAP with Transport Encryption
• WCF: SOAP with Transport Encryption & Windows Authentication
• WCF: SOAP with Message Encryption & Windows Authentication
Consult your Security and Governance team, Network Administrators, and Server Support staff to help
select the best option for the needs of your business.
Follow the steps below to change the server communication method.
A successful upgrade must be completed and verified prior to updating the server communication
method.
1. Select an appropriate communication method which aligns with the deployment architecture.
2. If using a WCF method with Transport Encryption, generate the required server certificate per
server.
3. Stop all component devices.
4. Make the necessary server configuration changes.
5. Start the server.
6. Update the connection settings on all components.

Applying updates | Database upgrade
Database upgrade
The database upgrade can be applied either via:
• An in-product option, or
• Through use of SQL Upgrade Script that is applied manually.
In-product upgrade
On a single client (typically the application server), click File > Connections. Ensure the relevant
connection is selected and click Upgrade Database.
The connection to the database will require necessary database permissions to carry out the required
changes.

Applying updates | Database upgrade
Directly executed SQL Script (advanced)

The SQL upgrade script for the relevant Blue Prism version must be applied against all databases which
are to be upgraded.
Once the database upgrade script has been executed against the relevant databases, the following
command must be run against each of the affected Blue Prism environments from a single client
(typically the application server).
• Single Sign-On – automatec.exe /refreshdependencies /dbconname “[DBConName]” /sso
• Blue Prism Native Authentication – automatec.exe /refreshdependencies /dbconname
“[DBConName]” /user [Username] [Password]
• DBConnName – The name of the Blue Prism Connection (as displayed within the client
interface on the device where the command is being executed).
• Username – The username used to log into the environment accessed using the specified
Blue Prism Connection (only required where not using single sign-on for the Blue Prism
platform).
• Password – The password used to log into the environment accessed using the specified
Blue Prism Connection (only required where not using single sign-on for the Blue Prism
platform).

This Release | Blue Prism 7.0: May 2021
This Release
Blue Prism 7.0: May 2021
Database 444 The release requires the Blue Prism database to be this
version. This is the first Blue Prism release to use this
database version.
Login agent 7.0 The version of Login Agent that is provided with this
release of Blue Prism has the same functionality as the
version provided with Blue Prism 6.7.
Browser extensions 7.0.0 See the browser extensions section for the latest versions
(Chrome, Firefox, and of each browser that has been verified with this release.
Edge) For the latest compatibility information, see the browser
compatibility matrix in the Blue Prism online help.
If a previous version of the Edge browser extension has
already been manually installed from the Chrome store, this
should be manually removed and the new version installed
from the Edge store, see the upgrade notices for more
details.
Data Gateways engine 1.3 The Data Gateways engine version 1.3 must be installed to
use Data Gateways with Blue Prism 7.0.
Download the installer from the Blue Prism Portal via
Product > Blue Prism Enterprise > Extras.
Known issues
A list of any prominent issues with this release is maintained in the knowledge base – click here for more
information.
Important notices
Please review the upgrade notices for more details and before upgrading to this release.
Secure development policy

As part of our secure development policy, Blue Prism products are evaluated against the following
security standards:
• OWASP Top 10 –The security vulnerabilities that pose the most risk to applications development.
Further information
• SANS CWE Top 25 – The most common software security vulnerabilities found throughout the
software development industry. Further information
• Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2 – U.S. government standard
that defines minimum security requirements for cryptographic modules in information technology
products.
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
• Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).
A compliance highlight summary report is available upon request via Product Support.

New features
An overview of Blue Prism 7, including installation path options and links to additional documentation
can be found in the online help.
Core components
The following features have been added to the Blue Prism core functionality in version 7.0:
• Digital Workers at Scale – The new Application Server Controlled Resources (ASCR) feature
increases the number of runtime resources that Blue Prism can interact with. With ASCR,
interactive clients communicate with available runtime resources via the application server,
meaning that individual connections don’t need to be made. This increases efficiency and enhances
the potential for greater scale allowing users to deploy more than double the number of digital
workers into a single Blue Prism environment compared to Blue Prism version 6. Learn more...
• Native Citrix Automation – Applications presented in a Citrix Virtual Desktop Environment (VDE)
can now be natively automated using Blue Prism. Users who are able to install Blue Prism directly
into the Citrix VDE can now take advantage of native spying techniques in addition to the
previously available surface automation approach. Learn more...
Optional components
In addition to the new core features, the following optional components can be configured to extend the
capabilities of Blue Prism version 7.0:
• Browser-based Control Room – Provides dashboards and data views that allow users to view and
manage Blue Prism activity for all their environments – run schedules, monitor work queue activity,
oversee session activity, and more. The browser-based Control Room has four features available in
this release:
• Work Queues – Monitor the status of work queue items and track queue activity.
• Schedules and Tasks – View, run, and monitor schedules and tasks.
• Sessions – View, filter, and organize session activity in each environment.
• Digital Worker Health – View and monitor the digital workers in each environment.
The browser-based Control Room is supplementary to the Control Room in the Blue Prism
interactive client and requires the installation of Blue Prism Hub 4.3. Learn more...
• Blue Prism API – Provides a common interface for components such as the Blue Prism browser-
based client to connect with the Blue Prism database. It also provides a series of predefined
capabilities that can be used by custom solutions to interact with Blue Prism programmatically
using a RESTful API, such as:
• Access to monitoring data such as sessions, work queues, and schedule information.
• Schedule management control.
• Adding items to Blue Prism work queues ready for processing by your digital workforce.
The Blue Prism API is installed independently of Blue Prism. Learn more...

• Authentication Server – A centralized way of providing common authentication for users across
three key components of the Blue Prism platform: Blue Prism Enterprise, RESTful API, and Hub.
• Authentication Server is installed as part of the Blue Prism Hub 4.3 installation and is
required if using the Blue Prism API and/or browser-based Control Room with Blue Prism
7.0 and later.
• Authentication Server can only be used with Blue Prism environments configured for multi-
authentication, but where users log into the interactive client using Blue Prism native
authentication.
• Once Authentication Server has been configured and enabled in a Blue Prism environment,
all user access via the interactive client for Blue Prism will be directed via Authentication
Server where users will only be able to use basic authentication (username and password)
and LDAP authentication to log in via Authentication Server.
• When using Authentication Server for Blue Prism user authentication, Blue Prism native and
Active Directory authentication can still be used to authenticate runtime resources,
AutomateC commands, and when calling web services exposed on runtime resources.
• Blue Prism environments which are not configured to use Authentication Server cannot use
the Blue Prism API and/or browser-based Control Room. Hence, users can continue to use
native and Active Directory authentication to log into the interactive client.
• The external authentication capability via Authentication Gateway introduced in Blue Prism
6.10 is not supported in the first version of Blue Prism version 7 irrespective of whether
Authentication Server is used or not. Learn more...
Enhancements
In addition to the new features described above, the following enhancements have been made to this
release of Blue Prism:
Description of change Reference

A new license key is required for all upgrades to Blue Prism 7.0. During an upgrade, BP-3524
existing Blue Prism 6 licenses will be deleted from the Blue Prism database. Users will
be prompted to apply their new license when first logging into Blue Prism connected
directly to the database following an upgrade before it will be possible to start Blue
Prism application server services.
It is recommended that users have the required licenses before installing this release
and upgrading their Blue Prism 6 database. Details of how to get a Blue Prism license
are available on the portal.


A new Resource details menu option has been added to the right-click shortcut menu BP-1495
in the Resources panel in Control Room. The new menu option is available for public
and private runtime resources, including those within resource pools, but not for the
resource pool itself. The menu option displays the following details for the selected
resource:
• The resource name (FQDN).
• The port that the resource is listening on.
• The Blue Prism version that is installed.
• The date and time the first TCP connection was made with the resource.
• The date and time the status of the resource was last updated.
• The application server to which the resource is connected.
• The resource’s environment type. This will display client if the resource is a
personal runtime resource started as part of the client, or resource if the private or
public resource is a separate machine.
The Resource details menu option is only available if the Save environment data for
clients, runtime resources and servers to the database option on the System >
System - Settings screen is enabled. This option is enabled by default.
Users will need to be granted specific permissions to be able to see this information.
Users need to be granted with the new View Resource Details permission to access
this information. By default, only System Administrators are automatically granted
this access.
A new Use time zone option is enabled by default when configuring schedules in BP-669
Control Room. The required time zone can be selected from a drop-down list and will BP-679
be applied when schedules are run.
BP-3084
This enhancement will benefit organizations that have Blue Prism interactive clients
and application servers in different time zones. It is also of benefit to environments
that have runtime resources configured to run in specific time zones in order to meet
operational needs.
If the Use time zone option is disabled, the schedule will use the time zone of the
application server where the scheduler is operating as per previous behavior.
An additional Adjust for daylight savings option ensures the schedule automatically
updates to reflect daylight savings changes in the selected time zone.
The scheduler Run Now option now triggers a schedule immediately regardless of BP-1217
whether the schedule has been configured to run in a specific time zone or not. BP-3183
Previously, if the Run Now option was selected and the Blue Prism application server
and interactive client were not in the same time zone, schedules did not necessarily
run immediately.
Additionally, schedule execution times now display in the time zone of the interactive BP-2343
client in the following Scheduler areas of Control Room:
• Reports – Recent Activity
• Timetables – Today and Tomorrow
• Schedule Log View


A new Stop option is now available when right-clicking a schedule in Control Room to BP-1227
allow users to stop a schedule from running. When selected, any active sessions BP-3149
created by the schedule that are running will be terminated and the current instance
of the schedule will be stopped, preventing any further associated tasks from being
performed.
New search and filter functionality has been added to the Resources panel in Control BP-1131
Room to enable users to easily find and filter on resources, pools, and group names.
The following enhancements, to support the new Application Server Controlled BP-3170
Resources (ASCR) functionality have been added: BP-2603
• When using Application Server Controlled Resources (ASCR), a new connection
status of Disconnected now displays in the Resources panel in Control Room for
resources that are online, but with which the application server cannot currently
communicate. If users attempt to create a session on an disconnected resource, a
warning message displays informing the user that the application server cannot
currently communicate with the resource.
• A new AutomateC command line argument AutomateC /ascrconfig
<servername> <conntype> <hostname> <port> <connectionmode>
<certificatename> <clientcertificatename> <servercertstore>
<clientcertstore> has been added to allow users to configure Application
Server Controlled Resources (ASCR) settings via the command line. Learn more...

Fixes and minor improvements

Blue Prism 6.5 introduced a change of behavior in work queues when a runtime BP-1061
resource session terminated. Work queue items with an exception were marked BP-3779
incomplete by the clean up process and an automatic retry was not attempted if a
work queue item was left locked.
From this release, a new option called Retry items in this queue in the event of an
unexpected session termination, which is disabled by default, has been added to the
System > Workflow - Work Queues screen. If this option is enabled and a work queue
item is left locked as a result of a runtime resource unexpectedly terminating during a
session, a retry for the queue item will be automatically created when the runtime
resource is restarted – this depends on the configured value of maximum retries on
the queue.
As part of this enhancement, exceptions that are applied as a result of an unexpected
session termination now include the description Automatically set exception on
session terminated.
An issue introduced in Blue Prism 6.9 has been corrected so that the Data items are BP-2747
no longer reset when the process or object is being run in debug mode if Check Code
has been applied. Previously, when Check Code was used on a Code stage, the Data
items on the current page were reset to their initial values.
Users can now add descriptions for response/output parameters in Web API BP-2045
Services. The descriptions display when hovering over a Web API output parameter
in Process Studio in the Action Properties > Outputs tab. Previously, this was only
possible for request/input parameters. The descriptions are included when exporting
Web APIs in a release package.
The Rows Per Page drop-down list displayed on the System > Audit > Process Logs BP-395
and the Object Logs screens no longer displays invalid options. Previously, selecting
an option of 1500 rows or greater resulted in an error.
Error messages relating to processes that contain only a single exception stage and BP-2368
no other stages now display in the center of the screen and remain in the foreground
until closed. Previously, such error messages displayed at the top-left side of the
screen and did not remain in the foreground of Blue Prism if the user navigated to
another application.
After using and then clearing the tree view filter in Application Modeller, the Add BP-570
Element and Child buttons now correctly display as active. Previously, after the filter
had been cleared, the buttons displayed as inactive despite being functional.
The filter fields at the top of the System > Workflow - Environment Locks screen now BP-547
remain fixed while scrolling through the table and no longer incorrectly scroll with the
table.
All expired schedules are now marked as inactive in Control Room to make users BP-2764
aware they have expired. Users can still edit expired schedules and extend their
expiry date to make them active again.
In the Control Room Queue Management screen, the default ordering of work queue BP-2825
items in the Last Updated column is now in descending date/time order. This corrects
the change to the ordering that was made in Blue Prism 6.10.0.


A change introduced in 6.8.0 under BG-4494 that prevented Action stages from BP-4044
adding item tags to locked work queue items, incorrectly prevented sub-processes
and objects from tagging work queue items locked by its parent process. A fix has
been applied to allow sub-processes and objects to successfully tag work queue
items that are locked by its parent processes.
An error no longer occurs when right-clicking a retired schedule and selecting Run BP-3295
Now and then attempting to unretire the schedule.
Users are now prompted to confirm the deletion of a schedule to prevent schedules BP-2170
from being unintentionally deleted.
If a scheduled session is not successfully created, details of the cause of the failure BP-2548
and the status of the session can now be accessed for troubleshooting purposes.
Customer Support are able to advise how to enable this logging, as required.
The display of the logging level for each resource has now been re-introduced in the BP-2613
Resources list in the Resources - Management screen. This functionality was first
introduced in 6.6 and incorrectly removed in 6.10.0.
Session logs are now successfully created regardless of the number of session IDs in BP-2503
the database tables. Previously, a System.OverflowException occurred when
attempting to write additional session logs to the database once 2.1 billion logs had
been created.
To improve performance, the check whether an environment requires Federal BP-2296
Information Processing Standard (FIPS) compliance or not is now performed before
evaluating which of the encryption schemes are currently used to encrypt data stored
within the database.
The review of which encryption schemes are actually used to encrypt data now only
occurs if FIPS compliance is required. Previously, the check occurred before it had
been determined if FIPS compliance should be enforced.
To improve performance, the stored procedure UpdateWorkQueueItemAggregate BP-2297
which runs when Management Information (MI) is enabled in Blue Prism has been
updated to execute in a timely manner regardless of the number of work queue items
in the BPAWorkQueueItem table.
Minor performance improvements have been made to the handling of authentication BP-1998
tokens between a user and a runtime resource created by Blue Prism. The BP-2035
improvements include more efficient sorting and searching of the tokens within the
database; and the deletion of used tokens, preventing an unnecessary buildup of
redundant data within the database.
Performance improvements have been made to the Select dependencies function in BP-4436
the Create Package wizard and Modify Package wizard in the Release Manager. The
improvements include a significant reduction in the time taken to display all
components associated to a selected item (such as processes, objects, work queues,
credentials and environment variables) in large environments.
The Session Management enforces permissions of controlling user (recommended) BP-4158
option has been removed from the System - Settings screen. The option remains
enabled by default, as recommended since version 6.3.0. Customer Support are able
to advise how to disable this setting for troubleshooting purposes if required.

Browser extensions
Browser extensions allow Blue Prism to interact with web pages and applications presented in a
browser, so that business processes that include such applications and web pages can easily be
modeled.
Browser extension versions

The table below shows when each Blue Prism extension, compatible with this release was introduced
and the browser version against which they were evaluated. See browser extension release notes for
details of key capabilities.
Browser Blue Prism extension Latest browser version Date available

versions evaluated
Chrome 7.0.0 90.0.4430.212 18 May 2021
Edge Chromium 7.0.0 90.0.818.56 18 May 2021
Firefox 7.0.0 88.0 18 May 2021
The browser extension versions above were evaluated against the latest browser version available when
preparing the extension for release.
How updates are applied

The latest browser extensions are automatically installed with Blue Prism. Browser extensions that are
made available after a release are automatically updated when the browser is loaded if there is an active
internet connection. Alternatively, if your devices are not connected to the internet, updates can be
pushed per user to each device manually. See the Chrome, Edge, and Firefox integration guide for details
of how to install the extension using an offline package.

Browser extension release notes

Browser extension 7.0.0

Blue Prism now uses a native messaging host application to communicate with each BP-709
of the browser extensions (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox). A native messaging host BP-2282
application is started behind the scenes when a Chrome, Edge, or Firefox browser is
launched from Blue Prism and then listens for any incoming messages from Blue BP-2283
Prism to send them to the browser extension. BP-2596
The Blue Prism installer has been updated to automatically install the configuration BP-2818
settings for the native messaging host, regardless of whether the user selects to
install any of the browser extensions or not. As a result of these enhancements, the
system settings related to browser connectivity (for example Use fixed browser
extension port) are no longer required and have been removed from the Blue Prism
interactive client.
Native messaging supports all existing browser automation functionality, including:
• Attaching to and detaching from a browser.
• Automating pop-up windows and new windows without having to re-attach.
• Automating multiple browser instances at the same time.
• Using multiple Blue Prism instances to automate multiple browser instances on
the same device.
Further improvements to the browser extensions include:
• The Attach action of the Navigate stage now has an optional tracking ID output
parameter which can be used to allow Blue Prism to automate multiple instances
of the same web page across multiple processes.
• Untracked browser windows whose parent windows cannot be determined
because they are not strictly associated with any launch or attach event and
therefore not associated with a tracking ID, are included in a browser interaction
that includes a tracking ID. Should no matching element be found within any
untracked windows, an error message notifies the user that the element has not
been found.
After having spied an element via the active accessibility (AA) spy mode, the Screen BP-2461
Bounds attribute identifier no longer displays twice.
Previously, when launching an Edge browser via the Application Modeller, the BP-3553
browser launched but Blue Prism could not connect to it to spy the elements. If the BP-3462
initial browser window remained open and the user attempted to launch Edge again
via the still active Launch button in the Application Modeller, Blue Prism could
successfully spy the elements, however, only in a second browser window. The issue
no longer occurs and the elements can now be spied successfully the first time the
Edge browser is launched.
An issue has been fixed where after launching an Edge browser window successfully BP-3462
via the Application Modeller, Blue Prism could not connect to the Edge browser
extension, which resulted in Blue Prism not being able to spy some elements of the
browser window.

Upgrade notices | Upgrading from versions prior to 6.0
Upgrade notices
Special considerations are required to upgrade from versions prior to those listed below. Please review
the following notices according to the version of Blue Prism which you are upgrading from.
For example, if a deployment currently running 6.7.3 is being upgraded to Version 7.0 it is essential that
the information for updates prior to 6.8, 6.9, and 7.0 are followed.
It is recommended that any customers planning to upgrade from a Blue Prism release earlier than
6.0 should contact Customer Support and review the relevant upgrade notices.
As with all upgrades it is essential that a full and verified database backup is performed prior to applying
the database upgrades.
Upgrading from versions prior to 6.0

Requires .NET Framework 4.7
All components (interactive clients, runtime resources, and application server) will require .NET 4.7 to be
installed as a pre-requisite.
Introduces WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)

Alternative server communication methods have been introduced, in addition to .NET remoting.
Following a successful upgrade, it is recommended that one of the new WCF communication methods is
chosen. WCF connection modes require session persistence to be enabled. If existing load balancing is
configured that does not apply session persistence, re-configuration will be required.
Dates are now processed using different logic

The logic used to interpret dates and times has changed and it is important that all processes that use
date and times, particularly those that use collections with code stages are re-validated and updated
accordingly. See the release notes for details, and the v6 Data Sheet – Date and Time Handling available
on the portal for full information on the changes and implications. Aesthetic changes are also included.
For example: session logs are now saved and displayed in resource local time; and the process alert
history is now stored in UTC and displayed in client local time.
Pending or Running sessions should be completed or cancelled prior to upgrade

Process automations that are in a running or pending state should be completed or otherwise stopped or
cancelled prior to upgrading to avoid issues resulting from updated date/time handling logic. Tesseract
language packs will need to be updated on all devices
Tesseract Language Packs that are compatible with Tesseract 3.05.01 will need to be deployed to all
devices that use Tesseract with language packs. The files can be downloaded from the Tesseract product
site:
https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract/wiki/Data-Files.
A new installer has been introduced

A new Blue Prism installer was introduced in version 6.0 that brought about changes to the scripted
install procedures. See the v6 User Guide – Installing Enterprise Edition for further details.

Multi-team Environments (Group-based Permissions) – validate permission assignment
The allocation of permissions is now more granular, and a number of new permissions have been
provided. To ease upgrades, all pre-existing user roles are automatically expanded to include these

Upgrade notices | Upgrading from versions prior to 6.4.2
selected new roles: Execute (Objects/Processes); Execute (Objects/Processes) as Web Services;

Authenticate as Resource. For new deployments, these permissions are only added to the appropriate
security roles.
The assignment of all permissions must be reviewed to ensure they are appropriate for impacted users.
Process Administrator role permissions

Before upgrading, check that the following permissions are not assigned to the default Process
Administrator role:
• Object Studio > Test Business Object
• Process Studio > Test Process
If these permissions are assigned to the role, remove them in System > Security > User Roles, before
upgrading to version 6.3 or above.
Following a successful upgrade, the Process Administrator role is granted equivalent permissions.
New default groups for objects and processes

During an upgrade to 6.3, new Default groups are added to the navigation trees in Object Studio and
Process Studio. Before upgrading, any existing group named Default that contains one or more
subgroups must be renamed.
New permission required to call objects or processes exposed as web services

A new permission, Execute as Web Service is required to call an Object or Process exposed as a web
service.
Some programmatic options will no longer work by default

A number of session management commands (create, start, delete) no longer work by default. They have
been superseded by createas, startas and deleteas which require the use of the getauthtoken method.
While not recommended, the previous methods can be re-enabled by disabling the new setting that
enforces permissions of controlling users when carrying out session management actions.
New mechanism for securing access to runtime resources

The Access Rights option added to the context menu for resource groups replaces the previous method
of applying permissions to individual resources in System Manager. The new folder-based mechanism
aligns with the newly introduced mechanism for securing objects and process and additionally provides
greater control.
Items that were secured using the old mechanism must be manually re-secured using the new one.
Upgrading from versions prior to 6.4.2

Allow Snapshot Isolation automatically applied when using in-product capability for creating or
upgrading databases
When upgrading or creating a database, using the in-product capabilities, the Allow Snapshot Isolation
setting is now automatically applied for new and upgraded databases by default provided that the user
upgrading or creating the database has the Alter Database SQL permission. When performing an
upgrade, it is possible that a user may not have this permission and as a result, snapshot isolation will not
be enabled. In such circumstances the upgrade will still be performed but when attempting to log in or
start a blue prism server service, a message will inform the user that snapshot isolation must be enabled
before a connection to the database can be made.

To manually enable snapshot isolation after database creation or upgrade, a user with alter database
permissions must run the following command:
ALTER DATABASE [%%dbasename%%] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON
Snapshot isolation must by manually applied if using a script to create or upgrade a database
When creating or upgrading a database using a script, it is necessary to manually apply the Allow
Snapshot Isolation setting to the database.
To manually enable snapshot isolation after database creation or upgrade, a user with alter database
permissions must run the following command:
ALTER DATABASE [%%dbasename%%] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON

Session logs are not migrated by default
When performing an upgrade, select whether session log data is migrated to new database tables or
retained in existing ones. Depending on the volume of session log data, migration can be performed
during the upgrade via the user interface or post-upgrade using a tool available from Blue Prism
Customer Support.
To streamline the upgrade process, session logs should be archived before upgrading. By default,
sessions logs that remain in the system will not be visible after upgrade but can still be migrated
when required.
The following options display when Upgrade Database is selected from the Connection Configuration
dialog:
• Upgrade database and retain session logs in existing tables – The new database tables are
created during the upgrade but session log data remains in the existing tables. This is the default
option and provides the recommended upgrade path, ensuring upgrades are performed more
quickly. The existing session log table names are suffixed with '_pre65'. The data from these tables
is not be visible in session management but can still be migrated using the tool, available from Blue
Prism Customer Support.
• Upgrade database and migrate existing session log data to new tables – Data from session logs
is migrated to new database tables during the upgrade. As the migration can take some time, this
option is not available for environments with more than 10 million session logs or 10GB of data
and is not recommended for environments with more than 1 million session logs.
When generating upgrade scripts using the 'Generate Script' button, the created script will run the
upgrade without migrating session logs.
Tesseract language packs must be updated

The Tesseract OCR engine has been upgraded to version 4.0 and is applied to all installations of Blue
Prism 6.5. Any non-English language packs from versions prior to 6.5 will no longer work and new ones
must be installed.
If required, Blue Prism 6.5 can be configured to use previous versions of Tesseract. For further
information, see Tesseract v4.0.0.
Unicode logging must be enabled for Chinese and Japanese versions of Blue Prism
To ensure that process logs are correctly audited in Simplified Chinese and Japanese language versions
of Blue Prism, select Enable Unicode support for session logs in System > Settings.

Automatic retry no longer created for locked work queue items

If a work queue item is locked at the end of a session, the cleanup process now only marks the item with
an exception. Previously this scenario would automatically create a retry for the queue item.

Schedules created using Blue Prism version 6.5 on a Turkish operating system must be deleted
and recreated
Any schedules that were created using Blue Prism version 6.5 on a Turkish operating system will need to
be deleted and recreated after upgrading to this release. If this is not done, the schedule will not execute
but will appear to report success within the Recent Activity screen in the Control Room.
Data Gateways configurations must be manually checked for the impact of automatically
renamed published dashboards
Published dashboards with duplicate names are renamed with a numbered suffix during an upgrade to
version 6.6. Where this is the case, such dashboards will be deselected in any Data Gateways
configuration in which they are referenced. All Data Gateways configurations should be checked to
ensure the required dashboards are selected.


Customers considering an upgrade to Blue Prism 6.7 should consider upgrading to the latest major
version of Blue Prism 6.
Blue Prism application server configuration file certificate encryption

Consider implementing certificate encryption to protect information contained in the application server
configuration files. Details on using certificate encryption for the Blue Prism application server
configuration can be found in the product help.
Caps command needs to be manually re-enabled if using binary business objects

The caps command, called whenever a Blue Prism interactive client connected to a runtime resource and
originally introduced to support interaction with binary business objects in version 3, is now disabled by
default to improve performance. If still using binary business objects, please contact Blue Prism Support
for information on how to re-enable it.
Offline product help

From version 6.7 onwards, the Blue Prism product help is available online by default and all in-product
help links direct to the online help files. For users who do not want to access the new web-based product
help online, or want to provide the help locally within their environment, the Enable Offline Help option
has been added to the System > System - Settings screen. This is a system-wide setting, which applies
to all Blue Prism devices connected to the environment, meaning the help must be stored in a location
which is accessible to all devices.
Once downloaded, the help can be made accessible by specifying the location in Blue Prism's system
settings.
1. Download the help files from the Blue Prism 6.7 product page on the customer portal.
2. Extract the help from the ZIP file to the required location. The help can be hosted on an internal
network, a shared directory, or placed in a folder on a local machine.
3. In the Blue Prism interactive client, click the System tab and select System > Settings.
4. In the Offline Help section, select the check box and enter the URL or folder location of the parent
directory of the help files.
The help files in the specified location are now accessed when the help in called from the Blue Prism user
interface. To revert back to using the server-based help, deselect Enable Online Help.


Required installation if upgrading to 6.7.1.
This notice is only valid when upgrading to 6.7.1. If upgrading to 6.7.2 or later it is recommended to
follow the method outlined here.
If upgrading from Blue Prism 6.6 or earlier to 6.7.1, this release must be installed on all devices (clients,
runtime resources, and application servers).
If upgrading from Blue Prism 6.7.0:
• 6.7.1 must be installed on all interactive clients.
• If runtime resources have been upgraded to 6.7.0 and are set up to have a user.config file in
Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Blue Prism Limited\Automate V3, then these must be
upgraded to 6.7.1, or the user.config file must be removed.
• Devices running 6.7.1 can connect to application services running 6.7.0 or 6.7.1. Servers running
6.7.0 do not need to be updated to 6.7.1 other than to improve future upgrade behavior by
addressing bg-5533 described below. If upgrading application services from 6.7.0 to 6.7.1, please
ensure you note the existing log on details and other configured properties for the Blue Prism
server service so they can be re-applied after upgrade.

Required installation if upgrading to 6.7.2
This notice is only valid when upgrading to 6.7.2. If upgrading to 6.7.3 or later it is recommended to
follow the method outlined here.
If upgrading from Blue Prism 6.7.0 or 6.7.1:
• 6.7.2 must be installed on all runtime resources.
• Devices running 6.7.2 can connect to application services running 6.7.0, 6.7.1, or 6.7.2. Servers
running 6.7.0 do not need to be updated to 6.7.2 other than to improve future upgrade behavior by
addressing bg-5533, which was introduced in 6.7.0 and fixed in 6.7.1. If upgrading application
services from 6.7.0 to 6.7.2, please ensure you note the existing login details and other configured
properties for the Blue Prism server service so they can be re-applied after upgrade.


Required installation if upgrading to 6.7.3
If upgrading from Blue Prism 6.7.0, 6.7.1, or 6.7.2:
• 6.7.3 must be installed on all runtime resources.
• Devices running 6.7.3 can connect to application services running 6.7.0, 6.7.1, 6.7.2, or 6.7.3.
Servers running 6.7.0 do not need to be updated to 6.7.3 other than to improve future upgrade
behavior by addressing bg-5533, which was introduced in 6.7.0 and fixed in 6.7.1. If upgrading
application services from 6.7.0 to 6.7.3, please ensure you note the existing login details and other
configured properties for the Blue Prism server service so they can be re-applied after upgrade.

Ensure the new setting for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox is appropriate
From 6.8 onwards, the Blue Prism browser extensions will, by default, dynamically select a port from the
ephemeral range to communicate with Blue Prism. This removes the need for administrators to configure
a defined port on every machine to ensure Blue Prism can automate browsers effectively, and improves
the stability of the extension.
In the following situations users should still use a fixed browser extension port by enabling the new
system setting Use fixed browser extension port (31924) only:
• When using Blue Prism with older versions of the browser extension – This will only be the case
when policies have been configured to prevent the automatic installation of newer versions of the
browser extension, or where Blue Prism is operating in an offline environment and a new version
of the extension is not deployed at the same time as the product is upgraded.
• When attaching to instances of browsers launched manually or not launched by using a Blue Prism
object model.
Any runtime resources used to run processes which automate Chrome, Edge, and Firefox need to
be restarted when changing this setting.
See System Settings for more details.

Chrome browser extension must be manually installed for use with Microsoft Edge
These steps are only required if upgrading to a version of 6.8. If upgrading to version 6.9 or later,
there is no requirement to install the Edge browser extension manually as it can be selected for
automatic installation from the Blue Prism installer from 6.9 onwards.
To use the Blue Prism Chrome browser extension with Chromium-based versions of Microsoft Edge, the
extension must be manually installed as follows:
1. In Edge, enter edge://extensions in the address bar.
2. Select the Allow extensions from other stores setting.
3. Navigate to the Chrome store and search for the Blue Prism Browser Extension. Alternatively use
this URL.
4. Click Add to Chrome.
See Install Blue Prism browser extensions for more details.
Firefox browser extension for use with Firefox version 74 and later must be manually installed
This notice is only valid when upgrading to 6.8. If upgrading to 6.9 or later it is recommended to
follow the method outlined in Upgrading from versions prior to 6.9.
The Blue Prism Firefox extension is installed automatically when selected during a custom Blue Prism
installation or upgrade. However, for applications and websites using Firefox version 74 or later, the
extension must be installed manually as follows:
1. In Firefox, enter firefox://about:addons in the address bar.
2. From the tools menu, select Install Add-on from File.
3. From the Blue Prism install directory (typically C:\Program Files\Blue Prism Limited\Blue Prism
Automate), select the FirefoxPlugin.xpi file.
4. Click Add and follow the additional prompts to complete the installation.
A notification displays when installation is complete and the Blue Prism extension icon is added to
the Firefox toolbar. See Install Blue Prism browser extensions for more details.
Blue Prism native authentication environments updated to support multi-authentication

The new multi-authentication environment builds on the existing Blue Prism native authentication, and
all Blue Prism native authentication environments will be updated to support multi-authentication when
upgrading to 6.8. No action is required to continue using Blue Prism as before.
This new capability allows users to optionally associate Blue Prism with an Active Directory Domain
Services infrastructure where administrators can set up user access to Blue Prism using Single Sign-on.
This provides an environment with a mixture of users that use either Blue Prism native authentication or
Active Directory Single Sign-On.
See 6.8 release notes and Blue Prism authentication for more details.
Code stage compiler updated

The compiler used to validate code stages written in C# and Visual Basic has been updated for this
release. Because the new code compiler enforces modified syntax validation rules, code stages already
written in C# and Visual Basic may generate syntax errors. It is recommended that code stages created in
a previous release of Blue Prism are re-validated following upgrade. See 6.8 release notes for more
details.


Manually installed versions of the Blue Prism browser extension for Chrome and Edge must be
removed before upgrade if manually installed
If a previous version of the Blue Prism browser extension for Chrome and Edge has been manually
installed from the browser web store (and not automatically during Blue Prism installation), it is
necessary to manually remove the extension prior to a 6.9 upgrade. Please refer to the installation
instructions relevant to each browser.
Firefox browser extension for use with Firefox version 74 and later must be manually installed
The Blue Prism Firefox extension is installed automatically when selected during an advanced Blue Prism
installation or upgrade. However, for applications and websites using Firefox version 74 or later, the
extension must be installed manually from the Firefox add-ons store as follows:
1. Open Firefox.
2. Paste the following URL into the address bar of the browser: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
GB/firefox/addon/blue-prism-6-9-extension/
3. Click Add to Firefox and confirm the installation when prompted.
A notification displays when installation is complete and the Blue Prism extension icon is added to the
browser toolbar.
Code stages need to be re-validated

The compiler used to validate code stages written in C# and Visual Basic was updated in Blue Prism 6.8.
It is recommended that code stages created in a release of Blue Prism prior to 6.8 are re-validated
following the upgrade. See 6.8 upgrade notices for more details.


New Blue Prism license keys required
A new license key is required for all upgrades to Blue Prism 7.0. During an upgrade, existing Blue Prism 6
licenses will be deleted from the Blue Prism database. Users will be prompted to apply their new license
when first logging into Blue Prism connected directly to the database following an upgrade before it will
be possible to start Blue Prism application server services.
Application Server Control Resources settings must be configured

When upgrading a Blue Prism application server from version 6 to version 7, the server console output
will display a message informing the user that the security mode cannot be none. This is to ensure the
ASCR settings are configured in BPServer.exe. See ASCR server configuration for details.
Session Management enforces permissions of controlling user option removed

The Session Management enforces permissions of controlling user (recommended) option has been
removed from the System - Settings screen for this release. The option remains enabled by default and
can only be configured in the Blue Prism database by Customer Support.
Automatic retry setting available for locked work queue items

Blue Prism 6.5 introduced a change of behavior in work queues when a runtime resource session
terminated. Work queue items with an exception were marked incomplete by the clean up process and
an automatic retry was not attempted if a work queue item was left locked.
In this release, a new option called Retry items in this queue in the event of an unexpected session
termination, which is disabled by default, has been added to the System > Workflow - Work Queues
screen. If this option is enabled and a work queue item is left locked as a result of a runtime resource
unexpectedly terminating during a session, a retry for the queue item will be automatically created when
the runtime resource is restarted – this depends on the configured value of maximum retries on the
queue.

Upgrade notices | Invalid upgrade paths
Invalid upgrade paths

Occasionally features are made available both in the latest version of Blue Prism and also previous
editions of the software. Where the changes have certain characteristics, it is necessary to prevent
certain upgrade paths to protect data integrity.
The restriction is applied when performing the database update. The user is advised that the database
cannot be upgraded as it is newer than the required database.
Applies to Notes
environments
currently using
4.2.56+ The minimum Version 5 upgrade is 5.0.11 which is the first applicable version
which contains the Encryption Schemes and AES-256 support provided in this
version of 4.2.
4.2.57+ The minimum Version 5 upgrade is 5.0.12 which is the first applicable which
contains the option to configure the inter-component communication to use
FQDN host names.
4.2.61+ The minimum Version 5 upgrade is 5.0.18 which is the first applicable version
which contains aligned work queue optimizations.
5.0.34+ The minimum Version 6 upgrade is 6.1 which is the first applicable version
which contains a number of items also featured in 5.0.34.
5.0.35 The minimum upgrade is 6.4.
6.2.2 The minimum upgrade is 6.4.
6.4.3 The minimum upgrade is 6.5.1.
6.7.3 The minimum upgrade is 6.8.1, which is the first applicable version that also
contains the improvements to diagnostic functionality. See the 6.7.3 release
notes for details.

Blue Prism 7.0 - Release Notes

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Blue Prism 7.0 - Release Notes

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Trademarks and Copyright

Commercial in Confidence Page ii

Commercial in Confidence Page iii

Upgrading Blue Prism

Review upgrade notices

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Upgrading to version 7 - Selecting a server communication method

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Directly executed SQL Script (advanced)

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Secure development policy

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Description of change Reference

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Description of change Reference

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Description of change Reference

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Fixes and minor improvements

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Description of change Reference

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Browser extension versions

Browser Blue Prism extension Latest browser version Date available

How updates are applied

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Browser extension release notes

Description of change Reference

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Upgrading from versions prior to 6.0

Introduces WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)

Dates are now processed using different logic

Pending or Running sessions should be completed or cancelled prior to upgrade

A new installer has been introduced

Upgrading from versions prior to 6.3

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selected new roles: Execute (Objects/Processes); Execute (Objects/Processes) as Web Services;

Process Administrator role permissions

New default groups for objects and processes

New permission required to call objects or processes exposed as web services

Some programmatic options will no longer work by default

New mechanism for securing access to runtime resources

Upgrading from versions prior to 6.4.2

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Upgrading from versions prior to 6.5

Tesseract language packs must be updated

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Automatic retry no longer created for locked work queue items

Upgrading from versions prior to 6.6

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Upgrading from versions prior to 6.7

Blue Prism application server configuration file certificate encryption

Caps command needs to be manually re-enabled if using binary business objects

Offline product help

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Upgrading from versions prior to 6.7.1

Upgrading from versions prior to 6.7.2

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Upgrading from versions prior to 6.7.3