Welcome to the BlueConic product release notes for Q4-2023. This article lists BlueConic product updates, new connections, bug fixes, and API updates released to customers as part of Release 90 (October 2023) and will be continuously updated with any other platform and plugin changes made between October and December 2023.
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Testing new features
Please note that any newly released features may impact existing configurations and require testing before using the feature.
What's new in BlueConic (October to December 2023)
BlueConic Maintenance Release
Our developers updated the platform with the following enhancements and bug fixes. These changes rolled out to servers from November 10-15, 2023; no server restarts were necessary.
- When setting up profile cleanup rules through the General page, if you select "Meet the profile criteria you define" and choose a profile property, you can now view and select all values for that property. The previous limit of 40 values was removed.
- When setting up conditions for a segment, the search filter functionality now works as expected—only property values matching your search will display in the list until the search is cleared. This fixes an issue that caused the full list of property values to reappear once you selected a value.
- In AI Workbench:
- An issue was fixed that caused an error when running notebooks using the TimelineEventsFilter with multiple event_type_ids.
- Another issue was fixed that caused a JSONDecodeError when using the get_profiles() function. (This was addressed in the API, as well, ensuring that connections and direct integrations via the REST API benefit from this improvement.)
- An issue was fixed for external trackers that caused the "Last modified by" field to mistakenly display the name of the "Created by" user.
- A race condition issue was fixed that led to connection requests failing during runs.
BlueConic REST API v2 update
In July 2023, BlueConic released a new REST API. BlueConic customers currently using BlueConic REST API v1 need to migrate their applications to REST API v2 in the coming months. Review the article BlueConic REST API migration for details on the time frame and resources available for migrating to the current APIs.
BlueConic Chrome Extension update
A new version of the BlueConic Chrome Extension is available from the Chrome Web Store for free (version 2.0.6). For technical details on the Chrome Extension, review the article BlueConic Chrome Extension technical deep dive.
BlueConic SDK updated for iOS
The iOS SDK was updated to v3.0.0. The following changes were made:
- The SDK now supports binary frameworks.
- The SDK can now be imported via Swift Package Manager. (Documentation coming soon with steps on how to achieve this.)
- The minimum iOS version requirement is now 12.
- The main API class was renamed from "BlueConicClient" to "BlueConic."
For more information, review the article BlueConic SDK for iOS and the new BlueConic SDK for iOS Release Notes.
BlueConic SDK updated for Android
The Android SDK was updated to v4.0.0. The following changes were made:
- The minimum SDK target was set to API 21.
- SDK distribution was moved to Maven, which removes importing of the SDK as a module. (Please use the Maven dependency to include the SDK moving forward.)
- Dependency management will now be handled internally by the SDK via Maven. (You no longer need to manually include the GSON and Google Play services.)
- Google Play services were updated using only the required module instead of the full library.
- An issue was fixed in which the Google Advertising ID was not being retrieved correctly.
- An NPE crash when processing the commit log request values was fixed.
For more information, review the article BlueConic SDK for Android and the new BlueConic SDK for Android Release Notes.
October 2023 BlueConic product updates for Release 90
The latest BlueConic product updates in Release 90 were delivered to your tenant between September 30 and October 14, 2023.
New and enhanced features
- Filtering on Timeline event type properties added to the API
- Daily stage threshold added for Lifecycles
- AI Workbench updates made
- System applications removed from the Applications tab
- Access management tabs hidden for users without permission
- IP address validation improved
- BlueConic Academy menu item updated to BlueConic University
Connection updates
Other updates and bug fixes
New and enhanced features
Filtering on Timeline event type properties added to the API
To significantly improve performance, the BlueConic API now allows you to filter Timeline event type properties, in a similar way to how you filter event types, segments, and standard profile properties. (Adding the "eventProperty" parameter to your REST call, along with the existing "properties" and "eventTypeId" parameters, provides this performance increase, as shown in this profile example.)
Daily stage threshold added for Lifecycles
When setting a stage threshold for a Lifecycle, you can now set a daily maximum number of marketing touchpoints. In the menu that opens upon clicking a stage threshold, “per day” now appears in the dropdown alongside “per week,” “per month,” and “per quarter.”
Setting a daily threshold is particularly useful for organizations with multiple evergreen dialogues because it ensures a visitor does not see the same dialogue more than once per day, reducing repetitive content and enhancing the user experience.
AI Workbench updates
Git support introduced
To further enhance your AI Workbench experience, BlueConic now provides Git support, which allows you to reference code directly from your Git repository. (The Git command-line tool was added to the container that runs AI Workbench notebooks.)
This enhancement helps boost productivity for AI Workbench users in several ways:
- Removes the need to manually copy and paste code from one notebook to the other.
- Allows you to efficiently reuse code across different notebooks.
- Ensures you are using the most recent and secure version of the code.
Profile export runtime improved
The following enhancements were made to improve the export runtime of AI Workbench notebooks that use profile and Timeline event data:
- When there is a high volume of Timeline events, exports now run faster by using a more efficient method for date parsing.
- Parsing has been optimized by using the event type's schema.
- Memory usage has been reduced by using more efficient data structures.
Python and SQLite upgraded
Python was upgraded to version 3.9 in the AI Workbench container.
In addition, SQLite was upgraded to version 3.40.0, providing additional SQL functionality and performance improvements.
Python dependencies published automatically
Whenever BlueConic makes a change or upgrade to its Python package—e.g., the Python version, list of version dependencies—that information will now be published automatically to the BlueConic Python API documentation site so AI Workbench users can update notebooks accordingly. A new "Changelog" section and "Dependencies changelog" subsection now house this information.
With this update, the AI Workbench Python Dependencies article in the Knowledge Base will be removed.
System applications removed from the Applications tab
Internal or system applications will no longer be included on the Applications tab (BlueConic settings > Access management > Applications), ensuring that you have a clear view of the external applications you have set up.
As part of this update, the “Defined by” filter was removed from the Filters dropdown on the Applications tab, and the “system@blueconic.com” user was removed from the Users page (BlueConic settings > Access management > Users).
Access management tabs hidden for users without permission
To provide a more intuitive user experience, when clicking Access management from the BlueConic settings menu, only the individual tabs that you have access to are visible within the horizontal bar at the top (as determined by your role on the Roles tab). Tabs that you do not have access to are now hidden.
In addition, upon clicking the Access management option, you are directed to the first available tab. For instance, if you have access to “Roles” but not “Users,” then the Roles tab is the first available.
IP address validation improved
On the Access based on IP address tab (BlueConic settings > Access management > Access based on IP address), when you select the “Only allow IP addresses from this range(s)” option, the system now executes its IP range validation check only after the From and To fields are both filled out.
BlueConic Academy menu item updated to BlueConic University
The BlueConic Academy option in the Help menu is now labeled BlueConic University to reflect the training site’s new name. Clicking this option also leads to the site’s new URL: https://www.blueconicuniversity.com/learn
Connection updates
New Unified ID 2.0 Connection added
The new BlueConic Unified ID 2.0 Connection allows you to retrieve the Unified IDs (UID2) for known profiles in order to set up marketing campaigns without using PII data or third-party cookies. Storing Unified ID 2.0s for customers is valuable for enabling enhanced personalization, efficient ad targeting, and cross-device tracking, leading to improved marketing effectiveness and customer engagement. Currently, The Trade Desk connection is the only supported operator.
New data processors added
In select BlueConic connections, when setting up a data import or export, you can now use the following new data processors:
- Log data processor - Logs all data in a stringified format into a BlueConic run history log file
- Filter data processor - Searches lines in a data set to find a specific value and then has the import goal only import lines that have a matching value or only import lines that do not have a matching value
- Remove null data processor - Removes string "null" or "NULL" values from data from all fields
- First X lines processor - Imports or exports the set number of data rows only
- Phone number cleansing processor - Normalizes phone numbers to fix errors
- Casing data processor - Changes the letter casing of the selected field to either uppercase, lowercase, or first uppercase
- Date conversion data processor - Changes the selected date field from one format to another
Other updates and bug fixes
- Applications listed next to Tokens on the Account settings page (Personal settings > Account settings) now display correctly, matching the application name from the Applications tab (BlueConic settings > Access management > Applications).
- The UI scaling logic for BlueConic was amended to ensure that all UI elements across the platform are displayed at their intended size and position. For instance:
- When clicking the Add dialogue button from the main Dialogues page, the window that opens now displays correctly.
- When clicking the Add variant button from an individual dialogue page, the window now opens as expected.
- The data sensitivity value for Timeline event type properties will now be returned correctly in the Python API. For instance, PII properties will no longer have a data sensitivity of “None.”
- When you navigate to a page in BlueConic that you don't have access to—for instance, when you click a direct link—the system now displays a more user-friendly, actionable error message that lists contacts to alleviate the issue.
- The in-platform notification bell at the top right highlights current and prior product updates. BlueConic Release Notes are always available in the Knowledge Base.
- Two issues were resolved when using the Visual Picker in the Google Tag Manager Connection:
- The picker now correctly indicates when a BlueConic script is installed on the page.
- The continuous spinning/loading icon in the left section no longer appears.
- The Google Universal Analytics Connection has been deprecated, and customers are advised to migrate to the newer Google Analytics 4 Connection instead.
- The MediaMath Connection has been deprecated.