Thank you to everyone who attended our User Experience Expert Circle webinar, “Achieving Outcomes in Constellation – Solution Designing and Building for Success.” In these sessions, our panel of experts from Pega and our partner community shared their insights on designing and building successful Constellation applications.
The discussion focused on a practical, outcome-driven approach, starting from initial design in Pega Blueprint and moving through to authoring in the Infinity platform. Our experts walked through real-world scenarios, demonstrating how to tackle common challenges and leverage the full power of Constellation.
What is in this post?
This post is a long one, so let us list out what you can get in this conversation.
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Summary of event
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Key differences between sessions
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Replays to both sessions
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Timings for replays
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Important references and links shared in presentaton
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Event Q&A
Summary of event
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The Blueprint for Success: Laying the right foundation by focusing on business outcomes and data modeling before diving into the UI.
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Managing Information: Techniques for keeping data on forms up-to-date, including cascading dropdowns, refreshing values, and handling concurrent updates.
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Complex Data Scenarios: Best practices for capturing and visualizing multiple levels of data, such as lists within lists.
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Reporting and Dashboards: How to leverage insights, promoted filters, and AI to create powerful, self-service reporting experiences.
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Extending Constellation: Guidance on when and how to extend the out-of-the-box UI with custom components to meet specific business needs.
We were thrilled to see such active participation, with a great mix of questions from both newcomers and experienced Pega developers. For those who missed it, the full replay is a valuable resource for anyone on their Constellation journey.
Key differences between sessions
While both sessions covered the core theme of “Achieving Outcomes in Constellation,” they focused on different practical scenarios and featured distinct panelists, leading to unique discussions and examples.
The main differences are in the specific scenarios presented and the inclusion of a live Q&A session in the second event.
Thematic and Content Differences:
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Managing Information vs. Selecting from Lists:
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Session 1 dedicated a section to “Managing Information on Forms.” This included scenarios on declaratively calculating a total cost, resetting form values based on user selections (e.g., cascading location dropdowns), and using the messaging service to automatically update a list with new transactions for all users.
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Session 2 focused on “Selecting from Lists,” with a detailed walkthrough of creating cascading drop-downs (e.g., product category and subcategory) and how to achieve this without action sets by configuring the data model correctly.
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Reporting vs. Master-Detail Patterns:
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Session 1 had an extensive section on “Reporting and Dashboards.” This discussion addressed how to handle large numbers of reporting requirements by using self-service insights, promoted filters for dashboards, and adding calculations directly to reports. It also covered how to report on complex data models involving embedded lists and data references.
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Session 2 explored the “Master-Detail” pattern. This section provided multiple ways to show more details about a selected item, such as displaying additional information inline, using the preview panel, or leveraging the “highlighted view” in an insight.
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Audience Q&A:
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Session 2 included a live Audience Q&A segment where panelists answered questions on topics like the best tools for designing Constellation interfaces, recommended learning paths, and the role of
design.pega.com. -
Session 1 did not have a live Q&A segment due to time constraints, although questions were answered in the chat.
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Panelist and Regional Focus:
- The sessions featured different sets of panelists from different global regions (APJ/India vs. Europe), which brought slightly different perspectives and experiences to the scenarios discussed.
In summary, if you are interested in reporting, dashboards, and keeping forms updated with calculations and live data, Session 1 is more relevant. If your focus is on list selection patterns like cascading drop-downs and various ways to display master-detail information, Session 2 would be more beneficial.
Replays to both sessions
As there were 2 sessions, you can choose which replay you would like to see. Check out the “key differences between sessions” to help guide your choice.
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Session 1 replay link (APJ friendly): @Aditi_Mehta (Senior System Architect), @BraamSmithCLSA (Partner Success Technical Lead) and Jayachandra Siddipeta (Vice President – Technology @ Novitates (cLSA))
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Session 2 replay link (EMEA/AMERICAS friendly): @singm5 (Lead System Architect), @SENIT (Fellow Specialist Solution Consultant) and @wajtk (Principal System Architect)
Hosted @MarcCheong. Q&A @Kamil_Janeczek.
Timings for replays
Below is a breakdown of the key sections from both sessions with timestamps to help you navigate the recordings.
| Section | Session 1 | Session 2 |
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| Intro | 0 minutes | 0 minutes |
| The Blueprint for your Success | 8 minutes 26 seconds | 8 minutes 54 seconds |
| Selecting from Lists | Not covered | 29 minutes 44 seconds |
| Managing Information on Forms | 26 minutes 45 seconds | Not covered |
| Capturing Multiple Levels of Data | 42 minutes 20 seconds | 42 minutes 07 seconds |
| Master Detail | Not covered | 53 minutes 14 seconds |
| Reporting and Dashboards | 59 minutes 34 seconds | Not covered |
| Extending Constellation UI | 79 minutes 09 seconds | 57 minutes 22 seconds |
| Live Audience Q&A | Not covered | 69 minutes 06 seconds |
| Close | 86 minutes 57 seconds | 79 minutes |
Important references and links shared in presentation
Sorted in chronological order of when shared
- Opening
- The Blueprint for Success
- Selecting from Lists
- Managing information on forms
- Capturing multiple levels of data
- Reporting and dashboards
- Some insights into Insights (and Explore Data)
- Creating Insights Using Complex Data
- Utilising Advanced Associations (joins) with Insights in Explore Data to report on Tags (Data References)
- Extending Constellation UI
- Want more?
- Upcoming events
Link to original event posting: Achieving outcomes in Constellation | Pega
Event Q&A
Due to its length, you can find the full Q&A here