Hi, We have an application in production with active instances.

I think adding a field is no problem for existing instances in most cases. But that depends very much on the design of the application. Did you also change SAIL forms? If yes, the new versions might have to be able to handle the old CDT without that added field.

Hi Stefan,
I think we modified the SAIL forms as well.
Let's say if the CDT changes has an impact i.e., the newly added field, in this case how can I make sure that the active instances do not break?

Inputs highly appreciated!!!!!!

Hi Phanibabuk,
Please check if any of the solutions in the below shared forum posts helps you out:
forum.appian.com/.../e-174411
forum.appian.com/.../b-45397

The majority of changes caused by the CDT change can be dealt with by using impact analysis; this will update the various references tot hta CDT to be the latest version, so datastore writes etc will work correctly.

As far as SAIL is concerned, you should update the SAIL form in such a way that any reference to the new field is checked for null before displaying or editing; simply adding a new field to the CDT won't break the tasks using the old SAIL form, but any reference to that field which requires a value could cause issues. That said, it very much depends on how you're using the new field in the form.

*references to that CDT

Hi Phil,
But impact analysis will update the changes to process model but how about the active instances in PROD which is mapping to an older version of CDT.

If I override the new CDT in PROD, all the instances which refer to this CDT will have a ^ symbol.

How can I make sure that this be upgraded to the latest CDT in SAIL forms and process model instances.

There is only one field added to the CDT.

Is it necessary to use Process Upgrade framework or manually modify existing running instances to point to the latest CDT.

How can I achieve the second option i.e., modifying each running instance to point to the new CDT and ensure that it will not break.

Please suggest.

To update the CDT versions in running instances, you will have to use the process upgrade framework.

Generally the addition of a new field is relatively low impact but, as I say, it does depend how you then use that field in the SAIL form; if the form uses that field to retrieve information, you could have a problem with the older processes where that field is not populated.