Introduction

In Pega Constellation, Insights allow users to extract meaningful information from internal and external data and visualize it on Landing Pages. Whether you’re working with OOTB data pages, joined tables, or external REST data sources, this article guides you through all supported approaches, limitations, and workarounds to build insights in Pega 24.2.1.

Showing Insights Using OOTB Data Pages

You can directly use Pega’s out-of-the-box (OOTB) data pages to create insights.

Steps:

1. Open App Studio → Go to Explore Data → Create a new Insight.
2. Choose an OOTB data page.
3. Add filters and promoted filters as needed.
4. Choose to display insights in either Table or Chart format.

Limitation:

• You can only pull data from a single table.
• You cannot use joined data or columns from other tables in insights derived from OOTB reports.

Creating Associations to Join Multiple Tables

To display columns from multiple related tables:

Use Case:

Join the Employee table with the Education table and display all Employee fields + Highest Qualification.

Steps:

1. In Dev Studio, create an Association Rule.
   • Switch to Advanced Configuration and configure joins.
2. Go to App Studio → Explore Data landing page.
   • Link the newly created Association Rule.
3. Click Preview → Explore Data → Select Employee class.
4. In the right panel, add columns:
   • From Employee class directly.
   • From Education class via the Association — these appear under the association name.
5. Save the Insight.

Generating Insights on Data Pages Marked as API

To use custom data pages as data sources for insights:

Pre-requisites:

1. Data page must be of type List.
2. Set Status = API.
3. Use a source other than Report Definition.
4. Check the Allow querying checkbox at the bottom of the data page.

Steps:

1. From Explore Data, create an Insight on any object and save.
2. Create a new Landing Page → Add the Insight.
3. Click on the Insight → In the Available Fields section:
   • Expand the Object dropdown.
   • Scroll down to find and select the relevant Data Page (API).
4. Save the Insight, Landing Page, and Portal Rule.
5. Go to User Portal → Open the Landing Page → View the data.

Note: Only Table View is supported for API-based insights.

4. Showing Insights from External Data Sources

You can pull data from an external system using REST and create Insights on top of it.

Steps:

1. Create a new Data Type (e.g., PassengerDetails) in App Studio.
2. Change the List Data Page source to Integration (REST).
3. In the REST configuration:
   • Fill in System, Source, Connection, Type, Authentication.
   • Use the Response tab to map fields. Click + to auto-create properties.
   • Set the Environment settings.
4. Save the Data Page — the source now shows as REST.
5. Mark new fields in PassengerDetails as Primary Properties.
6. In Dev Studio, navigate to Records → Ensure all properties appear.
   • If not, click Edit Column to add them manually.
7. Log off/log in to clear cache.
8. From Preview > Records Manager, confirm a new PassengerDetails tab is added.

Known Issue:

• Though records exist, UI may show “No records found” until user scrolls.
• Refer to ongoing discussion: Pega Support Community

Suggested Workarounds:

• Create a new Insight from Explore Data and attach it to a landing page.
• Use the Insight from the Landing Page directly.
• Add/remove columns, or apply Grouping to trigger data refresh.

Conclusion

Pega Constellation empowers developers and business users to build insights using:

• OOTB reports
• Custom associations
• API-ready data pages
• External REST integrations

While chart limitations and display inconsistencies exist, the platform is evolving, with improvements expected in future versions. For now, understanding each method’s strengths and trade-offs enables you to deliver real-time, insightful dashboards tailored to your application’s needs.