URGENT NOTIFICATION RELATED TO USE OF CHROME AND EDGE BROWSERS AS PART OF BLUE PRISM PRA AUTOMATIONS

[CharlotteK]

This information was last updated on 6th of December 2022

Google (Chrome) and Microsoft (Edge) have announced that they are changing the way third-party browser extensions are supported. In June 2023, any browser extension that uses their Manifest V2 (MV2) standard will no longer operate unless action is taken.   

In response to this announcement, SS&C Blue Prism has created a new browser extension that supports Manifest V3 (MV3) for it's RPA product.  

It is recommended that customers who currently use either of these browsers as part of their automations adopt a MV3 compatible solution for use with SS&C Blue Prism by June 2023 and test their automations as part of that adoption/upgrade process.

In addition, customers should be aware that with MV3, Google (and Microsoft) have removed the capability to perform JavaScript invocation or injection. Customers who utilize that capability must either modify their automations to overcome the vendor-imposed restrictions or adopt the Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent solution, which offers continued support for this functionality. 

To help our community of users identify if they are impacted by this announcement - our product team has provided a utility that will determine if you are affected by this issue. We recommend that you run this utility, which can be found here https://digitalexchange.blueprism.com/dx/entry/3439/solution/manifest-v3-impact-assessment-utility

If the utility identifies you are affected (i.e., Using Chrome or Edge / utilizing the JavaScript insert/invoke function) please make sure your organization completes the survey sent to them by their account or customer success manager.

Note: this survey is intended for end-users of  SS&C Blue Prism RPA only. If you haven't received this survey and feel that you should have, please contact your SS&C Blue Prism representative. Information for SS&C Blue Prism partners is available on the Connect Partner Portal.

Our upcoming releases (7.1 and 6.10.5) will contain Browser Extension support for Manifest V3. 

[Note: these versions will also support those customers who could not apply the January 2022 Microsoft security patch update. Visit FAQs. http://portal.blueprism.com/customer-support/support-center#/path/-Featured-Articles/1784860762/-Solution-Windows-updates-from-11th-January-2022-causing-authentication-issues-in-Blue-Prism.htm] 

Our communication regarding this event will evolve in the coming weeks and months. In the meanwhile, please find the latest information in our Knowledge Base FAQs. Support Center | Blue Prism Portal

[06/12/22 Addendum]: Please follow the below links for official communications and timelines from:
- Google
- Microsoft

#BluePrismNews
#InsideRPA
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Charlotte Kennett
Director, Global Customer Marketing & Community
Blue Prism
Europe/London
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[PhilipDeveau]

Where can we provide the feedback?
My dev team used  the inserting of java fragments whenever the traditional methods of working with web elements are to slow. currently we have 29 objects that utilize this in one way or another and 157 Processes (some are test processes). this is a huge impact to not be able to inject java fragments. having to upgrade is one thing but have to upgrade and still not being able to utilize java fragments is creating a lot of rework.

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Philip Deveau
Design Authority Lead
Sun Life
America/Toronto
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[CharlotteK]

Hi @PhilipDeveau - this is the right place to provide the feedback, as this thread is being monitored by the team who are managing the response and used to inform our strategy moving forward, and I can confirm that we have taken note of the above.

Is there any more feedback that you wish to share in regards to this? If so, you can either share it here or if there is any sensitive information I can contact your account team and our experts to schedule a follow-up.


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Charlotte Kennett
Director, Global Customer Marketing & Community
Blue Prism
Europe/London
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[DennisDepping]

Hi,

I think it would be a little easier for everyone if your update plan was a little more concrete. Your release plan is "May to September" for 6.10.5 -> this is not Q2...
And Q2 -> according to my calendar we are currently halfway there and there is still no concrete date?

So what date are we talking about, end of June at the latest or even September?
-> September would be a disaster for us

I think all your customers, depending on the "size" of their infrastructure, need an early release to slowly start upgrading or testing.

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Dennis Depping
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[CharlotteK]

Hi @Dennis Depping - confirmed with the product management team that the current release dates are:

• Blue Prism 7.1 - expected June 2022
• Blue Prism 6.10.5 - expected July 2022

The roadmap page is going to get an update within the next 24h with this information, and will be updated with months specifically.

​

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Charlotte Kennett
Director, Global Customer Marketing & Community
Blue Prism
Europe/London
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[MelanieGiuliani]

We are pleased to inform you that we have an update on our Product plans to address the change to Manifest V3 for Chrome and Edge browsers.  We have updated our knowledge base article here with the details.

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Melanie Giuliani
Online Community Manager
Blue Prism
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[NileshJadhavBP]

Thank you @Melanie Giuliani for the update :)​

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Nilesh Jadhav
Senior RPA Specialist
ADP
India
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[VisheshSethiya]

Hi,

Can Blue Prism share some  built-in features which can be used as an alternative solution of Java script invocation.

Thanks.

RPA Lead
Accenture

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Vishesh Sethiya
Software Engineer
Infosys Limited
Asia/Kolkata
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[robert.nicklin]

Hi @Vishesh Sethiya,

This is one of the things we're considering for future releases at the moment - right now we're discussing insert/invoke JavaScript use cases with customers to see if we can identify in what circumstances users have fallen back to insert/invoke rather than using built-in functionality and whether there are any alternatives we can include in the product as enhancements in future.

As you can imagine we'd prefer to continue to support insert/invoke functionality in some fashion with MV3 browser extensions rather than introducing new functionality that users will have to upgrade to utilize, but research in this area is on-going so I'm unable to comment at the moment as to whether this will be possible.

Regards,
Rob

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Robert Nicklin
Product Manager
Blue Prism
Warrington, England
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[DennisDepping]

Double Post

[DennisDepping]

Hi again,

I am a bit confused, in your Product Portfolio Roadmap BP 6.10.5 is listed as comming between June and Septemper. In your Support article it is

• Version 6: Blue Prism 6.10.5 and above, available July 2022

So any update on the concrete release Date? First of July or End of July? Can you confirm that it is July after all and not September? 

-> sorry for having it posted in the wrong section of the thread by accident -_-
-> Trying again :)

Greetings
Dennis

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Dennis Depping
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