#1112 - OIC 26.01 New Features

Introduction

Firstly, a Very Happy New Year! May it bring us all an abundance of happiness & health, wisdom & wealth. Here are some of the compelling new features coming with this release. So let's get going!

AI Related Features

Before commencing, please check out the quick Recap of what we achieved in 2025. Net, net, support for - 

• turbocharging OIC development with AI Assistant
• exposing OIC artifacts as AI Agent Tools via OIC Project MCP Server
• creating AI Agents in OIC Projects
• enabling Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) for Agent governance

CY26 will continue on this trajectory, producing lots of cool functionality in this space.

26.01 - Disable/Enable AI Assistant

Now I disable the assistant - 

No AI Assistant in the canvas.

Create B2B Trading Partner based on Natural Language

Let's try this out with the following input - - This TP profile sends X12 4010 850 via AS2 protocol.

- Application Partner ID for the TP is AI_TP

- AS2 Identifier is AI_TP_AS2

- Here is the ISA and GS segment from an X12 850 that was sent to OIC by the TP. Create B2B identifiers from this sample. 

ISA*00*00*01*AI_TP*01*MyCompany*241112*1245*U*00401*000000015*0*P~

GS*PO*AI_TP*MyCompany*19960807*1548*000001*X*004010~

Here's the result - 

This is exceedingly useful, especially when you have to create multiple trading partners. You can use the input as a template, then amend as necessary, for each new Trading Partner.

Create Integrations, based on those in the Integration Store

This is about jump starting your integration implementation journey. You describe your business use case in natural language and we identify potential integrations that could fulfill your requirements. These integrations could be part of a larger recipe / accelerator, however, only the relevant integration is imported into your project.

I click Start with a prebuilt integration -

I click Choose - 

I click Finish - 

AI Agents included in Project Deployments

With 26.01, we now include project lifecycle (Export/Import/Create deploy artifact) support for AI Agents & Agent artifacts.

Support for follow-up Agent Conversations

Follow up agent conversations are now supported through the use of a conversation id.

OIC File Server

Runtime Audit

File Server logging (Runtime Audit) is now available with the 26.01 release - 

Here's an extract from the downloaded audit file - 

This audits actions such as -

• Connect
• Disconnect
• Download Files
• Upload Files
• Change Directory
• Rename Files
• Create Folders
• Delete Folders
• Rename Folders
• etc.

OIC Observability

New Metrics in OCI Monitoring for OIC

The first new widget gives you visibility into the async queue (Metric AsyncInboundRequestsDepth) -

The next widget allows one to monitor OIC File Server connections -

We also get visibility into Scheduled Jobs (Metric SchedulerTriggeredInstancesCount) -

Directly push OIC Activity Stream logs to OCI Log Analytics

With the 26.01 release, one can now simply check a box, in the OCI Console for your OIC instance, to enable the direct push of OIC activity Stream log data to OCI Log Analytics. This makes it even easier for you to use OCI Log Analytics for OIC fleet management.  

Connectivity

As with every release, 26.01 ushers in new adapters and enhancements to existing adapters.

New Adapters

• Netsuite REST Adapter
• Google Sheets Adapter

The Google Sheets adapter is from our prime partner, Bristlecone, and it is available from the Integration Store -

Enhancements to existing Adapters

• ATP Adapter - AI vector search enabled, allowing intent-based data retrieval.

These are just some of the highlights; you can check out the detailed Connectivity Post for 26.01 here.

Summa Summarum

26.01 heralds a great start to 2026. Also the application of the updates has been streamlined. Previously customers got notified of a time window for the regular update. The time window given was up to 7 days. With our new quarterly release cycle, we have reduced this window to a matter of hours, making it easier for customer to plan post update testing etc.

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With the advent of the New Year, many folks are making their resolutions. Make using OIC Projects your New Year resolution, as projects are THE key to all of these compelling new features.
 

 

#1111 - OIC Agentic AI Basics - Human in the Loop (HITL)

 

Introduction

Agentic AI human-in-the-loop (HITL) allows one to intentionally add human intervention to the agent's decision making process.

This could be for compliance purposes, or just an integral part of the business use case.

Back to my order processing example from the previous post, Irish orders are posted to Netsuite, while German orders end up in SAP. But what about orders from other countries? Here I want to inject HITL into the mix. A sales manager needs to decide where the order should go, i.e. Netsuite or SAP.

HITL in OIC

There are 2 parts to HITL -

1. the workflow definition
2. the UI

The UI

The form builder is essentially the one we already know from OIC Process.

This is a simple form, where I surface the order details and allow the sales manager to choose the target ERP.

The Workflow Definition

The Start event is defined as follows -

The End event is defined as follows - 

We will do the Data Association later.

Now to the Human Task configuration - 

Now to the Data Association - 

Simple stuff!

I activate both artifacts - 

This HITL workflow will be invoked via an integration - 

This is, by nature of the HITL invoke, an async integration. The trigger is defined as follows -

Request Payload - 

Note the custom header, x-agentic-callback-url. This needs to be defined to enable the callback to our "orchestrator" integration.

That's it!

Now let's amend the Agent Guideline as follows - 

You are an order processing agent responsible for validating incoming orders.

### Order Processing Steps

#### 1. Validate Order

Use the **Validate Order** tool to check if an order passes our validation rules. If the order is invalid, then use the **Notify Customer** tool to inform the customer. Also include the "message" returned by Validate Order. If an order is invalid, processing stops immediately; in such cases, detail exactly why this order failed validation.

#### 2. Check Inventory

Use the **Check Inventory** tool to check if the product is in stock. If the product is out of stock, use the **Notify Customer** tool to inform the customer. Ensure the "message" passed to the Notify Customer tool is relevant and friendly. Remember, we are razor focused on customer satisfaction. If an order's product is no longer in stock,  processing stops immediately; in such cases, detail exactly why this order's processing has been terminated.

#### 3. Create Order in one of our ERP systems

Use the **Create Order SAP** tool to create orders for German customers.

Use the **Create Order Netsuite** tool to create orders for Irish customers.

#### 4. Use HITL to assign orders from other countries to one of our ERP systems 

For orders from other countries, use the  ** HITL For ERP Assignment** tool to enable our sales manager to assign the order to one of our ERP systems. Depending on the output from the ** HITL For ERP Assignment** tool, use either the Create Order SAP or Create Order Netsuite tool to create the order.  

#### 4. Send a confirmation email to the customer

Use the**Notify Customer** tool for this and ensure the email is very friendly.

Run the Agent

I see that the HITL tool has been invoked for the Austrian order -

I check out Project Observability - 

I click the link - Open in workspace -

I click the Assign button, thus completing the human workflow.

I now open the integration observability - 

note the callback to the "orchestrator" integration - ReAct Pattern Intg.

Also note the the Create Order in SAP tool has been invoked. The Notify Customer tool has also been invoked, to send the confirmation email to the customer.

Summa Summarum

This is a very compelling addition to our Agentic AI toolkit. Googling "What is Agentic AI HITL" gives us many buzzwords; phrases such as HITL for nuanced judgement or  HITL enabling ethical considerations. In my case, it was used because my agent alone couldn't reach the confidence level required to route the order to an ERP system.

Net, net, though - you decide when to use leverage this, based on your business requirements.