• Multiple contexts can be implemented in ThingWorx Apps, each with its own equipment structure and permissions. For more information, see Managing Contexts.

• In context-aware areas of ThingWorx Apps, only the equipment in the currently selected context displays: Asset Advisor, Production KPIs, Alert Monitoring, and the Equipment tab in Configuration and Setup. For more information, see Selecting a Context to View, Asset Advisor, Production KPIs, Alert Monitoring, and Setting Up Your Equipment.

• Permissions can now be applied to contexts and equipment. This determines which contexts a user or user group can access, and which equipment they can see or edit. For more information, see Managing Context and Equipment Permissions.

• The Import and Export Equipment action has been enhanced to support multiple contexts. For more information, see Importing and Exporting Equipment.

• A new key performance indicator (KPI) data model is implemented with 8.5, including the following out-of-the-box KPIs: OEE, Availability, Effectiveness, and Quality. The time period used for KPI calculations is a shift; multiple shifts and shift schedules can be defined for each site. For more information, see Configuring and Customizing KPIs.

• User interface screens throughout ThingWorx Apps are updated to use and display the new KPI functionality. Screens and information related to the old KPI data model, such as the Performance Metrics screen for configuring equipment, has been removed.

• Equipment statuses are now configurable, and can be defined globally, for specific equipment types, and for individual pieces of equipment. In addition to the six statuses initially configured for all equipment, three additional custom statuses are available to be enabled and configured.

• Status history information for a piece of equipment is now stored in the database, rather than in the equipment’s value stream.

• For more information, see Configuring Equipment Statuses.

• The filtering behavior for the Asset Advisor asset list page can be customized to include additional, automatic filtering of the list. Customization to add new filters is also supported. For more information, see Customizing the Asset List Filtering.

• Utilities services have been provided to improve ease of use for the Dygraph widget. For more information, see Dygraph Widget.

• Documentation for the Paging widget is now available. For more information, see Paging Widget.

• Both ThingWorx Apps and Operator Advisor are now delivered in the ThingWorx Apps extension, and share a common feature layer. For more information on Operator Advisor, see the ThingWorx Operator Advisor Help Center, available here.

• Starting with 8.5, the information previously provided in the ThingWorx Apps Setup and Configuration Guide, ThingWorx Apps Customization Guide, and What’s New in ThingWorx Apps is now included in the ThingWorx Apps Help Center, available here.

• Documentation from previous ThingWorx Apps releases continues to be available in Reference Documents. For Product, select "ThingWorx Manufacturing Apps Family" or "ThingWorx Service Apps Family".

• Perform any overriding of inherited alerts in ThingWorx Apps. For more information, see Configuring Alerts.

• To override an inherited alert in ThingWorx Composer, first override and save the alert without modifying the alert. Then edit the overridden alert to make any changes.

• Workflow Extension—The optional ThingWorx-Utilities-Workflow-Management-<version> extension is deprecated and is not available for download with the ThingWorx Apps 8.5 release.

• Anomaly Detection—The anomaly detection functionality previously available in ThingWorx Apps as a customization is deprecated with release 8.5.