Sitecore 10.3 — New Features and Improvements

Introducing Sitecore 10.3

Everyone knows that there is a push from Sitecore for users to move to its cloud-based version. However, Sitecore XP is still there and, considering Sitecore lifecycle support table, will still be available and supported for a long time.

What's New in Sitecore 10.3?

Sitecore 10.3 XM and XP came this December bringing some new features and improvements to the platform. In this article, we will cover some of the key elements brought with this new version.

GraphQL Authoring and Management API

Sitecore now allows us to use GraphQL API calls to perform authoring and management commands which were only before available using its user interface. A walkthrough to enable this API is provided in the Sitecore documentation. Not quite simple though, as it involves creating and build a MVC client application.

Webhooks for Item Events and Workflow

This is a very useful feature as it enables Sitecore to send to a third-party system information about items and workflow events.

The supported events are:

item:added

item:versionAdded

item:cloneAdded

item:deleted

item:deleting

item:versionRemoved

item:locked

item:unlocked

item:saved

item:copied

item:moved

item:renamed

item:sortorderchanged

item:templateChanged

publish:begin

publish:end

publish:fail

publish:statusUpdated

Other than the table above, webhooks can be configured to be triggered on workflow state changes and configured to have validation being performed by third party systems. Using this an item will only be moved to the subsequent state if that external validation allows it for.

Embeddable Forms Framework

Using Sitecore Headless Services and the Layout Service, this new feature allows us to embed Sitecore form in any page, even non-Sitecore pages. This is done using Lit and Tailwind CSS framework. As described in the Sitecore documentation “Lit it is a lightweight library to quick-start development of web components with a declarative templating system, scoped styles, and state management.”, and “Tailwind CSS is a CSS framework with a comprehensive set of highly reusable CSS classes. This minimizes the amount of custom CSS that you must define. It can scan source codes and trim unnecessary CSS class definitions, to achieve the smallest possible final CSS stylesheet for production use.

xConnect Data Export Tool

A tool to export contact and interaction data from xDB to files, allowing for easy storage backup and sharing and use on external reporting systems.

Other

Other features added and improvements made to Sitecore 10.3 include:

• HTTP transient fault handling for xConnect clients
• Ability to identify which database raised a publish event
• Improvement on feature to work with items as resources (methods have been added to check for overridden items and to check if an item is stored in the database or the resource file)
• Added support for MSSQL Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
• Items search results improvements

Beyond these features the following areas also had improvements we will cover in subsequent posts:

• JavaScript Rendering SDKs (JSS) and Headless Services
• CLI
• EXM
• Headless SXA

Do I Need to Upgrade?

If you are not sure about whether you should upgrade to the newest version of XP or go with Sitecore XM Cloud, Sitecore’s recommendation is:

1. Stay with XP if you are… a) a new XP customer (version 10.x); b) using functionality beyond the content management; c) have on-prem requirements or long-term commitments.
2. Add CDP to your existing XP if a) looking to expand customer data use across channels; b) looking to augment current personalization and testing.
3. Migrate to XM Cloud now if a) using versions prior 10.x; b) not using XP functionalities investment; c) planning to redesign/reorganize experience delivery at scale”.

Conclusion

Sitecore 10.3 brings more power and flexibility specially for headless front-end development using SXA and JS based frameworks. The decision to upgrade, of course, should be taken considering all aspects from both sides, a technical and a business perspective. Staying ahead of competition by leveraging modern ways to integrate with external systems and delivering a state of art experience to your digital content consumers is definitely a good reason to look into Sitecore 10.3.

Thanks for reading!